Edith Bolling Galt Wilson

Edith Wilson (née Bolling, formerly Galt) was born on October 15, 1872, in Wytheville, Virginia. She was the daughter of circuit court judge William Holcombe Bolling and his wife, Sarah "Sallie" Spears (née White). Her ancestry includes descendants of the first settlers of the Virginia Colony, and she was a descendant of Mataoka, known as Pocahontas, through her father’s lineage. Specifically, her family lineage traces back to Jane Rolfe, Pocahontas's granddaughter, who married Robert Bolling, a planter and merchant. Edith was the seventh of eleven children, though two of her siblings died in infancy. The Bolling family was part of Virginia’s planter elite prior to the Civil War, and they were Confederate supporters.

Following the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, Edith’s father pursued a career in law due to financial difficulties related to unpaid taxes on his plantation properties. The family moved to Wytheville, where Edith was raised in a large household that included her siblings, grandparents, aunts, and cousins. Many women in her family had lost husbands during the Civil War. The Bollings' social background was rooted in the Southern planter tradition, and the family espoused the post‑Civil War narrative of the Lost Cause.

Edith received limited formal education, being primarily taught at home by her grandmother, Anne Wiggington Bolling, due to her grandmother’s disability. Her education included reading, writing, basic mathematics, and dressmaking. Her father read classic literature to the family and sometimes took Edith on travels, and the family attended church regularly, instilling in her the practice of Episcopalianism.

At age 15, Edith enrolled at Martha Washington College, a finishing school in Abingdon, Virginia, chosen for its music program. She did not complete her studies there due to dissatisfaction with the school's austerity and her own difficulties adapting to its rigorous discipline. Later, she attended Powell's School for Girls in Richmond, Virginia, which she regarded as a happy period in her life before the school's closure.

In 1896, Edith Bolling married Norman Galt, a prominent jeweler, in Washington, D.C. The marriage produced a son in 1903, who died after a few days, leaving Edith unable to have more children. Norman Galt died unexpectedly in January 1908, after which Edith managed his business affairs and traveled in Europe, funded by her inheritance.

In March 1915, Edith was introduced to President Woodrow Wilson at the White House by Helen Woodrow Bones. Wilson, recently widowed, proposed marriage, and they married on December 18, 1915, in Washington, D.C., with the ceremony officiated jointly by two pastors. At that time, Edith became the Second Lady of the United States.

During World War I, Edith took on a role typical of a First Lady of the period, participating in wartime conservation efforts and engaging in diplomatic activities. She was the first First Lady to travel to Europe, accompanying her husband in 1918 and 1919 to visit troops and to participate in the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. Her presence alongside European royalty helped reinforce America's status as a world power.

Following President Wilson's participation in the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, he suffered a severe stroke that left him largely incapacitated. Edith Wilson and other advisors concealed the full extent of his illness and disability from the public. She assumed increased responsibilities, managing routine governmental communications and determining which matters of state required the president’s attention. She described her role as a "stewardship," noting that she never made decisions on public policy but controlled what information was presented to Wilson and when. Edith remained in this position until Wilson left office on March 4, 1921.

Edith Wilson died on December 28, 1961.