Description:

Presidential widow Julia Tyler celebrates the award of a $5,000 per year pension: "the late action of Congress adds much to my means for comfort & enjoyment, at least it will when it becomes available"

JULIA GARDINER TYLER (1820-1889) Autograph Letter Signed, "Julia Gardiner Tyler," 3 pages, 4.5" x 6.75", "Sherwood Forest, James River, Virginia," April 18, 1882 to "Col. Cunningham" concerning the recent award of a pension by Congress and thanking her correspondent for his assistance. Usual folds with just a hint of toning, else fine condition.



She writes, in full: "Thanks for your kind letters - & the Professor [her son Lyon Gardiner Tyler (1853-1935)] writes - how much he too is indebted to you - He now appreciates what I have so much longer known - your deep interest in his Father. I have many notes of pleasure at thy good fortune but none sincerer I know than the words traced by your 'facile pen'— Yes the late action of Congress adds much to my means for comfort & enjoyment, at least it will when it becomes available - I think the 'Times' was a little far-fetched in its premises & conclusions! It may call me advanced but it need not issue direct falsehoods mistakes that I live in New York, or have ever received a penny worth of 'support from kind & generous friends'- Fortunately for me my inheritance was not all demolished - & have had many blessings in a legitimate way to be thankful for - but no contributions, until Congress thought proper to render its Presidential Widows more easy in circumstances - which was a credit to its good judgment, as well as to its head & heart – Your letter are always most welcome to me & I hope you are in the enjoyment of good health."



Julia Gardiner, the daughter of Senator David Gardiner (of Gardiner's Island off the eastern tip of Long Island), was introduced to President John Tyler at a White House reception in early 1842. Following the death of Tyler's first wife, Letitia Christian Tyler in January 1843, Julia and John began seeing each other. Their courtship was tragically interrupted on February 28, 1844 when the couple, together with members of the President's cabinet and her father, Senator David Gardiner, took a pleasure cruise aboard the U.S.S. Princeton. During the excursion on the Potomac, Captain Robert Stockton staged a test of the "Peacemaker," then to date the largest naval gun ever manufactured. The gun exploded during the final demonstration killing nine people including two cabinet members and Julia's father David Gardiner. As President Tyler consoled her, he secretly agreed to become engaged and the pair were wed in a low-key ceremony in New York four months later.



Following Tyler's presidency, the couple retired to his plantation, Sherwood Forest, located on the James River in Virginia. When the former President died in 1862, the Confederate Congress passed a bill providing for her relief. Soon afterwards, she moved to New York to escape the fighting, living in a home on Staten Island. Her years in Virginia had transformed her into a supporter of states-rights and slavery, and even during her time in New York, she volunteered her efforts for the Confederacy—even displaying a Confederate flag on her property—severely straining her relationship with her family.



After the war she remained in New York until 1874, a year after the Panic of 1873 wiped out her fortune. After moving back to Virginia, she began lobbying Congress to award her a pension similar to that granted to Mary Lincoln in 1870. In 1880, Congress voted her a pension of $1,200 per year in in 1880. In 1882, her pension was increased to $5,000 per annum (being a uniform amount that was also granted to other Presidential widows including Lincoln, Lucretia Garfield, and Sarah Polk.)

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