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  Cleveland Preston, Frances Folsom
CANDIDATE DETAILS
AffiliationDemocratic  
 
NameFrances Folsom Cleveland Preston
Address
, New York , United States
EmailNone
WebsiteNone
Born July 21, 1864
DiedOctober 29, 1947 (83 years)
ContributorThomas Walker
Last ModifedBrentinCO
Oct 29, 2021 10:20am
Tags
InfoShe was born in Buffalo, New York, only child of Emma C. Harmon and Oscar Folsom-who became a law partner of Cleveland's. As a devoted family friend Cleveland bought "Frank" her first baby carriage. As administrator of the Folsom estate after his partner's death, though never her legal guardian, he guided her education with sound advice. When she entered Wells College, he asked Mrs. Folsom's permission to correspond with her, and he kept her room bright with flowers. Though Frank and her mother missed his inauguration in 1885, they visited him at the White House that spring. Their affection turned into romance-despite 27 years' difference in age-and there the wedding took place on June 2, 1886.

Cleveland's scholarly sister Rose Elizabeth Cleveland: her bachelor brother's hostess in 15 months of his first term of office. Rose gladly gave up the duties of hostess for her own career in education; and with a bride as First Lady, state entertainments took on a new interest. Mrs. Cleveland's unaffected charm won her immediate popularity. She held two receptions a week-one on Saturday afternoons, when women with jobs were free to come.

After the President's defeat in 1888, the Clevelands lived in New York City, where baby Ruth was born. With his unprecedented re-election, the First Lady returned to the White House as if she had been gone but a day. Through the political storms of this term she always kept her place in public favor. People took keen interest in the birth of Esther at the mansion in 1893, and of Marion in 1895. When the family left the White House, Mrs. Cleveland had become one of the most popular women ever to serve as hostess for the nation.

She bore two sons while the Clevelands lived in Princeton, New Jersey, and was at her husband's side when he died at their home, "Westland," in 1908. In 1913 she married Thomas J. Preston, Jr., a professor of archeology, and remained a figure of note in the Princeton community until she died. She had reached her 84th year-nearly the age at which the venerable Mrs. Polk had welcomed her and her husband on a Presidential visit to the South, and chatted of changes in White House life from bygone days.


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DISCUSSION
Importance? 10.00000 Average

FAMILY
Husband Thomas Jex Preston Jr. Feb 10, 1913-Oct 29, 1947
Husband Grover Cleveland Jun 02, 1886-Jun 24, 1908
Daughter "Baby" Ruth Cleveland 1891-1904
Daughter Esther Cleveland Bosanquet 1893-1980
Daughter Marion Cleveland Dell Amen 1895-1977
Son Richard Folsom "Dick" Cleveland 1897-1974
Son Francis Grover Cleveland 1903-1996

INFORMATION LINKS
RACES
  11/08/1892 US First Lady Won 62.39% (+29.73%)
  11/06/1888 US First Lady Lost 41.90% (-16.21%)
  06/22/1886 US First Lady - Presidential Marriage Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
ENDORSEMENTS