Abby Kent-Means
Born
Abigail Atherton Kent

August 27, 1802
Chester, New Hampshire, United States
DiedAugust 4, 1857(1857-08-04) (aged 54)
NationalityAmerican
Known forActing as first lady
Spouse(s)Robert Means, Jr.
Parent(s)Amos Kent, Jr.
Abigail Kent (née Atherton)
RelativesJane Pierce (niece), Joshua Atherton (grandfather)

Abigail "Abby" Atherton Kent-Means (August 27, 1802 - August 1857) was an American society hostess who acted as the White House hostess during the presidency of Franklin Pierce, as Pierce's wife Jane Pierce was not well enough to carry out official duties. Kent-Means was Jane's maternal aunt.

Biography

Abigail "Abby" Atherton Kent was born in Chester, New Hampshire, on August 27, 1802, to Amos Kent Jr. and Abigail Kent (née Atherton), the second of their nine children.[1][2][3]

On October 28, 1834, Kent-Means married Robert Means Jr., the maternal uncle of Jane Pierce.[4][5] Her husband was a first cousin, since his own mother, Catherine Atherton had married David MacGregor Means (1841-1931), a lawyer and former assistant editor of The Nation.[3][6][7]

They lived in the Col. Robert Means Mansion in Amherst, New Hampshire, which was built in 1785.[8] When her husband died in 1842, Kent-Means inherited the mansion and proceeded to make "major alterations" four years later in 1846.[8] The alterations included wallpapering the rooms, replacing windows, adding a food passthrough, and replacing the fireplace architraves on one of the nine fireplaces.[8]

Franklin Pierce was elected president in 1853. His wife Jane went through intense periods of mourning for losing all her children, and was not able to assist in hostess duties. During those times, the widowed Kent-Means stood in as White House hostess, along with Varina Davis, second wife of Jefferson Davis.[9] Kent-Means lived at the White House during this time.[10]

Kent-Means died on either August 3 or 4, 1857, aged 54, six months after Pierce's presidency ended and James Buchanan's term had begun.[11]

Ancestry

Her mother was the second daughter of Joshua Atherton,[12] an early anti-slavery campaigner[13] in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, who later served as Attorney General of New Hampshire.[14][15]

Her great-great-great grandfather James Atherton arrived from England in the 1630s, and went on to serve under Captain John Whiting's Company, eventually becoming one of the founders of Lancaster.[16]

Her great-great-great-grandfather on his maternal line was Samuel Wardwell, a carpenter, who was charged with witchcraft in 1692, and was hung at Witch Hill, in Andover, Massachusetts.[17]

References

  1. ↑ Covell, Ann (2013). Jane Means Appleton Pierce: U.S. First Lady (1853-1857): Her Family, Life and Times. Hamilton Books. p. 10. ISBN 9780761860778.
  2. ↑ Briggs, Lloyd Vernon (1898). Genealogies of the Different Families Bearing the Name of Kent in the United States Together with Their Possible English Ancestry A.D. 1295-1898. Rockwell & Churchill Press. p. 271.
  3. 1 2 Means, Anne Middleton (1921). Amherst and Our Family Tree. Priv. print. p. .
  4. ↑ Sferrazza Anthony, Carl (2000). America's First Families: An Inside View of 200 Years of Private Life in the White House. Simon & Schuster. p. 149. ISBN 9780684864426.
  5. ↑ "Abigail Atherton Kent Means, 1852". New Hampshire Historical Society. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
  6. ↑ "Proceedings of the New England Historic Genealogical Society 1895". 1891.
  7. ↑ "FYI Libbie Payne". The Boston Globe, Massachusetts,June 2. 2002.
  8. 1 2 3 Veillette, William "Bill" P. (2009). "The Rehabilitation of the Col. Robert Means Mansion, Amherst, New Hampshire" (PDF). Historical Society of Amherst, NH. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
  9. ↑ Bausum, Ann (2007). Our Country's First Ladies. National Geographic Books. p. 45. ISBN 9781426300066.
  10. ↑ Gould, Lewis L. (2014). American First Ladies: Their Lives and Their Legacy. Routledge. p. 110. ISBN 9781135311483.
  11. ↑ Schneider, Dorothy; Schneider, Carl J. (2005). First Ladies: A Biographical Dictionary. Infobase Publishing. p. 380. ISBN 9781438108155.
  12. ↑ Herringshaw, Thomas William (1909). Herringshaw's National Library of American Biography. p. 165.
  13. ↑ Patrick Hanks, ed. (8 May 2003). Dictionary of American Family Names: 3-Volume Set. ISBN 9780195081374.
  14. ↑ Daniell, Jere R. (2000). "American National Biography entry for Joshua Atherton". doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0100033. ISBN 978-0-19-860669-7.
  15. ↑ Wilson, James Grant; Fiske, John (1888). "Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume 1".
  16. ↑ Farmer, J. (1829). A genealogical register of the first settlers of New England. Carter, Andrews & Co, Lancaster, Massachusetts (refers to James Atherton of Dorchester settled in Lancaster Massachusetts in 1654).
  17. ↑ "The Register of the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of California". 1906. Retrieved January 16, 2020. Refers to Experience Atherton's blood relation Samuel Wardwell executed for witchcraft
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