Cleveland met Miss Folsom when she was a newborn, being close friends and law partners with her father Oscar Folsom. She grew up with him frequently a part of their family activities and reportedly referred to him as “Uncle Cleve.” Unfortunately, Oscar Folsom died in a buggy accident when Frances was only 11 years old. Oscar had named Cleveland as the administrator of his estate and the guardian of his daughter.
So, Frances stayed close to Cleveland through her school years. She left high school before graduating, but Cleveland, now the mayor of Buffalo, was able to wrangle a high school diploma for her. She went on to attend Wells College in Aurora, New York while Cleveland became governor of New York and then was elected to the presidency in 1884. Still a bachelor, Grover claimed he had no wish to marry. Perhaps he was just waiting for Frances to finish her education.
Shortly after taking office, Grover Cleveland invited Folsom and her mother to the White House. Interestingly enough, the press speculated that Cleveland had designs on the widowed Mrs. Folsom. Cleveland disputed this, saying he didn’t understand why they always paired him with “old ladies”.
Grover and Frances began courting, keeping the courtship as quiet as possible and out of the eyes of the press. When he asked her to marry him, Folsom accepted and then promptly went on an extensive European vacation with her mother, keeping the engagement secret. Upon returning from Europe in May of 1886, the engagement went public and the wedding took place on June 2, 1886 in the Blue Room of the White House.
The wedding was highly publicized, the press printing every detail of the wedding plans they could get their hands on as front page news. The floral arrangements, decorations and the attire of the wedding couple was all public knowledge before the wedding even took place. Still, in the interests of privacy, only 31 guests attended the wedding, those being family, close friends and Cleveland’s cabinet members.
Grover and Frances would be married for 22 years and have 5 children before his death in 1908, and serve two non-consecutive terms in the White House. Frances is the youngest woman to ever become a first lady, as well as the first to give birth in the White House.
Widowed Frances married Thomas Preston in 1913, continuing her activism and philanthropic work. She died in 1947 at the age of 83. What do you think? Did Frances fall in love with her “Uncle Cleve” or was being first lady the draw to marry an older man? I’m going with the romance. A Cinderella story, for sure.
Scribbling in notebooks has been a habit of Cindy Regnier since she was old enough to hold a pencil. Born and raised in Kansas, she writes stories of historical Kansas, especially the Flint Hills area where she spent much of her childhood. Her experiences with the Flint Hills setting, her natural love for history, farming and animals, along with her interest in genealogical research give her the background and passion to write heart-fluttering historical romance.
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