Mary Arthur McElroy

42-year-old Ellen Arthur died of pneumonia in January 1880, which made her husband Chester A. Arthur, the chair of the New York Republican Party, a widower. Chester was elected vice president the following November, and in September 1881 he ascended to the presidency after the death of James A. Garfield. In the stead of her late sister-in-law, Mary Arthur McElroy took up the mantle of first lady. Chester Arthur’s younger sibling served as the White House hostess until his inherited term ended in 1885. The recently-retired president died in 1886 and was laid to rest by his wife Ellen in Albany Rural Cemetery. Mary McElroy was buried at the same cemetery upon her death in 1917, though not in the same plot as her Arthur kin.