Woman of the Century/Margaret Taylor

​TAYLOR, Mrs. Margaret, wife of Zachary Taylor, twelfth president of the United States, born ​in Calvert county, Md., about 1790, died near Pascagoula, La., 18th August, 1852. She was a daughter of Walter Smith, a Maryland planter. She received her education at home, and early in life was married. She resided with her husband, before his election to the presidency, chiefly in garrisons on the frontier. She did good service in the Tampa Bay hospital during the Florida War. She was without social ambition, and considered Gen. Taylor's election as a "plot to deprive her of her husband's society and to shorten his life by unnecessary care." She surrendered to her youngest daughter the superintendence of the household, and took no part in social duties.