Caroline Harrison

Notable people · First Lady · Art · Education · Women

Caroline Harrison

Oxford-born music teacher and china painter who was first lady from 1889 to 1892, renovated and wired the White House, started its china collection, and served as the first President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Born October 1, 1832, Oxford
Died October 25, 1892, The White House, Washington, D.C.

Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

Born: October 1, 1832, Oxford (Butler County) source
Died: October 25, 1892, The White House, Washington, D.C. source
Buried: Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis (Section 13, Lot 57) source
Also known as: Caroline Harrison, Caroline Scott Harrison, Carrie Scott, Mrs. Benjamin Harrison
Known as: First Lady, Art, Education, Women

Life story

Caroline Lavinia Scott was born in Oxford on October 1, 1832, the daughter of Presbyterian minister and educator John Witherspoon Scott, and was educated at the Oxford Female Institute her father headed. There she met Miami University student Benjamin Harrison, and they married in her parents' Oxford home on October 20, 1853, living briefly at the Harrison family place in North Bend before moving to Indianapolis in 1854. In Indianapolis she raised two children, painted china and watercolours, sat on the orphans' asylum board and worked with soldiers' aid groups in the Civil War. As first lady from 1889 she drew plans to enlarge the White House, then used a smaller congressional appropriation to modernize it, install electric wiring and inventory past presidents' china. She was the first President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and her 1892 address to its first Continental Congress is counted as the first public speech by a first lady. She died of tuberculosis in the White House on October 25, 1892, and is buried in Indianapolis; Oxford remembers her with a marker, the Caroline Scott Harrison Memorial building and a bronze statue.

Ohio ties

Oxford (1832-c. 1845; 1849-1853)
born in her parents' home four blocks east of the Oxford Female Institute; student and part-time art and music teacher at the Institute; married in her parents' home across the street from it Butler County · source
Cincinnati (College Hill) (1840s)
attended a girls' school her father founded while he taught science and mathematics at Farmer's College, where Benjamin Harrison was his student Hamilton County · source
North Bend (1853-1854)
newlyweds lived at the Harrison family home until Benjamin was admitted to the bar Hamilton County · source

Timeline

1832 Born October 1 in Oxford, Ohio, to Mary Potts Neal Scott and the Rev. John Witherspoon Scott, then a professor at Miami University. source
1840s After her father left Miami University over his abolitionist views, the family moved to Cincinnati, where he taught at Farmer's College and Caroline began a secret courtship with his student Benjamin Harrison. source
1849 The Oxford Female Institute was chartered, with her father, the Rev. John Witherspoon Scott, at its head; its brick building on College Avenue was finished in 1850. source
1852 Graduated from the Oxford Female Institute, where she had studied languages, music and drawing. source
1853 Married Benjamin Harrison on October 20 in the parlour of the Scott home in Oxford. source
1854 Moved to Indianapolis after Harrison was admitted to the bar; their son Russell was born in August while Caroline stayed with her family in Ohio. source
1860 Joined the board of managers of the Indianapolis Orphans' Asylum, a post she kept until her death. source
1861 Served with the Ladies' Patriotic Association of Indianapolis in support of the Union Army. source
1883 Had surgery in New York after a serious fall on the ice, followed by a long recovery. source
1889 Became first lady on March 4; she drew up plans with architect Frederick D. Owen to enlarge the White House, which Congress declined to fund. source
1890 Elected unanimously, on October 11, the first President General of the new Daughters of the American Revolution. source
1890 Chaired the Washington committee of the Women's Fund for the Johns Hopkins medical school, which agreed to admit women if the women raised the money. source
1891 Electric wiring was installed in the White House. source
1892 On February 22 she welcomed the DAR's first Continental Congress in Washington, the first public speech given by a first lady. source
1892 Her new White House china, with ears of corn and 44 stars on the border, was first used on February 24 at a reception for the DAR delegates. source
1892 Ill with tuberculosis, she spent the summer at Loon Lake in the Adirondacks and was brought back to the White House on September 20. source
1892 Died in the White House on October 25, two weeks before her husband lost his bid for reelection; after services in the East Room she was buried at Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis. source
1892 Canton's Stark County Democrat reported that she died at 1:40 a.m. on October 25 with the president at her side, and that she would be buried in Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, that Thursday. source
1894 An Indianapolis DAR chapter named for her was organized. source
1930 Two years after Miami University acquired the Oxford Female Institute building, the DAR rededicated it as the Caroline Scott Harrison Memorial. source
1976 The Oxford Female Institute building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 26. source
2014 Ohio Historical Marker 32-9, 'Oxford Female Institute / Caroline Scott Harrison', was dedicated at the Oxford Community Arts Center on May 9. source
2018 A bronze statue of her was placed in the garden of the Oxford Community Arts Center, the former Institute. source

Stories

A courtship in two Ohio towns

Caroline Scott's father, the Rev. John Witherspoon Scott, left Miami University after a dispute over his abolitionist views and took the family to Cincinnati, where he taught science and mathematics at Farmer's College. One of his students was Benjamin Harrison of North Bend. The two young people kept their courtship secret, meeting for carriage and sleigh rides and slipping off to dancing parties, which her father's school considered sinful. When Scott became the first president of the new Oxford Female Institute, the family went back to Oxford, and Harrison transferred to Miami University to stay near her. They were engaged in 1852. Caroline then took a music-teaching job in Carrollton, Kentucky, but was so overworked that the couple married sooner than planned, in October 1853.

Source

The first speech by a first lady

On February 22, 1892, Caroline Harrison, as President General, opened the first Continental Congress of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Washington. She recalled that about thirty Washington women had organized the society at the Strathmore Arms on October 11, 1890, and that it had grown to more than 1,200 members, with chapter and state regents in thirty-one states. Admitting there had been friction in the early days, she offered the delegates Matthew Prior's advice to a husband: 'Be to her faults a little blind, / And to her virtues very kind.' She told them the society was now 'in good condition for continued success'. The DAR printed the address, with a sketch of her life and later an 'In Memoriam', in the first volume of its American Monthly Magazine.

Source

Rats, ferrets and the White House china

When the Harrisons moved in, the first lady found the White House cramped and run down. 'The rats have nearly taken the building so it has become necessary to get a man with ferrets,' she wrote in her diary, adding that one had climbed onto the bed of the president's private secretary, E. W. Halford, who was recovering from surgery there. She lobbied Congress to remodel and expand the house, and even held a press briefing on it. The bill failed, and she was given money only to clean the house and make smaller improvements. She also rescued and inventoried china left by earlier administrations. Then, with her Indianapolis painting teacher Paul Putzki, whom she persuaded to move to Washington, she designed her own state service. She took the Lincoln china as her guide but put 44 stars on the border and American corn on the rim.

Source

Named for Caroline Harrison

Caroline Scott Harrison Memorial (the Oxford Female Institute building, so rededicated by the DAR in 1930) (Oxford, Butler County) source
Caroline Scott Harrison Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution (organized 1894) (Indianapolis, Indiana) source

Sites to know

Homes, graves, markers, museums and monuments; the numbered ones are on the map.

1 Oxford Female Institute (Oxford Community Arts Center, the 'Caroline Scott Harrison Memorial'; NRHP 76001379) and Ohio Historical Marker 32-9, 10 S. College Avenue
Oxford Butler County · source
Bronze statue of Caroline Scott Harrison, Oxford Community Arts Center garden
Oxford Butler County · source
Scott family home, her birthplace (four blocks east of the Institute) (unknown)
Oxford Butler County · source
Grave, Crown Hill Cemetery, Section 13, Lot 57
Indianapolis, Indiana source

Ohio places

Where Caroline Harrison was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.

Born: Oxford, Butler County Oxford · Butler County
Connected: Oxford, Butler County Oxford · Butler County
Connected: Cincinnati, Hamilton County Cincinnati · Hamilton County
Connected: North Bend, Hamilton County North Bend · Hamilton County

Myths and corrections

Things often said about Caroline Harrison, and what the record shows.

Often said Caroline Harrison founded, or helped found, the Daughters of the American Revolution (the official White House biography says she 'helped found' it).

The record The DAR's founders were Mary Desha, Ellen Hardin Walworth, Eugenia Washington and Mary Lockwood. They decided in August 1890 to ask the first lady to be the first President General because her position would give the new society national standing. Mary Cabell, as Vice President Presiding, actually ran the meetings in her place. source

Documents

Primary records: patents, letters, court and government files, nominations and old county histories, each at the archive that holds it.

The American Monthly Magazine (DAR), vol. 1, 1892: 'A Sketch of the Life of Mrs. Harrison', her address to the First Continental Congress, and 'In Memoriam, Caroline Scott Harrison' 1892, Internet Archive
The Stark County Democrat (Canton), October 27, 1892, p. 1: 'She Is Gone. President Harrison's Helpmate Passes to the Great Beyond' 1892, Library of Congress, Chronicling America (Ohio History Connection batch)

Pictures

Free to use with the credit shown. Select a picture for the original and its license.

Title: A whitehouse orchid Physical description: 1 print. Notes: This record contains unverified data from PGA...
Public domain
Title: A whitehouse orchid Physical description: 1 print. Notes: This record contains unverified data from PGA...
Public domain
Caroline Harrison, First Lady of the United States
Public domain
Caroline Harrison, First Lady of the United States
Public domain
First Lady of the U.S. Caroline Harrison.
Public domain
A woman of the century
Public domain
This portrait of First Lady Caroline Harrison was done by Adolphe Yvon. Yvon is best known for his paintings o...
Public domain
Mrs. Caroline Scott Harrison. First President General of the National Society, Daughters of the American Revol...
Public domain
This watercolor of a branch of dogwood blooms is by First Lady Caroline Lavinia Scott Harrison, wife of Presid...
Public domain
Title: Mrs. Benjamin Harrison Physical description: 1 print. Notes: This record contains unverified data from ...
Public domain
Title: Mrs. Benjamin Harrison Abstract/medium: 1 photographic print on cabinet card mount.
Public domain
This is a proposed extension to the White House by First Lady Caroline Harrison.
Public domain

Sources

Confidence. High: the main facts were confirmed in sources we opened.

Every link goes to the original source. Profile researched 2026-10-15.

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