Notable people · First Lady · Politics · Business · Women
Ida Saxton McKinley
Canton banker's daughter, bank cashier and wife of William McKinley who was first lady of Ohio (1892-1896) and of the United States (1897-1901) while living with epilepsy; her girlhood home is the First Ladies National Historic Site.
Born June 8, 1847, Canton (Saxton-McKinley House)
Died May 26, 1907, Canton
At a glance
- Born
- June 8, 1847, Canton (Saxton-McKinley House) (Stark County) source
- Died
- May 26, 1907, Canton (Stark County) source
- Buried
- McKinley National Memorial, Canton (with her husband and their two daughters) (Stark County) source
- Also known as
- Ida McKinley, Ida Saxton, Mrs. William McKinley
- Known as
- First Lady, Politics, Business, Women
Life story
Ida Saxton was born on June 8, 1847, in her family's house on Market Avenue in Canton, the daughter of banker James Saxton, and was educated at schools in Canton, Cleveland, New York and Pennsylvania. Before marriage she worked as a teller and manager at her father's Stark County Bank and made a six-month tour of Europe. She married Canton lawyer William McKinley on January 25, 1871. The deaths of her mother and both small daughters between 1873 and 1875 coincided with the onset of seizures, now thought to be epilepsy, which limited her for the rest of her life. From 1878 to 1891 the Saxton house was the couple's main home while McKinley served in Congress; she was first lady of Ohio during his governorship and of the nation from 1897. Recent historians stress that she stayed politically engaged and publicly visible, and she became the first sitting first lady to visit a foreign country (Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, 1901). After her husband's assassination she went back to Canton, visited his temporary vault almost daily and died in 1907. She is entombed beside him in the McKinley National Memorial.
Ohio ties
- Canton (1847-1907)
born and raised in the Saxton-McKinley House on Market Avenue; worked at her father's Stark County Bank; married there in 1871; the house was her main home 1878-1891; spent her widowhood there and is entombed in the McKinley National Memorial Stark County · source - Cleveland (1863-1865)
student at the Sanford School Cuyahoga County · source - Meyers Lake (1868)
met William McKinley at a picnic about two miles from Canton Stark County · source - Columbus (1892-1896)
first lady of Ohio while McKinley was governor Franklin County · source
Timeline
- 1847 Born June 8 in Canton to James and Kate Saxton, in the house her maternal grandfather George DeWalt had built in 1841. source
- 1862-1868 Studied at Delphi Academy in New York under her Canton mentor Betsy Mix Cowles, at the Sanford School in Cleveland, and at Brooke Hall Female Seminary in Pennsylvania. source
- 1868 Met William McKinley at a picnic at Meyers Lake and went to work at her father's Stark County Bank, where she rose from clerk to cashier and ran the bank in his absence. source
- 1869 Made a six-month Grand Tour of Europe with her sister Mary, hiking in the Swiss Alps and seeing the poor conditions of Belgian lace-makers. source
- 1871 Married William McKinley in Canton on January 25; their daughter Katherine (Katie) was born on Christmas Day. source
- 1873 Her mother died in March; a second daughter, Ida, was born in April after a difficult delivery and died in August. source
- 1875 Katie died on June 25, and Ida's seizures, later identified as epilepsy, grew worse. source
- 1877 After McKinley's election to Congress she was put under the 'rest cure' of Philadelphia neurologist S. Weir Mitchell. source
- 1878-1891 The Saxton house in Canton was the McKinleys' primary residence while he served in the U.S. House. source
- 1892 Became first lady of Ohio when McKinley took office as governor in Columbus. source
- 1896 McKinley ran his front-porch campaign from the North Market Avenue house the couple had rented as newlyweds; it served as a stage while they lived at the Saxton house. source
- 1897 Became first lady in March; arriving in Washington, she walked the length of Union Station unassisted and climbed the steps of the Pension Building for the inaugural ball. source
- 1898 Her only brother, George D. Saxton, was shot dead in Canton; Anna George, his former lover, was tried for murder in April 1899 and acquitted. source
- 1901 On a western tour she crossed from El Paso into Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, for a luncheon, the first sitting first lady to visit a foreign country. source
- 1901 Nearly died of blood poisoning in San Francisco after an infected cut, while the president ran the government from there for almost two weeks. source
- 1901 Her husband was shot in Buffalo on September 6 and died September 14 with her at his side; she brought his body home to Canton but did not attend the funeral. source
- 1905 Attended the laying of the McKinley National Memorial's cornerstone on November 16. source
- 1907 Died in Canton on May 26, probably of influenza, shortly before her husband's memorial was finished. source
- 1907 Her funeral was held on May 29 at the McKinley home on Market Avenue in Canton, attended by President Theodore Roosevelt; a quartet including Canton singer Rachel Frease Green opened it with 'Nearer, My God, to Thee'. source
- 1907 The McKinley National Memorial was dedicated on September 30 with President Theodore Roosevelt speaking; her coffin lies beside her husband's in green granite sarcophagi. source
- 1919 The Saxton-McKinley House passed out of her family. source
- 1998 The restored Saxton-McKinley House became home to the National First Ladies' Library, opened in a ceremony attended by Rosalynn Carter. source
- 2000 Congress established the First Ladies National Historic Site in Canton, comprising the Saxton house and the 1895 City National Bank Building. source
Stories
The banker's daughter
Ida Saxton's father, James Saxton, was one of Canton's richest men and a believer in equal education for women; he hired the abolitionist and suffragist Betsy Mix Cowles to run Canton's Union School. After finishing school in 1868, Ida went to work at his Stark County Bank. She started as a clerk and became cashier, and she ran the bank when her father was away. Some of the men at the bank grumbled that she had an 'over-education'. She answered that her father wanted her able to support herself without having to marry. That spring she also posed in historical tableaux at Schaefer's Opera House to raise money for a new Presbyterian church, and the 1,200 people in the audience voted her 'best actress'.
A house of stage and a house of home
The Saxton-McKinley House on Market Avenue was begun in 1841 by Ida's grandfather George DeWalt and enlarged in 1870 for the Saxton family. As newlyweds the McKinleys lived a few blocks north in a small house on North Market Avenue. After their daughters died, that house held too many memories, and they moved in with the Saxtons. From 1878 to 1891 the Market Avenue house was their main home. In 1896 McKinley made the old newlywed house the setting for his front-porch campaign, but the couple went on living at the Saxton house with Ida's sister Mary Barber and her family. Ida moved into the 'Campaign House' only after her husband's death. The Saxton house survives as the First Ladies National Historic Site.
The rest cure and the rocking chair
When McKinley went to Congress in 1877, Ida was placed under the care of Philadelphia neurologist S. Weir Mitchell, whose 'rest cure' kept women in isolation and bed rest. The long inactivity may have caused the phlebitis in one of her legs. In the early 1890s a New York doctor supplied bromides that sedated her without stopping the seizures. She is usually pictured confined to a small rocking chair, crocheting slippers for charity auctions. Yet she was photographed hiking in the Sierra on a trip to California in 1880, and she listened to her husband's political meetings through the open door of his home office. She also publicly supported women's suffrage, which the National First Ladies' Library calls a first for a first lady.
Thirty months at the vault
After the assassination Ida McKinley returned to Canton. Until the memorial on the hill was built, her husband's coffin lay in a holding vault, and for roughly the first thirty months of her widowhood she visited it every day. At first she kept to herself. Later she resumed many of her public activities, including using her political influence on behalf of people such as Ben Parker (James Benjamin Parker), the Black waiter who had tried to stop the assassin. She looked forward eagerly to the dedication of the monument, but she died on May 26, 1907, four months before it was completed. She was laid to rest there beside her husband and their two daughters.
Sites to know
Homes, graves, markers, museums and monuments; the numbered ones are on the map.
- 1 Saxton-McKinley House, her birthplace and home (First Ladies National Historic Site), Market Avenue South
Canton Stark County · source - National First Ladies' Library Education & Research Center (City National Bank Building, 1895)
Canton Stark County · source - 2 McKinley National Memorial (her tomb) and Ohio Historical Marker 6-76, 800 McKinley Monument Drive NW
Canton Stark County · source - 3 West Lawn Cemetery (receiving vault where the president lay 1901-1907, visited by Ida)
Canton Stark County · source - 'Campaign House' site, North Market Avenue (the McKinleys' newlywed house; now the Stark Library) (demolished)
Canton Stark County · source
Ohio places
Where Ida Saxton McKinley was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.
- Born: Canton, Stark County Canton · Stark County
- Connected: Canton, Stark County Canton · Stark County
- Connected: Cleveland, Cuyahoga County Cleveland · Cuyahoga County
- Connected: Meyers Lake, Stark County Meyers Lake · Stark County
- Connected: Columbus, Franklin County Columbus · Franklin County
- Buried: McKinley National Memorial, Stark County Stark County
Myths and corrections
Things often said about Ida Saxton McKinley, and what the record shows.
Often said Ida McKinley was a permanent, petulant invalid who took no part in public life.
The record The National First Ladies' Library, the NPS and the White House Historical Association all reject this picture. She campaigned and gave interviews, hosted receptions (sometimes with a cane or wheelchair), listened in on her husband's political meetings and advised him, corresponded with Susan B. Anthony, and travelled widely, including to Mexico in 1901. source
Often said The McKinleys lived in the Saxton house for over twenty years (as Wikipedia's First Ladies NHS article says).
The record The National Park Service says the house was their primary residence for 13 years, 1878 to 1891, while McKinley was in Congress. After that they lived in Columbus during his governorship and in the White House. source
Often said McKinley's 1896 front-porch campaign was run from the couple's home.
The record The NPS calls the 'Campaign House' on North Market Avenue a public facade. McKinley rented their old newlywed house as a stage for the campaign while the couple lived mainly at the Saxton house, and Ida moved into the Campaign House only after his death. source
Often said Ida McKinley was beside her husband when he was shot at the Pan-American Exposition.
The record She did not attend the event. She learned of the shooting when he was brought to the Milburn House in Buffalo, where they were staying, and then stayed at his side until he died eight days later. source
Often said Ida McKinley 'spent most of her waking hours sitting in a small rocking chair crocheting bedroom slippers' (Find a Grave).
The record She did crochet more than 3,000 pairs of slippers in her lifetime, for charity auctions and as gifts. But the NPS says she also sat in on her husband's political meetings, wrote to and met Susan B. Anthony, and spoke to women's-rights groups when she was able. The National First Ladies' Library notes that she hiked, travelled widely and walked unaided through Union Station at the 1897 inauguration. source
Documents
Primary records: patents, letters, court and government files, nominations and old county histories, each at the archive that holds it.
- National Historic Landmark nomination: McKinley Tomb / McKinley National Memorial, Canton (NRIS 70000516) National Park Service, NPGallery
- Frances E. Willard and Mary A. Livermore, eds., A Woman of the Century (1893), entry 'McKinley, Mrs. Ida Saxton', p. 488 1893, Internet Archive (University of Illinois copy)
- The Stark County Democrat (Canton), May 31, 1907, p. 1: 'Wife Now Reposes Beside the Martyr', account of Ida McKinley's funeral 1907, Library of Congress, Chronicling America (Ohio History Connection batch)
Pictures
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Ida S. McKinley, full-length portrait, standing, facing front. Picture of President McKinley on table beside h...
Public domain
Early color photograph (Kromogram, digital reconstruction) of First Lady Ida Saxton McKinley in the White Hous...
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Ida Saxton McKinley, First Lady of the United States of America, in an official photograph for the inaugural b...
Public domain
Ida Saxton McKinley, wife of US President William McKinley
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Public domain 
Public domain 
jpg of image on page 179 of File:American Boy's Life of William McKinley.djvu
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Sources
Confidence. High: the main facts were confirmed in sources we opened.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_Saxton_McKinley
- https://www.nps.gov/fila/learn/historyculture/ida-mckinley-life.htm
- https://www.nps.gov/fila/learn/historyculture/saxton-mckinley-house.htm
- https://www.whitehousehistory.org/bios/ida-mckinley
- https://firstladies.org/research/educational-resources/the-misconception-of-ida-mckinley
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Ladies_National_Historic_Site
- https://remarkableohio.org/marker/6-76-the-mckinley-national-memorial/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKinley_National_Memorial
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Lawn_Cemetery
- https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/70000516_text
- https://archive.org/details/womanofcenturyfo00will
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ida_Saxton_McKinley
- https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19669
- https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84028490/1907-05-31/ed-1/?sp=1
Every link goes to the original source. Profile researched 2026-10-15.