Lot 170
Anna Harrison (1775-1864, Widow of William Henry Harrison). Manuscript "Free Anna Harrison" free frank on folded cover to Mattituck, Long Island, N.Y., dated in pencil on the interior "North Bend, Jan. 2, 1846", Very Fine, a very rare Widow's Frank.Estimate $1,000 - 1,500.
A clandestine marriage on November 25, 1795, united Anna Symmes and Lt. William Henry Harrison, an experienced soldier at 22. Though the young man came from one of the best families of Virginia, Judge Symmes did not want his daughter to face the hard life of frontier forts; but eventually, seeing her happiness, he accepted her choice.
Anna was too ill to travel when her husband set out from Ohio in 1841 for his inauguration. It was a long trip and a difficult one even by steamboat and railroad, with February weather uncertain at best, and she at age 65 was well acquainted with the rigors of frontier journeys.
On April 4, exactly one month after his inauguration, he died, so Anna never made the journey. She had already begun her packing when she learned of her loss.
Accepting grief with admirable dignity, she stayed at her home in North Bend until the house burned in 1858; she lived nearby with her last surviving child, John Scott Harrison, until she died in February 1864 at the age of 88.
Realized: $650