1848 Zachary Taylor is elected President and Millard Fillmore Vice President.

1850 Fillmore becomes President after President Taylor dies unexpectedly.

1852 Fillmore loses the presidential election to Franklin Pierce.

1853 President Fillmore sends Commodore Perry to Japan to establish trade pacts.

1974 Millard Fillmore dies.

Millard Fillmore
1850 - 1853
Thirteenth President

Millard Fillmore was born on January 7, 1800 in Cayaga County, New York. He was the last president born in the 18th century.

He was one of four Presidents born in New York State. He was also one of six Presidents born in a log cabin.

Fillmore married his teacher, Abigail Powers, who was 2 years older than her husband. Abigail arranged for the purchase of the first cooking stove in the White House. But the cook couldn't figure out how to work the stove, so the president went to the U.S. Patent Office, read the patent for the stove, and went back to the White House and taught the cook how to use it. Abigail also set up the first White House library and had the first bathtub installed.

Until he was 17, he had read little besides the Bible.

He was in the military, but saw no action.

Millard Fillmore was a founding member of the Buffalo Chapter of he American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

He belonged to the Whig Political Party.

Millard Fillmore was Vice President under Zachary Taylor.

President Fillmore never ran for President. He became President after the death of Zachary Taylor.

Millard Fillmore was the first President to have a stepmother.

Millard Fillmore.
Brady, Mathew B., 1823 (ca.)-1896, photographer.
Library of Congress

When he became President, they didn't fill the position of Vice President. He was the first President to never have a Vice President. Several Presidents had periods of time where they didn't have a Vice President, but Fillmore was the first to never have a Vice President.

When the Library of Congress burned in 1851, Fillmore and his Cabinet helped fight the blaze.

Abigail died less than a month after he had left office. She was buried in Washington, D.C. He married again in 1858.

When Great Britain's Oxford University offered him an honorary degree, he replied that he had done nothing to deserve the honor and would not accept the degree.

Millard Fillmore died in Buffalo, New York, on March 8, 1874. He was 74 years and 60 days old. He is buried in Forest Lawn, Buffalo, New York.

Quotes:

"The man who can look upon a crisis without being willing to offer himself upon the altar of his country is not fit for public trust." July 10, 1850

Quick Facts

13th President 1850-1853

Born: Cayuga County N.Y. Jan. 7, 1800

Party: Whig

Died: Buffalo, N.Y. March 8, 1874, age 74

References:

• The Presidents of the United States. 22 September 2004
• Davis, Gibbs and Ilus. David A. Johnson. Wackiest White House Pets. New York: Scholastic Press, October 2004
• James, Barber and Amy Pastan. Smithsonian Presidents and First Ladies. New York: DK Publishing, 2002
• Harnsberger, Caroline Thomas. Treasury of Presidential Quotations. Chicago: Follett Publishing Company, 1964
• Kane, Joseph Natan. Facts about the Presidents from Washington to Johnson. New York: H.W. Wilson Company, 1964.
• National Park Service Web Site on Presidential Trivia: http://www.nps.gov/pub_aff/pres/trivia.htm.

Additional Sources:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents
http://www.historyplace.com/specials/portraits/presidents/index.html
www.freep.com
http://www.umkc.edu/imc/prestriv.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/4062/trivia.html
http://www.freep.com/news/inaug/trivia/index.htm
http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/

If you have comments or corrections, please send them to jim@anewadventure.org.