Sarah Childress Polk, 1803-1891

    Sarah Childress Polk was born in Rutherford County, Tennessee, the third of six children.  Although raised in the rugged Western Frontier, Sarah grew up amidst wealth and refinement.  Her father, Joel Childress, was a successful businessman and planter.
    Although an education was scarce for frontier girls, Sarah attended a local school and was even tutored by area boys' school teachers after class hours.  In 1817, both Sarah and her sister Susan were sent to Salem Academy in North Carolina.  This school was considered one of the best in the South.  The unusually strong curriculum included English grammar, bible study, Greek and Roman literature, geography, music, drawing, and sewing.  Sarah's education was cut short however by the death of her father.
    The education Sarah did receive was enough for her to be considered a "catch" among the eligible bachelors in Middle Tennessee.  She probably first met her future husband through her brother Anderson who was James K. Polk's classmate at the University of North Carolina.  While Polk was a Tennessee Legislator, he began courting Miss Childress, and on January 1, 1824, James and Sarah were married at her parents' home near Murfreesboro, Tennessee.  The young couple moved to a cottage in Columbia, where Mr. Polk could concentrate on his law practice and political career.
    Sarah's education would serve both her and her politically ambitious husband well.  As James K. Polk embarked upon his career, Sarah acted as his secretary by keeping her travelling husband aware of local political events, all the while expressing her concern over his fragile health.  During Mr. Polk's fourteen years in the U.S. House of Representatives, Sarah almost always accompanied her husband to Washington, where they rented rooms.  Because of her ability to freely converse about politics, she was respected and befriended by some of the great politicians of the day.  When Polk left Congress to become Democratic Governor of Tennessee, Sarah was given many departing gifts by admirers, including a poem written by a Whig member of the U.S. Supreme Court!
    As First Lady, Sarah Childress Polk quickly endeared herself to the country.  She was a strict Presbyterian, and changed the image of the President's House.  She thought it improper for dancing to take place in one part of the President's House while the business of government was taking place in another part. Hard liquor was also banned, although wines were served at dinner.  A protocol for guests entering the dining room was established that ended the crowded rush of the past.  In charge of completely remodeling the State floor of the President's House, she created an elegant setting befitting the highest office in the land.  She always attended Sunday church services and discouraged her husband from taking visitors on the Sabbath.
    After four years, Sarah looked forward to her husband's retirement where they could live quietly in their new home, Polk Place, in Nashville.  Their quiet retirement did not last long, however, as James K. Polk died just three months after leaving Washington.  A 46 year-old widow with no children to help console her, Mrs. Polk donned the black clothes of mourning for the rest of her life.  Little did Mrs. Polk know that at the time of her husband's death, her life was just half over.
    Not long after James K. Polk's death, Sarah became the guardian of an orphaned great niece.  This "adopted" daughter, Sally Polk Jetton, would remain with her for the rest of her days.  Mrs. Polk was honored at Polk Place throughout her life.  She was visited by President and Mrs. Hayes in the 1870's, and was sent a piece of Grover Cleveland's wedding cake in the 1880's.  She even commenced the Cincinnati Centennial Exposition from Polk Place through the use of specially installed electrical wires.  Although the telegraph was first used during her husband's nomination as President in 1844, Mrs. Polk even lived long enough to have the first telephone in Nashville.
After a short illness, Mrs. Polk died at Polk Place in 1891, just short of her 88th birthday.  Born in the first decade of the 19th century, she died in the last.  She outlived her illustrious husband by forty-two years.