Eliza Hendricks

Eliza Carol Hendricks ( Morgan; November 23, 1823 – November 3, 1903) was the wife of Vice President Thomas A. Hendricks. She was the second lady of the United States from March to November 1885. She served as first lady of Indiana (1873–1877).

Biography

Her father was Hon. Isaac Morgan. The love of nature, which was one of Mrs. Hendricks' characteristics, was fostered by her early surroundings. The large and attractive homestead, in which she first saw the light, adjoined that of Gen. William Henry Harrison, and both dwellings were noted for their fine outlook. Mrs. Hendricks was connected with some of the leading families of Cincinnati, and it was in that city she made her debut in the social world.

She married Thomas A. Hendricks on September 26, 1845, after a two-year courtship and had one son, Morgan, who died at age three. The couple met when Eliza was visiting her married sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Morgan West, in Shelbyville.

Mrs. Hendricks was a native of North Bend, Ohio, having been born there in 1823, and since that time she had resided in Indiana. Her first Hoosier home was in Shelbyville, in which place her husband was then engaged in the practice of law. They removed to Indianapolis in 1860, where he practiced for some years as a member of the law firm of Hendricks, Hord & Hendricks. There is little to nothing written about her time as the Second Lady of the United States.

Mrs. Hendricks was not only the light of her husband's home life, but, wherever his official duties called him, he was accompanied by her, and when he twice visited the Old World, in quest of health, she was his faithful companion. The great sorrow of her life was his death, which occurred in November, 1885. She died on November 3, 1903, twenty days before what would have been her 80th birthday, in Indianapolis after being paralyzed for three weeks. She was buried with her husband at Crown Hill Cemetery Indianapolis, Indiana.