Harriett Newell Espy Vance

Harriett Newell Espy Vance (1832–1878) was an American heiress and letter writer who twice served as the first lady of North Carolina. She was first lady during the American Civil War, when North Carolina seceded from the United States and joined the Confederate States of America. Vance was the last first lady to reside in the Governor's Palace in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Biography Vance was born in 1832 and was orphaned. Her father, Rev. Robert Espy, had been a Presbyterian minister. She was raised by her uncle, Brigadier General Charles McDowell, at Quaker Meadows, his plantation in Burke County, North Carolina. Their two-year courtship, which started in 1851, consisted almost entirely of writing love letters, as the two lived far away from one another. She continued to write extensively to her husband and other relatives throughout her adult life.

The Vance family lived on a 5-acre lot in Asheville. Their home, at the cost of $2,300, was purchased using Vance's dowry.

Vance was a member of the Presbyterian Church and convinced her husband to officially join the church when he was forty-eight years old.

She died on November 3, 1878, after suffering from an illness. Her remains were taken by train to Asheville, where she was buried in Riverside Cemetery.