Margaret French McLean

Margaret Jones French McLean (April 29, 1879 – November 1, 1959) was an American political hostess, socialite, and musician. She was affectionately and formally known as Lady Margaret. As the wife of Governor Angus Wilton McLean, she served as First Lady of North Carolina from 1925 to 1929. She was renowned for her extravagant parties and formal dinners, and played host to politicians and celebrities including President Calvin Coolidge, First Lady Grace Coolidge, and the entertainer Will Rogers. McLean was well known in Robeson County for her musical ability and studied music at the State Normal and Industrial College and at the Boston Conservatory of Music.

Early life and education McLean was born Margaret Jones French on April 29, 1879, in Lumberton, North Carolina to James McDaniel French and Edna Godwin French. She descended from Mayflower passengers. When she was still quite young, her parents divorced and her mother remarried to a physician in Greensboro.

She was a talented musician and studied music at the State Normal and Industrial College and advanced musical studies at Boston Conservatory of Music.

At the North Carolina Executive Mansion, she was known for her decorating talents and for hosting many formal dinners with various themes.

The McLeans lived in Duart House, a large, white-columned Neoclassical mansion in Lumberton that they built in 1910 on the grounds of her maternal family's home. At Duart House, McLean hosted many children for Halloween and donated money for medical and dental care for local children. She also funded multiple children's stays at summer camps and donated new clothes to children in need.

The family lived in Washington, D.C. following their term in the executive mansion, as her husband set up a law practice there. Following her husband's death on June 21, 1943, she and her children returned to Lumberton. Upon returning to North Carolina, she rekindled her relationship with her mother before her mother's death in 1939.

Death McLean died on November 1, 1959, at Duart House. She was buried in Meadowbrook Cemetery in Lumberton.