Mary Cyrene Breckinridge

Mary Cyrene Breckinridge ( Burch; August 16, 1826 – October 8, 1907) was the wife of John C. Breckinridge and served as the second lady of the United States from March 4, 1857, until March 4, 1861, while her husband was the 14th vice president of the United States.

Early life Mary Cyrene Burch was born on August 16, 1826, in Georgetown, Kentucky to Clifton Rhodes Burch and Alethia Viley. Her parents died when she was young and she was educated at boarding schools.

Post Civil War life After the Civil War ended in 1865, in which her husband served as the last Confederate States Secretary of War, he was indicted by the Federal government for high treason. Fearing that he would be put on trial, he fled the country, first into the wilds of Florida, then across the Caribbean to Cuba. where they visited with family and friends, Together, they had six children, including: Joseph Cabell Breckinridge II (1844–1906), a prominent New York attorney who married Sallie Frances Johnson, daughter of Robert Ward Johnson Clifton Rhodes Breckinridge (1846–1932), an Arkansas Congressman, who married Katherine Carson Frances "Frannie" Breckinridge (1848–1924), who married John Andrew Steele (1840–1921) Mary Desha Breckinridge (1854–1928), who married Charles Anson Maltby (b. 1848) She was buried at Lexington Cemetery in Lexington, Kentucky.

Descendants Her grandchildren included James Carson Breckinridge (1877–1942), a lieutenant general of the United States Marine Corps and Mary Carson Breckinridge (1881–1965), a nurse-midwife and the founder of the Frontier Nursing Service.