Millard Fillmore Facts | 13th US PRESIDENT
US President: (1850-1853)
Birth: January 7, 1800 in Summerhill, New York
Death: March 8, 1874 in Buffalo, New York
Offices held:
13th President of the United States (1850 – 1853)
12th Vice President of the United States (1849 – 1850)
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York’s 32nd district (1837 – 1843 and 1833 – 1835)
Political Party: Anti-Masonic (before 1832), Whig (1832 – 1856), Know Nothing (1856 – 1860), Constitutional Union (1860)
First Family
First Ladies: Abigail Powers (m. 1826 – 1853), Caroline Carmichael (m. 1858 – 1874)
Children: Millard, Mary
Biographies
Congressional Biography
Biography from the U.S. Senate
Photos
Pictures from the Library of Congress
Genealogy
Ancestors and Descendants of Millard Fillmore
Fillmore family tree
Facts about Millard Fillmore
- Fillmore was a member of the New York Militia in the 1820’s and 1830’s, as Inspector of New York’s 47th Brigade with the rank of Major.
- In 1846, he helped found the private University of Buffalo, which today is the public State University of New York at Buffalo, the largest school in the State University of New York system.
- Fillmore was elected to the New York state legislature in 1828 on the Anti-Masonic ticket, which, as its name suggests, strongly opposed Freemasonry.
- As a Whig, Fillmore served three terms in the House, lost a race for New York governor, became New York’s comptroller and then received a surprise nomination to be Zachary Taylor’s running mate in the 1848 presidential election.
- Fillmore did not have a vice president. Fillmore, along with Tyler, Johnson and Arthur, had no second-in-command for the entirety of their terms.
- Though personally opposed to slavery, Fillmore valued the preservation of the Union above all. As a result, he supported the so-called Compromise of 1850, a package of bills that allowed the newly formed territories of New Mexico and Utah to decide the slavery question for themselves.
- He disagreed with Abraham Lincolns policies. While at New Hope Academy, Fillmore found a kindred spirit in Abigail Powers. However, even though she was his teacher, she was only two years older than him.
After 1856, Fillmore did not return to the national stage. Instead, he spent the rest of his life in public affairs in Buffalo, New York. Fillmore’s reputation as a Lincoln critic caused a crowd to gather outside his house after Lincoln’s assassination. Spattering his house with ink, they demanded to know why Fillmore hadn’t draped his house in black bunting as a sign of mourning for Lincoln.
Millard Fillmore Childhood
First, Millard Fillmore was born in a log cabin in Moravia, Cayuga County, in the Finger Lakes region of New York State, on January 7, 1800. His parents were Phoebe and Nathaniel Fillmore. He was the second of nine children and the eldest son. Second, he later lived in East Aurora, New York in the south towns region south of Buffalo. Fillmore became a Unitarian in later life.
His father apprenticed him to cloth maker Benjamin Hungerford in Sparta, New York, at age fourteen to learn the cloth-making trade. He left after four months, but subsequently took another apprenticeship in the same trade at New Hope, New York. He struggled to obtain an education living on the frontier and attended New Hope Academy for six months in 1819. There he fell in love with his future wife Abigail Powers.
Moreover, later that year, Fillmore bought out his cloth-making apprenticeship, and began to study law under Judge Walter Wood of Montville. Upon deciding that Judge Wood was not providing him the training he required, Fillmore moved to Buffalo, where he continued his studies in the law office of Asa Rice and Joseph Clary. He was admitted to the bar in 1823 and began his law practice in East Aurora, New York. In 1825, he built a house there for himself and Abigail. They were married on February 5, 1826. They had two children, Millard Powers Fillmore and Mary Abigail Fillmore.
In 1834, he formed a law partnership, Fillmore and Hall (which became Fillmore, Hall and Haven in 1836), with close friend Nathan K. Hall who would later serve in his cabinet as Postmaster General.
Where is Millard Fillmore buried?
He is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, New York.
How did Millard Fillmore die?
He died at 11:10 pm on March 8, 1874, of the aftereffects of a stroke. His last words were alleged to be, upon being fed some soup, “the nourishment is palatable.
Millard FILLMORE Biography
FILLMORE, Millard, a Representative from New York, Vice President and 13th President of the United States; born in Locke Township (now Summerhill), Cayuga County, N.Y., January 7, 1800; reared on a farm; largely self-taught; apprenticed to a clothier; taught school in Buffalo while studying law; admitted to the bar in 1823 and commenced practice in East Aurora, N.Y.; moved to Buffalo, N.Y., in 1830; member, State assembly 1829-1831; elected as a Whig to the Twenty-third Congress (March 4, 1833-March 3, 1835); elected to the Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth, and Twenty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1837-March 3, 1843); declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1842; unsuccessful Whig candidate for Governor in 1844; State comptroller 1847-1849;
Elected Vice President of the United States on the Whig ticket headed by Zachary Taylor in 1848, and was inaugurated March 4, 1849; became President upon the death of President Taylor and served from July 10, 1850, to March 3, 1853; unsuccessful candidate for the Whig nomination for president in 1852; unsuccessful candidate for president on the National American ticket in 1856; commanded a corps of home guards during the Civil War; traveled extensively; died in Buffalo, N.Y., March 8, 1874; interment in Forest Lawn Cemetery.
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