First Ladies of the United States: Caroline Harrison

Caroline (Carrie) Lavinia Scott was born on October 1, 1832, in Oxford, Ohio. She was the third of five children born to Miami University professor John Witherspoon Scott and Mary Potts Neal Scott. The family valued education highly, and Carrie loved literature and the arts. She attended the Oxford Female Institute in 1852, an institution founded by her father, and studied music, English literature, drama, art, and painting. She took over for a piano teacher who fell ill mid-semester and continued teaching at Oxford after she graduated in 1853.

Carrie Scott met Benjamin Harrison, one of her father's students and the grandson of President William Henry Harrison, while she was in college. Following his graduation in 1852, he moved to Cincinnati to study law but returned to marry Caroline on October 20, 1853. They began their married life on the Harrison family farm in North Bend, Ohio. In early 1854, Benjamin was admitted to the bar, and they moved to Indianapolis, where he set up a practice. Times were lean until he was asked to join a practice with William Wallace, a candidate for the Marian County clerkship who needed help in the office while he campaigned. The partnership prospered, and the Harrisons moved to a larger house and hired help for Caroline, her physical condition somewhat weakened by two births (Russell Benjamin, b. 1854; Mary Scott, b. 1858). Caroline devoted increasing attention to her activities with First Presbyterian Church, where she taught Bible study and directed the choir, and to charitable causes such as the Indianapolis Orphan's Asylum. In 1860, she was appointed to the board of managers, a seat she held until her death...