First Ladies of the United States: Mary McKee

Mary Harrison had a close relationship with her mother, Caroline. When she married James McKee in 1884, the newlyweds first moved into her parents' Indianapolis home.

Five days after First Lady Caroline Harrison's death, the Trenton Evening Times predicted that her daughter, Mary McKee, would make a good successor, “for she has been accustomed to assist[ing] Mrs. Harrison at all times in entertaining” McKee had also occasionally served in her mother's stead, beginning with the Harrisons’ first White House New Year's Day reception in 1890. Caroline Harrison's ailing sister died on December 10, 1889, and, officially in mourning, Mrs. Harrison chose her daughter to be her substitute. Although social Washington recognized that the first lady would be unable to preside, it was upset that the honor of taking her place had gone to McKee instead of a Cabinet wife (Harrison, 1889–1890: 45). After that initial reception, however, Mary McKee became a familiar and accepted White House hostess, whether she was relieving her mother or conducting her own entertainments. She and her sister-in-law, Mary Saunders Harrison, were fonder of society than Caroline Harrison. Both “dearly enjoyed to play the part of gracious hostesses,” recalled White House employee William Crook (1911: 215). They welcomed a number of friends to the executive mansion and Mary McKee held one of the few ever White House balls, what doorkeeper Pendel (1902: 135) called a “swell affair.” She also assisted her mother at formal receptions and helped with correspondence.