Woman of the Century/Mary Arthur McElroy

McELROY, Mrs. Mary Arthur, sister of Chester Arthur, twenty-first President of the United States, and mistress of the White House during his term of office born in Greenwich, Washington county, N. Y., in 1842. She is the youngest child of the late Rev. William Arthur. She was educated in private schools and completed her education in Mrs Emma Willard's Female Seminary, in Troy, N. Y. Her attainments and accomplishments are far beyond the standards usually set for young women, and her strong intellectual powers enabled her to gain a thorough knowledge of every subject which she took up. She became the wife, in 1861, of John E. McElroy, of Albany, N. Y., and her home has been in that city continuously, excepting during her brother's term of office as President. When Chester A. Arthur became President of the United States, after the assassination of President James A. Garfield, he was a widower, and he invited Mrs. McElroy to serve as mistress of the White House. She did so, and her regime in Washington was distinguished by its refinement and its pleasant affableness. Both herself and her brother were fitted by nature, training and social experience to make the White House a center of all that was best in the society of the Capital. Mrs. McKlroy is a woman of commanding and attractive person, and no administration was ever more marked for social elegance than was that of President Arthur. After his term ended she returned to her home in Albany, where she is still living.