Edith Wilson grew up from being a girl who did not leave her hometown until she was twelve to become a world traveler, successful businesswoman, and influential first lady. According to some sources, she virtually ran the country during the last year of her husband's administration, when Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924; see entry in volume 4) had become disabled by a stroke. It is more likely that during this period she simply expanded the role of confidante and advisor that she had always enjoyed with the president.

Mrs. Wilson was born Edith Bolling in Wytheville, Virginia, on October 15, 1872. She was the seventh of eleven children and fourth of five daughters in the family of Judge William Holcombe Bolling and his wife, Sallie. Edith's mother, born Sallie White, could trace her ancestry back seven generations to an original Virginia colonist, John Rolfe (1585-1622). He was the white man who...