Ida McKinley (née Saxton; June 8, 1847 – May 26, 1907) was the first lady of the United States from 1897 until 1901, as the wife of President William McKinley. McKinley also served as the First Lady of Ohio from 1892 to 1896 while her husband was the governor of Ohio.
Born to a successful Ohio family, McKinley met her future husband and later married him during the early Reconstruction years. McKinley never recovered from losing their two daughters as children and remained in a fragile state of health for the rest of her life, including having seizures. During campaigns and while in office, her husband took great care to accommodate her needs, as they were a devoted couple. McKinley's ability to fulfill the role of First Lady was nevertheless limited. She was brought further grief by the death of her brother and the assassination of her husband. McKinley reportedly visited her husband's resting place daily until her own death and supported James Benjamin Parker, who had attempted to stop her husband's assassination.
Early life and marriage
Ida Saxton was born on June 8, 1847, in Canton, Ohio, the eldest child of James Saxton, a prominent Canton banker, and Katherine "Kate" DeWalt. Saxton's family was one of Canton's first pioneer families and was quite wealthy. Through his work in banking, James Saxton became the second richest man in Canton. He and Kate DeWalt raised Ida and her younger siblings, Mary and George, in the grand Saxton House. Little is known about Saxton's early childhood. Saxton developed close lifelong relationships to her mother and her grandmother, Christiana DeWalt. This likely influenced Saxton's later belief that close intergenerational family connections were a key part of a woman's life. During the American Civil War, Saxton's mother led a volunteer effort to gather supplies and sew uniforms for the Union Army. When Saxton was on break from boarding school, she helped her mother with these tasks.
Education
Saxton's parents strongly believed in abolitionism and equal education for women. James Saxton was on the board of trustees of Canton's local public schools and enlisted Betsy Mix Cowles, a prominent abolitionist and suffragette, as the principal of Canton Union School. Cowles became a close mentor to Saxton while she was a student there. From 1862 to 1863, Saxton studied at Delphi Academy in Clinton County, New York, as Cowles had moved to teach there. Delphi Academy was Saxton's first boarding school experience and she learned accounting and finance there. However, both Cowles and Saxton left Delphi Academy due to its Confederate sympathies. Saxton later studied at the Sanford School in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1863 to 1865. Dr. Whitney, her father's physician, cared for McKinley's maladies and ordered complete rest. Unable to care for Katie and be separated from her father, the McKinleys moved into the Saxton House for six months and Ida's sister Mary took care of Katie. McKinley spent hours a day in a darkened room with Katie in her arms, kissing her and weeping. She would not let Katie leave her sight unless William took her for a drive. William's brother, Abner, once found Katie swinging on a gate of the garden of her house and invited her to go for a walk with him. The child replied that "if [she] would go out of the yard, God would punish [her] mama some more." In June 1875, Katie became ill and died of heart disease