How did the first lady be the first lady?

Answer 1

Lucy Webb Hayes was probably the first of the President's wives to be given that title while she lived in the White House. Writers of etiquette books, and those in Washington society, were horrified in 1877 when journalist Mary C. Ames referred to Lucy Webb Hayes as "the First Lady of the Land". Prior to Ms. Ames pilfering the "First Lady" title for her article, no references to wives of the President were anything but just that; The wife of the President. The First Lady (an honorary title, by the way) was always the spouse of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, until a reporter decided to mix things up a bit.

According to legend, Dolley Madison was referred to as "First Lady" in 1849 at her funeral in a eulogy delivered by President Zachary Taylor. However, no written record of this eulogy exists. Sometime after 1849, the title began being used in Washington, D.C., social circles. The earliest known written evidence of the title is from the November 3, 1863, diary entry of William Howard Russell, in which he referred to gossip about "the First Lady in the Land," referring to Mary Todd Lincoln. The title first gained nationwide recognition in 1877, when newspaper journalist Mary C. Ames referred to Lucy Webb Hayes as "the First Lady of the Land" while reporting on the inauguration of Rutherford B. Hayes..