Which President Was Secretly Married in This New York City Church?
Church of the Ascension, 36–38 Fifth Avenue (at West 10th Street) in Greenwich Village, New York, NY 10011
On June 26, 1844, a small wedding party gathered at the Church of the Ascension in New York City. The groom was a 54-year-old widower. The bride was a 23-year-old New Yorker.
And the groom happened to be the sitting president of the United States.
President John Tyler was about to marry Julia Gardiner.
A Courtship Changed by Tragedy
John Tyler had been pursuing Julia Gardiner for some time. His first wife, Letitia Christian Tyler, had died in the White House in September 1842, making him the first president to be widowed while in office. By early 1844, Tyler hoped to convince Julia to marry him. Then, on February 28, everything changed.
Julia, her sister Margaret, and their father, David Gardiner, were among the nearly four hundred invited guests aboard the USS Princeton for a presidential excursion on the Potomac River. Tyler intended the impressive new warship, and the day's festivities, to help him impress the woman he hoped to marry.
During the excursion, one of the ship's enormous guns, the Peacemaker, exploded. David Gardiner was killed.
Julia and Margaret survived. At Tyler's insistence, the grieving sisters were taken to the White House, where he promised their family that “every care and attention” would be shown them. In the months that followed, Julia and Tyler's relationship deepened, and she agreed to marry him.
But there would be no elaborate White House wedding.
Julia Gardiner Tyler by Francesco Anelli
A Presidential Secret
The Gardiner family was still in mourning for Julia's father. A lavish wedding would have been considered improper, so Julia and Tyler decided to marry without publicity. Tyler even attempted to throw the press off the scent.
It didn't entirely work.
On June 25, a correspondent for the Baltimore Sun spotted the president boarding a train for New York. The newspaper suspected that Tyler was traveling north to marry a wealthy young New Yorker.
The following afternoon, at two o'clock on Wednesday, June 26, no more than a dozen people watched Julia walk down the aisle of the Church of the Ascension.
She wore a white dress and a wreath of orange blossoms that held her bridal veil—a veil she had not even had time to hem.
President John Tyler and Julia Gardiner were married in one of the most extraordinary weddings in presidential history.
From Secret Bride to First Lady
After the ceremony, the wedding party returned to the Gardiner home at Lafayette Place for refreshments. The newlyweds then began a short honeymoon journey that took them through New Jersey and Philadelphia before presidential business called Tyler back to Washington.
And with him came his new bride.
Julia Gardiner Tyler entered the White House as First Lady only days after her secret wedding. She would have less than a year in the role—but she embraced it with remarkable energy.
The young woman who had walked quietly down the aisle of a New York City church would soon make herself anything but invisible.
And her wedding was only the beginning.
The Story After the Wedding
Julia's life ultimately stretched far beyond her brief tenure in the White House. She lived through the political turmoil of the 1840s, the Civil War and its aftermath, widowhood and financial hardship, and ultimately fought for federal recognition of presidential widows. Along the way, she worked persistently to shape how her husband, and she herself, would be remembered. It is a story we tell in our new biography:
Presidentess: The Life of First Lady Julia Gardiner Tyler
Christopher J. Leahy and Sharon William Leahy
University Press of Kansas, 2026
Presidentess is available wherever books are sold.
Sources
Leahy, Christopher J., and Sharon William Leahy. Presidentess: The Life of First Lady Julia Gardiner Tyler. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2026.
Images
Church of the Ascension, New York City. Historic photograph.
John Tyler, ca. 1819–1821. Artist unknown. Private collection of Christopher J. and Sharon William Leahy.
Julia Gardiner Tyler, official White House portrait by Francesco Anelli.