Lot 178
Edith Bolling Wilson (1872-1961, Widow of Woodrow Wilson). Free frank "Edith Bolling Wilson" on mourning envelope, "Washington D.C. Mar. 12, 1924" machine cancel, with matching printed enclosure acknowledging sympathy for the death of President Wilson (d. Feb. 3), her franking privilege took effect on Mar. 4 and this was used only eight days later, also included is handstamped free frank cover from 1931 with Washington, D.C. machine cancel, Very Fine.Estimate $150 - 200.
43-year-old widow Edith Bolling Galt married 58-year-old widower President Woodrow Wilson, whose wife Ellen had died in the White House in 1914. President Wilson suffered paralytic strokes on September 26 and October 2, 1919, and, according to her 1939 autobiography, My Memoirs, Edith was told by neurologist Dr. Francis Dercum to "free him from worry". She claimed to have made no decisions regarding public policy, but she admitted that her husband never read, never saw, never listened to and never signed anything she had not approved first. Under his wife's care, Wilson lived another five years before dying in 1924 at the age of 67.
Realized: $80