Jessie Ann (Benton) Fremont (1824 - 1902)

Born 31 May 1824 in Rockbridge, Virginia, United States

Ancestors

Wife of John Charles Fremont — married 19 Oct 1841 in Washington, District of Columbia, United States

Descendants

Died 27 Dec 1902 at age 78 in Los Angeles, California, United States

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Biography

Jessie (Benton) Fremont is Notable.

Outspoken trailblazing women on political issues and a determined opponent of slavery

Jessie Ann Benton, born in 1824, the daughter of Senator Thomas Hart Benton and Elizabeth McDowell. Jessie was raised in Washington, D.C., more in the manner of a 19th-century son than a daughter, with her father, who was renowned as the "Great Expansionist," seeing to her early education and introducing her to the leading politicians of the day, an unusual thing for the period.

In 1840 at age 15, while studying and living at Georgetown Seminary, she met Lieutenant John C. Frémont who was in Washington preparing a report on explorations (with Joseph Nocollet as commander) he had made between the Missouri River and the northern frontier of the United States. They became engaged, but her parents objected to a marriage at that time because of her age. Probably through the influence of Col. Benton, Frémont then received an order from the war department to make an examination of the Des Moines River on the western frontier. Shortly after their return, they were married on October 19, 1841

A great supporter of her husband, who was one of the first two Senators of the new U.S. state of California and a Governor of the Territory of Arizona, she was outspoken on political issues and a determined opponent of slavery, which was excluded from the formation of California.

In the 1856 U.S. Presidential campaign, Jessie, along with Issac Sherman, ran her husband's campaign, as John C. Frémont was the first presidential candidate of the new Republican Party. As the daughter of a Senator, Jessie had been raised in Washington, and she understood politics more than Frémont. Many treated Jessie as an equal political professional, while Frémont was treated as an amateur. She received popular attention much more than potential First Ladies, and Republicans celebrated her participation in the campaign calling her "Our Jessie". Jessie and the Republican propaganda machine ran a strong campaign, but she was unable to get her powerful father, Senator Benton, to support Frémont. While praising Frémont, Benton announced his support for Buchanan.

In the years following, the couple moved several times, living in California, St. Louis, and New York. She played an active role in the anti-Secession movement in California in 1861 and enlisted both Unitarian minister Thomas Starr King and writer Bret Harte to her crusade. When Lincoln appointed Frémont as the Commander of the Department of the West in 1861, they returned to St. Louis.

Jessie Frémont served as her husband's unofficial aide and closest adviser. The two shared the belief that St. Louis was unprepared for war and needed reinforcements and supplies, and both pressured Washington to send more supplies and troops. She threw herself into the war effort, helping to organize a Soldier's Relief Society in St. Louis, and becoming very active in the Western Sanitary Commission, which provided medicine and nursing to soldiers injured in the war.

One of the most impressive feats of her political career came shortly after Frémont lost his position during the Civil War for issuing his own edict of emancipation, summarily freeing all of the slaves in Missouri, which antedated Lincoln's own Emancipation Proclamation. Jessie actually traveled to Washington and pleaded with Lincoln on behalf of her husband, but to no avail.

Jessie wrote and edited best-selling stories of the adventures of her husband and his scout Kit Carson.

Jessie Benton Frémont died at age 78 at her home in Los Angeles.

Children:

1. Elizabeth "Lily" born 15 Nov 1842 in Washington, DC
2. Benton born 24 July 1848 in Washington, DC died within the year in St Louis
3. John C. Jr born 19 Apr 1851 Las Mariposas, Calif
4. Anne Beverly born 1 Feb 1853 Paris, France died 11 July 1853 in Washington, DC
5. Francis Preston born 17 May 1855 in Washington, DC

Sources

• Tarnoff, Ben (2014). The Bohemians: Mark Twain and the San Francisco Writers Who Reinvented American Literature. Penguin Books. pp. 29–30.
• "The Late Jessie Benton Frémont". Chronicle and Comment. The Bookman: 535. February 1903.
• Whitewashing Civil War History Archived February 9, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Hollis Robbins
• Corbett, Katharine T. (1999). In her place: a guide to St. Louis women's history. Missouri History Museum. p. 84. ISBN 978-1-883982-30-0.
• New York Times, July 26, 1891, from the Los Angeles Express, July 14, "Mrs. Frémont's New Home --- She Occupies The House Given To Her By California Ladies," p. 15
• Los Angeles Times, August 15, 1897, "Mrs. Jessie Benton Frémont --- An Historic Figure Now Living Among the Roses of Los Angeles," p. 16
• Volpe, Vernon. (2005). Jessie Benton Frémont: Missouri's Trailblazer. The Annals of Iowa. 64. 377-378. 10.17077/0003-4827.10941.

See also:

• Wikipedia: Jessie Benton Frémont
• Wikidata: Item Q6187624, en:Wikipedia