Hello friends, welcome. I am so glad you're here with me for another episode of Here's

where it's interesting. And today we're going to talk about a first lady who guess what?

Also never made it into the White House. If you've been listening, you'll know that this

has been a recurring theme of the past few president's wives Rachel Jackson had a band

beer in and now Anna Harrison. Except this time it was Anna's husband, the newly elected

president William Henry Harrison, who died a month into his presidency. And so while Anna

officially held the title of first lady for about 30 days, she hadn't even finished her preparations

to travel to the capital when she received news of her husband's death. I'm Sharon McFamp,

and here's where it gets interesting. In 1779, a legend has it that a man named John Sims

galloped out of New York City. The Revolutionary War was raging and John, wearing a British

military uniform, flew past one red coat encampment after another. What the British didn't know was

that Sims was an officer in the Continental Army and tucked into his traveling clothes with him

was his four-year-old daughter Anna. John made it to his destination without being discovered and

was able to deliver young Anna to her final destination, the home of her maternal grandparents

on Long Island. Three years earlier, John's wife Anna's mother had died suddenly.

John and his wife had already raised a daughter, Maria, who was 13 years older than Anna,

and Maria was likely safely away at boarding school. John had done his very best to care for

his baby daughter alone, but with war raging all around at his responsibilities in the army,

he needed to get her to safety and to a family who would provide for her needs.

Anna's family, the Sims on her father's side and the Tut Hills on her late mother's side,

were well-known in New York and New Jersey. After the Revolutionary War ended,

her father, John rose through the ranks of the judicial system and became the chief justice

...