Presidents’ Day was set up in 1879 to commemorate the birthday of George Washington, the first President of the United States. In 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Bill, moving all Federal holidays to Mondays to create more three-day weekends for workers.

Washington’s birthday was still celebrated on his birth date until 1971. While officially recognized as honoring Washington’s birthday, Presidents’ Day has evolved to recognize all presidents. The name change has never been authorized by Congress, even though it is used on calendars, in advertising, and by many government agencies. (Source: National Archives)

Today I’m looking at the love stories of three presidents – Washington, Lincoln (who both have birthdays in February), and Teddy Roosevelt.

~~George Washington, First President of the United States, was born on February 22, 1732, in Westmoreland County, Virginia.  

The romance of George and Martha Dandridge Custis Washington was hardly a wild, passionate romance by today’s standards.

By the time their engagement was decided, they liked each other a great deal, which was not the norm in 18^th century marriages, which were formed for ease of living.

Eight months after their marriage, George Washington wrote, “I am now I beleive fixd at this Seat with an agreable Consort for Life and hope to find more happiness in retirement than I ever experienced amidst a wide and busthng World.”

 George and Martha choose wisely, perhaps more than they realized at the time. According to historians, they shared forty years during which they grew to love each other with true devotion.

~~Abraham Lincoln, 16^th President of the United States, was born in a log cabin in Kentucky on February 12, 1809. Several states officially recognize the date to honor his leadership during the American Civil War.

Mary Todd, the daughter of a successful merchant and politician, attracted the attention of the up-and-coming politician and lawyer. Her family did not approve of the match, but Mary and Abraham shared a love of politics and literature and a deep love for each other. When Lincoln won his Congressional seat in 1846, Mary joined him in Washington. Something unheard of at the time.

“My wife was as handsome as when she was a girl,” Lincoln once told a reporter. “And I, poor nobody then, fell in love with her, and what is more, have never fallen out.”

Though Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday isn’t in February, his life has ties to the month, which is why I’m sharing his love story.

~~ Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt unexpectedly became the 26th president of the United States in September 1901 after the assassination of William McKinley.

Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt was his first wife. He wrote of her: “Sweetest little wife, I think all the time of my little laughing, teazing beauty, and how pretty she is, and how she goes to sleep in my arms, and I could almost cry I love you so.”

Unfortunately, their love was short-lived. On Valentine’s Day in 1884, Roosevelt suffered a double loss. His mother died of typhus, and his beloved Alice died in childbirth. His diary entry for the day is a private tribute to his sweetest little wife.

She was beautiful in face and form, and lovelier still in spirit; As a flower she grew, and as a fair young flower she died. Her life had been always in the sunshine; there had never come to her a single sorrow; and none ever knew her who did not love and revere her for the bright, sunny temper and her saintly unselfishness. Fair, pure, and joyous as a maiden; loving, tender, and happy. As a young wife; when she had just become a mother, when her life seemed to be just begun, and when the years seemed so bright before her—then, by a strange and terrible fate, death came to her. And when my heart’s dearest died, the light went from my life forever.

Roosevelt spent the next two years grieving on his ranch in the Badlands of the Dakota Territory and working as a frontier sheriff. When he returned to New York in 1901, he married his childhood sweetheart, Edith Kermit Carow. The couple raised six children, including Roosevelt’s daughter from his first marriage.

Happy Presidents’ Day!