it was here that letitia tyler suffered a stroke. hn tyler learned he was elected as vice president of william perry region william henry harrison. it is here that he became 10th president of the united states, so she learned she became the first lady. >> she had another terrible stroke, and her husband goes into morning, and then he meets another young lovely in her 20's. >> i think of her as the madonna of first ladies. she posed as a model at a time that was frowned upon, by all accounts was bewitching. >> there were 90 slaves, and they were her supervision. julia lobbied for her husband, and she supported him tremendously in everything she did. >> untimely death, a secret marriage, and outsize personality are stories of the women we examined tonight. good evening, and welcome to the season series of first ladies. william henry harrison was in office, and a month later, he dies. to learn about time, we have the chair of the history department, and she has been working with us many times on this series. nice to see you again. school

right here, letitia tyler suffered a stroke in 1839. that partly would paralyze her, although she was able to regain control of the family business while john tyler was getting involved in politics. it was in this space john tyler learned he was elected as vice president to william henry harrison, and it was also here in the spring of 1841 he was informed he became the 10th president of the united states, and it was here that she learned she became the first lady of the united states. >> now we are back on set, and joining us is the gentleman you saw on the video. he is a colonial williamsburg historian. he is also an expert on the area where the tylers hail from. give us a sense of what kind of characteristics of a person of public life would bring from the office from having been there. >> i think when you are talking about virginia, you are getting over the american revolution, not letting go of thomas jefferson and the kind of revolutionary principles but are supposed to inform public conduct and public virtue, but by the time you ge

right here, letitia tyler suffered a stroke in 1839. that partly would paralyze her, although she was able to regain control of the family business while john tyler was getting involved in politics. it was in this space john tyler learned he was elected as vice president to william henry harrison, and it was also here in the spring of 1841 he was informed he became the 10th president of the united states, and it was here that she learned she became the first lady of the united states. >> now we are back on set, and joining us is the gentleman you saw on the video. he is a colonial williamsburg historian. he is also an expert on the area where the tylers hail from. give us a sense of what kind of characteristics of a person of public life would bring from the office from having been there. >> i think when you are talking about virginia, you are getting over the american revolution, not letting go of thomas jefferson and the kind of revolutionary principles but are supposed to inform public conduct and public virtue, but by the time you ge

. >> while her husband, john, rebuild his political career, letitia tyler managed the kids and the plantation. >> he and his wife, latisha, and their family moved here to williamsburg to establish the law practice. he constructed his law office, and the foundry. the house they live in is no longer here, but here in williamsburg, it was perfectly to traded at the center of the legal part of the town. the courthouse was right across the street. this is sort of the beating heart of williamsburg, even in the 1830's. all of the political activity, the social activity, they are really living at the center of it. and this fantastic 18th-century house that they were living in, as john tyler was resurrecting his political year -- career. latisha was operating out of the house and running the various plantations all over the place. it is right here that she suffered a stroke in 1839 that partly paralyzed her, although she was still able to retain control on the family accounts, of all of the family business, while john tyler was actually getting involved again in the business. it was here that he learn