Margaret Woodrow Wilson

Margaret Wilson
Margaret Wilson in 1912
Acting First Lady of the United States
In role
August 6, 1914 – December 18, 1915
PresidentWoodrow Wilson
Preceded byEllen Wilson
Succeeded byEdith Wilson
Personal details
BornMargaret Woodrow Wilson
(1886-04-16)April 16, 1886
DiedFebruary 12, 1944(1944-02-12) (aged 57)
Parents

Margaret Woodrow Wilson (April 16, 1886 – February 12, 1944) was the eldest daughter of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and Ellen Louise Axson. She is best known for serving as First Lady of the United States from August 1914 to December 1915, during the period between her mother's death and her father's remarriage to Edith Bolling Galt.

Born in Gainesville, Georgia, Wilson spent her early years in academic environments due to her father's career as a professor, later attending Goucher College and training in voice and piano at the Peabody Institute. She developed a strong interest in music, social service, and education, and became an accomplished soprano singer, making several recordings and performing for Allied troops during World War I.

Wilson was also an advocate for women's suffrage and, despite her father's policies supporting segregation, she worked to improve conditions for African American students in Washington, D.C. Later in her life, she became deeply interested in spirituality. In 1938, she moved to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India, where she was given the name Nishtha (Sanskrit: निष्ठा, lit.'devotion'). She remained at the ashram until her death in 1944.