Former President Benjamin Harrison Informs His Son That He Will Re-Marry, and Pleads For Understanding

“I have proposed marriage to Mrs. Dimmick and we have come to an understanding.  It is natural that a man’s grown children should not be pleased with a second marriage.  It would not have been possible for me to marry one I did not very highly respect and very warmly love. But my life now, and made more as I grow older, is and will be a very lonely one and I cannot go on as now…A home is life's essential to me…”

Benjamin Harrison was born in 1833 in North Bend, Ohio, to a prominent family that had a legacy of political activism. He was the great-grandson of a Signer of the Declaration of Independence, and grandson of the nation's 9th President, William Henry Harrison. Raised on a farm adjacent to his grandfather's vast estate, Harrison believed he was destined for greatness, and ended up following in his grandfather’s footprints as President.

In 1853 Harrison married Caroline Lavinia Scott, and they moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, the following year. There he began his own law practice, and got involved in Republican politics. The Harrisons had a son Russell and a daughter Mary.

During Benjamin Harrison’s presidency, Russell was his father’s aide and secretary, and Russell’s wife assisted the First Lady from the time Caroline became ill up to the time of her death in the White House in 1892. After the term ended, both the President and son Russell returned to Indiana, where the latter practiced law. Russell served in the Spanish-American War, and was responsible for overseeing the evacuation of Spanish troops from Cuba.

On April 6, 1896, the former President married Mary Lord Dimmock, his first wife’s widowed niece and former secretary.  She was 38 years old – 25 years younger than Harrison – and his two adult children, Russell, age 41, and Mary, age 38, did not attend the wedding as they considered the marriage of their father to their cousin inappropriate. This strained the relationship of father and son. Benjamin tried to reconcile Russell to the marriage, and to provide him with help and advice. Their letters from these years shed light on their continuing efforts to understand each other and maintain their family, but because their issues – relationships of fathers to sons, second marriages, family squabbles – are to an extent universal, they are also a moving study in love and estrangement in the human condition. They also, of course, remind us that even great men and women are just people, whose lives resemble our own.

In this extraordinary letter, among the most personal and revealing of any President we have ever seen, and written just after the marriage was decided upon, Harrison informs his son of the decision. Clearly knowing it would meet with Russell’s disapproval, Benjamin explains that he does not wish to live alone and that he understands the strain this could put on the family. Anyone whose family has experienced remarriage can empathize with this moving letter.

Autograph letter signed, on his personal letterhead, Indianapolis, December 3, 1895, with envelope addressed to his son Russell, and marked "Personal."  "My dear Russell, I was very sorry not to see you in New York.  When you called I was in my room but the desk had seen me go out and told I was not in. [Someone] with whom I had an engagement was kept waiting a half hour downstairs while I was waiting for him in my room. I was in my room ready all day Wednesday – only going out to a book store to get a scratch book to make some notes upon. In the afternoon I called at the Imperial but found you and May out.  If I had seen you I would have told you what I now must more fully tell you in writing.

"I have proposed marriage to Mrs. Dimmick, and we have come to an understanding.  It is natural that a man’s grown children should not be pleased with a second marriage.  It would not have been possible for me to marry one I did not very highly respect and very warmly love. But my life now, and made more as I grow older, is and will be a very lonely one and I cannot go on as now.  A home is life's essential to me, and it must be the old home. [The] young children live here…I am sure they would not wish me to live the years that remain to me in solitude.  Mary is a good warm hearted fine woman and I am sure will make me a devoted wife. She loves you all, and if you will permit it will be a friend and helper.  You may tell all this to May – but for the present to no one else.  You and she will greatly serve and please me if you will show Mame that you love her and will give her a chance to love you.”

This unpublished letter was acquired directly from the Harrison descendants and has never been offered for sale before.