Existing comment:
First Lady Jane Contee Hanson, 1728-1812
In the unmarked mass grave behind this memorial rests Jane Hanson, the original first lady of the United States.
She is buried here with 285 others reinterred in 1913 from Frederick's Old Episcopal Graveyard. Seventy with legible gravestones were buried here identified as were Jane's daughter Jane Thomas, son-in-law Dr. Philip Thomas, and their children John Hanson Thomas, Sr. and Rebecca Thomas Magruder whose graves are directly behind this memorial. The 286 with illegible or no gravestones or who like Jane rested in unmarked coffins within family crypts were buried anonymously in the mass grave mount seen behind this memorial.
Jane Contee Hanson descended from French nobility and was the great-great-granddaughter of the high sheriff of London. She presided over one of the nation's great estates, witnessed her husband's ascent to the presidency, sacrificed two sons in the Revolution, served in the first presidential mansion as the nation's original first lady, and outlived twelve of her thirteen children. They and her grandchildren were elected to the United States Senate, House of Representatives and Maryland General Assembly; served as chancellor of Maryland, electors of George Washington, and a college president; and were related directly or by marriage to four presidents, Chief Justice John Marshall and a governor of Maryland.
Renowned sculptor Antonio Tobias Mendez conceived of this dual-bust memorial to reunite Jane and John Hanson after their 231 years apart. He also created the John Hanson National Memorial. |