Margaret Woodrow Wilson (April 16, 1886 – February 12, 1944) was the eldest child of President Woodrow Wilson and Ellen Louise Axson. Her two siblings were Jessie and Eleanor. After her mother's death in 1914, Margaret served her father as the White House social hostess,[1] the title later known as first lady. Her father remarried in 1915.

Margaret Wilson (Nistha)
Wilson in 1912
Acting First Lady of the United States
In role August 6, 1914 – December 18, 1915
President	Woodrow Wilson
Preceded by	Ellen Wilson
Succeeded by	Edith Wilson
Personal details
Born	Margaret Woodrow Wilson (1886-04-16)April 16, 1886 Gainesville, Georgia, U.S.
Died	February 12, 1944(1944-02-12) (aged 57) Pondicherry, French India
Parents	Woodrow Wilson Ellen Axson Wilson

Biography

Margaret Woodrow Wilson was born in Gainesville, Georgia on April 16th, 1886. While Wilson's parents were living in the North where her father was teaching at the time of her birth, both of her parents strongly identified with the South. Consequently, Ellen Wilson did not want her children born as Yankees and arranged to stay with family in Gainesville for the births of her first two daughters. Margaret attended local schools, with some associated with the colleges where her father taught.

In his will, Wilson's father had bequeathed her an annuity of $2,500 annually (worth $39,529 today) as long as that amount did not exceed one-third of the annual income of his estate, and as long as she remained unmarried.[2] Wilson sang, and she made several recordings. In 1914, "My Laddie" was released on Columbia Records, #39195.[3]

In 1938 Margaret Wilson traveled to the ashram of Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry, India, where she remained for the rest of her life. She became a member and devotee of the ashram and was given the new name 'Nistha', meaning "dedication" in Sanskrit. She and the scholar Joseph Campbell edited the English translation of the classical work on the Hindu mystic, Sri Ramakrishna, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna by Swami Nikhilananda, which was published in 1942, by Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, New York.[4]

The Star-Spangled Banner (1915)

A 1915 recording of the Star-Spangled Banner as sung by Margaret Woodrow Wilson, daughter of Woodrow Wilson

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Wilson died from uremia on February 12, 1944 at the age of 57, and was buried in Pondicherry, India, unmarried and without issue.[5]

See also

• The Subtle Body, a history of yoga in America with a chapter on Wilson

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Margaret Woodrow Wilson.

• Woodrow Wilson's Letters to his Darling Daughter from the Shapell Manuscript Foundation
• Margaret Woodrow Wilson at Find a Grave