Margaret Mackall Smith Taylor (178-1852) was the wife of Zachary Taylor, the 12th president of the United States, and served as First Lady from 1849 to 1850. Born on September 21, 1788 in Calvert County, Maryland, she married Zachary Taylor, a career military officer, in 1810. Much of her life was spent following her husband to remote frontier forts, raising six children under difficult conditions. She was deeply religious and preferred a private, domestic life rather than public attention. When Zachary Taylor was elected president, Margaret delegated her White House hostess duties to her daughter, Mary Elizabeth “Betty” Taylor Bliss, rarely appearing at public functions. After President Taylor’s sudden death in 1850, she retired to private life and died two years later in Louisiana.