Harrison delivered the longest inaugural address in American history at 8,445 words. It took him nearly two hours to read, although his friend and fellow Whig Daniel Webster had edited it for length.
Harrison met Anna Tuthill Symmes of North Bend, Ohio in 1795 when he was 22. She was a daughter of Anna Tuthill and Judge John Cleves Symmes, who served as a colonel in the Revolutionary War and a representative to the Congress of the Confederation. Harrison asked the judge for permission to marry Anna but was refused, so the couple waited until Symmes left on business--then eloped and were married on November 25, 1795. Judge Symmes confronted him two weeks later, angrily demanding to know how he intended to support a family. Harrison responded, "by my sword, and my own right arm, sir."
Harrison died nearly penniless. Congress voted his wife Anna a presidential widow's pension of $25,000, one year of Harrison's salary, and the right to mail letters free of charge.
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