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| U.S. President Martin Van Buren...located just off Oxford Street |
We were strolling along Oxford Street the other day when Mike spotted some embassy's so we took a left and which embassy's we actually saw have left me, but what hasn't was the Blue Plaque (or blue dot as I like to say) that I spotted, it was the "U.S. President Martin Van Buren lived here" blue dot. This not only excited me, but it made me curious. Why did he live here? I had no idea so I went home and did some research as I usually do...
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Martin Van Buren, Eighth President of the United States Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-BH82401-5239 DLC |
Now I will share what I learned:
- He was the first president born an American citizen as his predecessors all were born before the Declaration of Independence and therefore born British subjects
- 8th U.S. President 1837-1841
- Born in Kinderhook, New York in 1782
- Died in Kinderhook, New York in 1862
- His parents were Dutch
- English was not his first Language
- He was 5 ft. 6 inches tall
- He was referred to as "a little squirt"
- He had crazy large chop sideburns (as you can see from the picture above)
- His wife Hannah died at age 35 (1819) and he never remarried
- He was a father
- New York State Senator 1813-1815
- New York Attorney-General 1815-19
- United States Senator, 1821-29
- Governor of New York, 1829
- Secretary of State, 1829-1831 (under Jackson)
- Minister to England, 1831 (hence the blue dot)
- Vice President, 1833-1837 (under Jackson)
- Major Events While in Office:
- Panic of 1837 (1837)
- Caroline Affair (1837)
