[5][6][7] Her father was descended from Pocahontas's granddaughter Jane Rolfe, who married Robert Bolling,[8] a wealthy slave-owning planter and merchant.

[13] Unable to pay taxes on his extensive properties, and forced to give up the family's plantation seat, William Holcombe Bolling moved to Wytheville, where most of his children were born.

[15] The Bollings had been staunch supporters of the Confederate States of America, were proud of their Southern planter heritage, and in early childhood, taught Edith in the post‑Civil War South's narrative of the Lost Cause.

[citation needed] In turn, Grandmother Bolling oversaw Edith's education, teaching her reading, writing, basic math skills, speaking a hybrid language of French and English, and making dresses.

[17] William Bolling read classic English literature aloud to his family at night, hired a tutor to teach Edith, and sometimes took her on his travels.

She was miserable there, complaining of the school's austerity: the food was poorly prepared, the rooms too cold, and the daily curriculum excessively rigorous, intimidating, and too strictly regimented.

Edith hired a manager to oversee his business, paid off his debts, and with the income left to her by her late husband, toured Europe.

Distressed at the effect such wild speculation could have on respect for the presidency and on his personal reputation, Wilson suggested that Edith Bolling Galt back out of their engagement.

Similarly, she set sheep to graze on the White House lawn rather than use manpower to mow it, and had their wool auctioned off for the benefit of the American Red Cross.

During this time, her presence amongst the female royalty of Europe helped to cement America's status as a world power and propelled the position of First Lady to an equivalent standing in international politics.

[31][32][33] Edith also took over a number of routine duties and details of the executive branch of the government from the onset of Wilson's illness until he left office almost a year and a half later.

From October 1919 to the end of Wilson's term on March 4, 1921, Edith, acting in a role she later described as a "stewardship", decided who and which communications and matters of state were important enough to bring to the bedridden president.

[34] Edith Wilson later wrote: I studied every paper sent from the different Secretaries or Senators and tried to digest and present in tabloid form the things that, despite my vigilance, had to go to the President.

Phyllis Lee Levin concluded that the effectiveness of Woodrow Wilson's policies was unnecessarily hampered by his wife, "a woman of narrow views and formidable determination".

Markel has opined that Edith Wilson "was, essentially, the nation's chief executive until her husband's second term concluded in March of 1921".

[43] While a widow of moderate education for her time, she nevertheless attempted to protect her husband and his legacy, if not the presidency, even if it meant exceeding her role as First Lady.

[45][46] Upon leaving the White House in March 1921, Edith and Woodrow Wilson moved into a home on S Street NW in Washington, D.C.

She was to have been the guest of honor that day at the dedication ceremony for the Woodrow Wilson Bridge across the Potomac River between Maryland and Virginia, on what would have been her husband's 105th birthday.

[52] Wilson left her home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, with a condition that it be made into a museum honoring her husband.

The foundation has stabilized the first lady's birthplace and childhood home; it had been identified in May 2013 by Preservation Virginia as an Endangered Historic Site.

The foundation's programs and exhibits aspire to build public awareness "honoring Mrs. Wilson's name, the contributions she made to this country, the institution of the presidency, and for the example she sets for women."