Born in a Boneyard: First Lady Eliza Johnson
Telford, Tennessee
Future First Lady Eliza McCardle Johnson was born in Jonesborough in 1810, on the family farm, which later became the graveyard of the McCarty United Methodist Church. The birth spot is marked by a granite monument that can easily be mistaken for a tombstone. Eliza's real grave is much more elaborate, as she's buried next to her husband Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States, down the road in Greeneville.
Eliza, who was only 16 when she married Andrew, is best known for helping her illiterate teenage husband learn to read and write. Although the Johnsons later lived in the White House for four years, Eliza spent nearly all of that time in her bedroom, hobbled by tuberculosis. She died less than six months after Andrew, in January 1876.