Florence Mabel Kling DeWolfe Harding was called "Flossie" by her family and "Duchess" by her second husband. How did she sign her name as First Lady?

edmund80

She always signed her name, and insisted on being addressed as, Florence Kling Harding. http://books.google.com/books?id=l10B-YpEqbEC&pg=PA253&lpg=PA253&dq=florence+harding+signed+her+name&source=web&ots=-WBDZttOEZ&sig=VaVCsXQ_Br3G8O1AHFla7jDDGcY&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result http://www.custodiansofhistory.com/images/HArding%20FLorence%20LS%20.jpg http://historical.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=87091&Lot_No=90683&src=pr Dec 06 08, 2:12 AM

queproblema

That's correct. An elderly friend of mine has a note sent to her mother by Florence Harding on stationery like that in your second link. It is postmarked Aug. 2, 1923, at 5:30 p.m. in San Francisco, exactly two hours and five minutes before the President died. Since Mrs. Harding was said to have been reading aloud to her husband in the hours immediately preceding his death, presumably a secretary typed and mailed the note. The signature, however, is identical to the one you found and this one I found yesterday: http://www.historyforsale.com/html/prodetails.asp?documentid=254440&start=1&page=13 We are convinced she signed it herself, but are puzzled and intrigued that with her husband's critical illness she would be attending to such minor business as a thank you note to a woman who sent her roses when they swung through Portland on their ill-fated "Voyage of Understanding." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_G._Harding#Death Dec 06 08, 3:54 AM