Anna Symmes Harrison was the wife of William Henry Harrison and grandmother of President Benjamin Harrison. Ill health kept her in Ohio when he became president in 1841, and his death after one month prevented her planned move to Washington. Harrison returned to North Bend after her husband's death. Though Harrison did not like her husband's successor, President John Tyler, she lobbied him to give political appointments to members of her family, leveraging her status as a former first lady. She likewise lobbied the following president, James K. Polk, to give military commissions to her grandsons. Harrison was granted a pension by the federal government in June 1841, which she spent paying her late husband's debts. Harrison became more involved in politics and religion in her later years. During the Civil War, she was a supporter of abolitionism, and she encouraged her grandsons to serve in the Union Army. In 1855, Harrison's cabin was destroyed in a fire, and she spent her final years living with her son John. Harrison died on February 25, 1864, at the age of 88. She was buried beside her husband in North Bend.