Van Buren Jr., Martin

Born: 1812-12-20 Hudson, New York

Died: 1855-03-19 Paris, France

Martin Van Buren Jr., "Mat" for short, was the third child of Martin and Hannah Hoes Van Buren. Mat served as his father's secretary during the latter's presidency. His father also appointed him to a phantom post in the General Land Office. After his father left the White House, Mat copied and edited his father's private correspondence and assisted his brothers with editing his father's presidential papers. He continued this work until his premature death from tuberculosis.

Gravestone, Kinderhook Reformed Church Cemetery, Kinderhook, NY; Doug Wead, All the Presidents' Children: Triumph and Tragedy in the Lives of America's First Families (New York: Atria, 2003), 8, 64-68.