Margaret Johnson Patterson Bartlett (September 29, 1903 – August 1, 1992) was a great-granddaughter of 17th U.S. President Andrew Johnson.
Bartlett was descended from Johnson's oldest daughter Martha Johnson, who was acting First Lady during Johnson's presidency and who was married to Reconstruction-era U.S. Senator from Tennessee David T. Patterson. Margaret was the only child of their son Andrew J. Patterson, who worked at family businesses in East Tennessee and after the death of his mother began curating exhibits of Andrew Johnson memorabilia and allowing scholars access to Johnson family papers. After her father died, Margaret Bartlett inherited and curated the Johnson legacy for the rest of her life. She was also interviewed about the family over the years, such as on the occasion of the death of William Andrew Johnson, when she told reporters that William Andrew was the only one of Dolly Johnson's children to be born in Greeneville.[1]
Thus she is of some importance to the historiography of his presidency as she lived in the Johnson family home for half of her life, was the heir to artifacts associated with the family, and gave tours at Andrew Johnson National Historic Site "until 1976...when she died in 1992, she laid in state in the Homestead parlor."[2] She was the last family member to be buried in the fenced Johnson family plot atop the hill at what is now Andrew Johnson National Cemetery.[2]
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As the reputation of Andrew Johnson and his role in the failure of Reconstruction is reevaluated by historians, Bartlett's role as the "foremost figure behind Greeneville's interpretation of Johnson from 1958 until 1993" is also being reassessed.[4]