Caroline Lavinia Scott Harrison (October 1, 1832 – October 25, 1892), wife of Benjamin Harrison, was first lady of the United States from 1889 until her death.
Caroline Scott was born in Oxford, Ohio, the second daughter of the Reverend Dr. John Witherspoon Scott, a Presbyterian minister and professor of science and math at Miami University, and Mary Potts Neal. Although the family was not well-off, Caroline's father made sure that his children were well-educated. Wherever they lived, he always filled the house with books, art, and music. Religion, too, played a large part in his and the family's life.
In 1845, Dr. Scott, along with several other professors, were fired from their positions after a dispute with the university president, George Junkin, over slavery; Scott opposed it, Junkin supported it. After his dismissal, the entire family moved to College Hill, near Cincinnati, where Scott had accepted a job teaching chemistry and physics at Farmer's College. It was in Cincinnati that young Caroline met one of her father's students and her future husband, Benjamin Harrison. The two began a courtship that would last nearly a decade before their marriage in 1853.