On November 19, 1834, Franklin Pierce married Jane Means Appleton. They had three children, all of which died in childhood. Franklin Pierce Jr. died only three days after birth; and Frank Robert Pierce died at four years of age from epidemic typhus; just two months before his inauguration, Franklin Pierce and his family boarded a train bound for Boston. Shortly after, their derailed car started to roll down an embankment. Franklin and Jane survived, merely shaken up, but saw their 11-year-old son Benjamin get crushed to death. Jane Pierce thought the train accident was a divine punishment for Franklin’s pursuit and acceptance of high office.