According to Wikipedia, "Dolley Madison was reportedly referred to as first lady in 1849 at her funeral in a eulogy delivered by President Zachary Taylor; however, no written record of this eulogy exists, nor did any of the newspapers of her day refer to her by that title."
Only after 1849 (Wikipedia continues) did the title come to be used in the social circles of Washington, D.C.: "One of the earliest known written examples comes from [the] November 3, 1863, diary entry of William Howard Russell, in which he referred to gossip about 'the First Lady in the Land', referring to Mary Todd Lincoln. The title first gained nationwide recognition in 1877, when newspaper journalist Mary C. Ames referred to Lucy Webb Hayes as 'the First Lady of the Land' while reporting on the inauguration of Rutherford B. Hayes. The frequent reporting on Lucy Hayes' activities helped spread use of the title outside Washington. A popular 1911 comedic play about Dolley Madison by playwright Charles Nirdlinger, titled The First Lady in the Land, popularized the title further. By the 1930s, it was in wide use."
Whether or not Zachary Taylor actually used the term in 1849 to refer to Dolley Madison, however, he didn't coin it; it had been used even before then. Wikipedia reports that "One of the earliest uses of the term 'First Lady' was applied to [Martha Washington, the wife of the first President] in an 1838 newspaper article that appeared in the St. Johnsbury Caledonian. An author using the name 'Mrs. Sigourney' wrote that even after her husband George became president, 'The first lady of the nation still preserved the habits of early life. Indulging in no indolence, she left the pillow at dawn, and after breakfast, retired to her chamber for an hour for the study of the scriptures and devotion."
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