Emily Donelson
First Lady of the United States
In office March 4, 1829 – December 19, 1836
Preceded by	Louisa Adams
Succeeded by	Sarah Yorke Jackson
Personal details
Born	(1807-06-01)June 1, 1807 Donelson, Tennessee
Died	December 19, 1836(1836-12-19) (aged 29) Nashville, Tennessee
Spouse(s)	Andrew Jackson "A.J." Donelson
Relations	John Donelson (father) Rachel Donelson Jackson (aunt)
Occupation	First Lady of the United States

Emily Donelson (June 1, 1807 – December 19, 1836) was the niece of U.S. President Andrew Jackson.^[1] She served as White House hostess and unofficial First Lady of the United States.^[1] Born on June 1st, 1908, her father was John Donelson the brother of her aunt, Rachel Donelson. Emily married her cousin, A.J Donelson on September 16, 1824. After her aunt's divorce with Lewis Robards in 1773 and marriage with military fighter, Andrew Jackson on 1741. Her big problem with not creating a legal divorce, having to separate from Jackson, legally divorced Mr. Robards, and remarried Jackson on 1794. At that point the problem was solved, but during the election of 1828, Republicans and supporters to John Quincy Adams found out the whole thing, and blamed Rachel for a bigamist. Even after Emily's uncle won election, 3 weeks later Rachel died of a deadly heart attack. Emily proudly served as hostess until the Peggy Eaton Affair took place, Emily meanly insulted the scandal's subject, Peggy Eaton, the whole thing leaded to Emily quitting job of hostess, so Ms. Donelson was replaced by Sarah Yorke Jackson. Suffering with tuberculosis during working as hostess, she stayed at her mothers house until Emily's died on December 19, 1836 of her tuberculosis.

Early life and marriage[link]

Emily Tennessee Donelson was born on her father's farm in Donelson, Tennessee. Her father, John Donelson, was the brother of Rachel Donelson Jackson, the wife of the future President. Unlike many girls of her day, Emily was afforded a formal education. She studied at Nashville Female Academy in Nashville, Tennessee, and was considered an accomplished student.

On September 16, 1824 seventeen-year-old Emily married A. J. Donelson. Donelson was Emily's first cousin and a ward of their mutual uncle and aunt, Andrew and Rachel Donelson Jackson.

White House hostess[link]

It has been speculated that even before Rachel Donelson Jackson's death in 1828, Jackson had planned for Emily to accompany them to Washington to assist Rachel in the duties of White House hostess. The Jacksons had maintained a similar arrangement with Emily at The Hermitage, their plantation in Tennessee. The death of Rachel Donelson Jackson caused these plans to be abandoned and Andrew Jackson asked Emily to take over all the responsibilities of the White House hostess.^[1]

She arrived in Washington at the age of 21. Her husband, A. J. Donelson, served as President Jackson's private secretary. The first months of Jackson's administration marked a period of mourning for Rachel Donelson Jackson. The unofficial period of mourning ended when Emily hosted a New Year's party at the White House on January 1, 1830.

Petticoat affair and dismissal[link]

In 1829, Washington society began to buzz with rumors surrounding Peggy Eaton, the new wife of Secretary of War John Henry Eaton. The rumors alleged the couple's relationship had begun as an extramarital affair, and that Peggy's first husband had committed suicide when he learned of their relationship.

The growing scandal, soon to be nicknamed the Petticoat affair, began to split Jackson's Cabinet. The wives of several members of Jackson's cabinet, most notably Floride Calhoun, the wife of Vice-President John C. Calhoun refused to receive Peggy into Washington society, and snubbed the couple.

President Jackson viewed the treatment of Peggy Eaton as unwarranted and unfair. He also drew comparisons to the treatment of his own late wife.^[1] Unbeknownst to the Jacksons, Rachel was still legally married to her first husband when she married Andrew Jackson. This fact was discovered by supporters of John Quincy Adams during the election of 1828. They mercilessly attacked Rachel as an adulterer and a bigamist. Jackson blamed her death in December 1828 on the stresses of the campaign. Jackson believed that Washington society was treating Peggy unfairly just as it had treated his late wife.

Jackson began to pressure his subordinates to accept the couple. Emily had sided with the group that wanted to snub the Eatons. When Jackson confronted Emily, she relented somewhat and included Peggy in White House functions, but Emily extended to her the basic courtesies and nothing more. The situation came to a head when the Eatons declined Jackson's invitation to a White House dinner in early 1830. When Jackson inquired why they had declined his invitation, Peggy cited Emily's cold treatment.

Emily and Andrew Jackson traveled to the Hermitage for a vacation in the summer of 1830. By then the rift between the President and Emily had grown so great that Emily refused to stay at the Hermitage, instead choosing to stay at her mother's house. When Jackson returned to Washington, A. J. accompanied him but Emily did not.

When Jackson returned to the White House, he implored Emily to come back and resume her duties. However, she refused to do so as long as Jackson continued to insist on Peggy Eaton's acceptance in the White House.

Beginning in 1834, Sarah Yorke Jackson, President Jackson's daughter-in-law, served as the White House hostess.^[1] There are conflicting accounts about Emily Donelson's absence from the White House during the three years that Sarah Yorke Jackson served as hostess. A cohort of scholars believe that the cause was her treatment of Peggy Eaton, while others argue that it was her worsening tuberculosis.^[1]

Illness and death[link]

Emily's health began to deteriorate in 1836. In June of that year she went to recuperate at Poplar Grove (later termed Tulip Grove), her plantation adjacent to the Hermitage. Her health continued to decline, and she died that December at the age of 29, possibly of her tuberculosis,^[2] making her the shortest-lived First Lady in American history.

References[link]

v t e First Ladies of the United States Martha Washington Abigail Adams Martha Jefferson Randolph Dolley Madison Elizabeth Monroe Louisa Adams Emily Donelson Sarah Jackson Angelica Van Buren Anna Harrison Jane Harrison Letitia Tyler Priscilla Tyler Julia Tyler Sarah Polk Margaret Taylor Abigail Fillmore Jane Pierce Harriet Lane Mary Lincoln Eliza Johnson Julia Grant Lucy Hayes Lucretia Garfield Mary McElroy Rose Cleveland Frances Cleveland Caroline Harrison Mary Harrison Frances Cleveland Ida McKinley Edith Roosevelt Helen Taft Ellen Wilson Edith Wilson Florence Harding Grace Coolidge Lou Hoover Eleanor Roosevelt Bess Truman Mamie Eisenhower Jacqueline Kennedy Lady Bird Johnson Pat Nixon Betty Ford Rosalynn Carter Nancy Reagan Barbara Bush Hillary Clinton Laura Bush Michelle Obama

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Rachel Jackson
Born	(1767-06-15)June 15, 1767 Halifax County, Virginia
Died	December 22, 1828(1828-12-22) (aged 61)
Spouse	Lewis Robards (separated in 1790, divorced in 1794) Andrew Jackson (1791–1794, invalid; 1794–1828, dissolved by her death)
Signature

Rachel Donelson Robards Jackson, born Rachel Donelson, (June 15, 1767 – December 22, 1828) was the wife of Andrew Jackson, the 7th President of the United States.

Donelson is said to have been among one of the first settlers of Tennessee. She was considered beautiful in her younger years and was quite vivacious. She had been in an unhappy marriage in Kentucky with Captain Lewis Robards, a man subject to irrational fits of jealous rage, and the two separated in 1790.^{[citation needed]}

Andrew Jackson migrated to Nashville in 1788, where he boarded with Rachel Stockley Donelson, the mother of Rachel Donelson Robards. Jackson and the younger Rachel fell in love.

Jackson and Robards married after believing that her husband had obtained a divorce. As the divorce had never been completed, their marriage was technically bigamous and therefore invalid. Historians found that a friend of Lewis Robards had planted a fake article in his own newspaper, saying that the couple's divorce had been finalized.^{[citation needed]} The Jacksons later found out about Robards' action in planting the article, and that he had never completed the divorce.

Rachel Robards ensured the divorce, the first in Kentucky history, was completed.^{[citation needed]} She and Jackson remarried in 1794.

During the presidential election campaign of 1828, supporters of John Quincy Adams, Jackson's opponent, accused his wife of being a bigamist, among other things. Despite the accusations, Jackson won by a comparative landslide; he was a popular military hero after his victory in the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812.

Jackson and his wife enjoyed a genuine love match. In 1813, she wrote,

"Do not my Beloved Husband let the love of Country, fame and honor let you forget you have me without you I would think them all empty shadows You will say this is not the Language of a Patriot but it is the language of a Faithfull wife..."^{[citation needed]}

When she died, he was inconsolable. He refused to believe she was dead and insisted that blankets be laid on her body in case she woke up and needed warmth. He built a tomb for her in her flower garden. According to his granddaughter, Rachel Jackson Lawrence, Jackson visited Rachel's grave every night at sunset. He placed her portrait at the foot of his bed so she would be the first thing he saw in the morning and the last thing he saw at night. He once said, "Heaven will be no heaven for me if she is not there."^{[citation needed]}

Jackson wrote his wife's epitaph, which reads as follows:

"Here lie the remains of Mrs. Rachel Jackson, wife of President Jackson, who died December 22nd 1828, aged 61. Her face was fair, her person pleasing, her temper amiable, and her heart kind. She delighted in relieving the wants of her fellow-creatures,and cultivated that divine pleasure by the most liberal and unpretending methods. To the poor she was a benefactress; to the rich she was an example; to the wretched a comforter; to the prosperous an ornament. Her pity went hand in hand with her benevolence; and she thanked her Creator for being able to do good. A being so gentle and so virtuous, slander might wound but could not dishonor. Even death, when he tore her from the arms of her husband, could but transplant her to the bosom of her God."

^{[citation needed]}

See also[link]

Biography portal

• First Lady of the United States

References[link]

• White House biography
• Brands, H.W. (2005). Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times. Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-50738-0. 
• Brinkley, Alan. American History: A Survey. 12th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007.
• "Rachel and Andrew Jackson's Love Story"
• John Fiske (1914). "John Quincy Adams". In James Grant Wilson. The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.  In Wikisource.

External links[link]

• Rachel Jackson at Find a Grave
• The Jackson Marriage

Anna Harrison
First Lady of the United States
In office March 4, 1841 – April 4, 1841
Preceded by	Angelica Singleton Van Buren
Succeeded by	Letitia Tyler
Personal details
Born	(1775-07-25)July 25, 1775 Morristown, New Jersey
Died	February 25, 1864(1864-02-25) (aged 88) North Bend, Ohio
Spouse(s)	William Henry Harrison
Children	Elizabeth Bassett Harrison John Cleves Symmes Harrison Lucy Singleton Harrison Este William Henry Harrison, Jr. John Scott Harrison Mary Symmes Harrison Benjamin Harrison Carter Bassett Harrison Anna Tuthill Harrison Taylor James Findlay Harrison
Occupation	First Lady of the United States
Religion	Presbyterian
Signature

Anna Tuthill Symmes Harrison (July 25, 1775 - February 25, 1864), wife of President William Henry Harrison and grandmother of President Benjamin Harrison, was nominally First Lady of the United States during her husband's one-month term in 1841, but she never entered the White House.

Early Life and Marriage[link]

Anna was born at her father's estate Solitude, just outside Morristown, New Jersey (present day Wheatsheaf Farms subdivision off Sussex Avenue in Morris Township, New Jersey ) on July 25, 1775 to Judge John Cleves Symmes and Anna Tuthill Symmes of Long Island. Her father was a Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court and later became a prominent landowner in southwestern Ohio. When her mother died in 1776 her father disguised himself as a British soldier to carry her on horseback through the British lines to her grandparents on Long Island, who cared for her during the war. Her father was also a New Jersey delegate to the Continental Congress and the Chairman of the Sussex County Committee of Safety.

She grew up in Long Island, receiving an unusually broad education for a woman of the times. She attended Clinton Academy at Easthampton, Long Island, and the private school of Isabella Graham in New York City.

When she was thirteen years old, Anna went with her father and stepmother into the Ohio wilderness, where they settled at North Bend, Ohio. While visiting relatives in Lexington, Kentucky in the spring of 1795, she met Lieutenant William Henry Harrison, in town on military business. Harrison was stationed at nearby Fort Washington. Anna's father thoroughly disapproved of Harrison, largely because he wanted to spare his daughter the hardships of army camp life. Despite his decree that the two stop seeing each other, the courtship flourished behind his back.

They married on November 22, 1795 at the home of Dr. Stephen Wood, treasurer of the Northwest Territory, at North Bend (her father was away in Cincinnati on business). The couple honeymooned at Fort Washington, as Harrison was still on duty. Two weeks later, at a farewell dinner for General "Mad" Anthony Wayne, Symmes confronted his new son-in-law for the first time since their wedding. Addressing him sternly, he demanded to know how he intended to support his daughter. Not until his son-in-law had achieved fame on the battlefield did Symmes come to accept him.

The couple apparently had a happy marriage despite the succession of tragedies in the untimely deaths of five of their grown children.

• Elizabeth Bassett Harrison (29 September 1796-27 September 1846)
• John Cleves Symmes Harrison (28 October 1798-30 October 1830)
• Lucy Singleton Harrison (5 September 1800-7 April 1826)
• William Henry Harrison Jr (3 Sept 1802-6 Sept 1838); married to Jane Irwin Harrison
• John Scott Harrison (4 October 1804-25 May 1878)
• Benjamin Harrison (5 May 1806-9 June 1840)
• Mary Symmes Harrison (28 January 1809-16 November 1842)
• Carter Bassett Harrison (26 Oct 1811-12 Aug 1839)
• Anna Tuthill Harrison (28 October 1813-5 July 1845)
• James Findlay Harrison (15 May 1814-6 April 1817)

Husband's Rise to Fame[link]

Harrison won fame as an Indian fighter and hero of the War of 1812, but he spent much of his life in a civilian career. His service in Congress as territorial delegate from Ohio gave Anna and their children a chance to visit his family at Berkeley, their plantation on the James River. Her third child was born on that trip, at Richmond in September 1800. Harrison's appointment as governor of Indiana Territory took them even farther into the wilderness; he built a handsome house at Vincennes, Indiana that blended fortress and plantation mansion.

Facing war in 1812, the family moved to the farm at North Bend. There, upon hearing news of her husband's landslide electoral victory in 1840, home-loving Anna said simply: "I wish that my husband's friends had left him where he is, happy and contented in retirement."

First Lady of the United States[link]

When William was inaugurated in 1841, Anna was detained by illness at their home in North Bend. She decided not to accompany him to Washington. President-elect Harrison asked his daughter-in-law Jane Irwin Harrison, widow of his namesake son, to accompany him and act as hostess until Anna's proposed arrival in May. Half a dozen other relatives happily went with them. On April 4, exactly one month after his inauguration, President Harrison died. Anna was packing for the move to the White House when she learned of William's death in Washington, so she never made the journey.

Later Life and Death[link]

Following William's death she lived with her son John Scott in North Bend, and helped raise his children, including eight year old Benjamin who later became President of the United States. In June 1841, President John Tyler signed into law the first pension for a president's widow, a grant of $25,000 for Mrs. Harrison.

Anna Harrison died on February 25, 1864, at age 88, and was buried at the William Henry Harrison Tomb State Memorial in North Bend. Her funeral sermon was preached by Horace Bushnell.^[1]

References[link]

• Original text based on White House biography

External links[link]

• Anna Harrison at Findagrave

v t e First Ladies of the United States Martha Washington Abigail Adams Martha Jefferson Randolph Dolley Madison Elizabeth Monroe Louisa Adams Emily Donelson Sarah Jackson Angelica Van Buren Anna Harrison Jane Harrison Letitia Tyler Priscilla Tyler Julia Tyler Sarah Polk Margaret Taylor Abigail Fillmore Jane Pierce Harriet Lane Mary Lincoln Eliza Johnson Julia Grant Lucy Hayes Lucretia Garfield Mary McElroy Rose Cleveland Frances Cleveland Caroline Harrison Mary Harrison Frances Cleveland Ida McKinley Edith Roosevelt Helen Taft Ellen Wilson Edith Wilson Florence Harding Grace Coolidge Lou Hoover Eleanor Roosevelt Bess Truman Mamie Eisenhower Jacqueline Kennedy Lady Bird Johnson Pat Nixon Betty Ford Rosalynn Carter Nancy Reagan Barbara Bush Hillary Clinton Laura Bush Michelle Obama

Elizabeth Monroe
First Lady of the United States
In office March 4, 1817 – March 4, 1825
Preceded by	Dolley Madison
Succeeded by	Louisa Adams
Personal details
Born	(1768-06-30)June 30, 1768 New York, New York
Died	September 23, 1830(1830-09-23) (aged 62) Richmond, Virginia
Spouse(s)	James Monroe
Children	Eliza Kortright Monroe Hay James Spence Monroe Maria Hester Monroe-Gouverneur
Occupation	First Lady of the United States
Signature

Elizabeth Kortright Monroe (June 30, 1768 – September 23, 1830) was First Lady of the United States from 1817 to 1825, as the wife of James Monroe, fifth President of the United States, who held the office for two terms.

Early Life and Marriage[link]

Born in New York in 1768, Elizabeth was the daughter of Lawrence Kortright, an officer in the British army who had made a fortune privateering during the French and Indian War, and Hannah Aspinwall. She acquired social grace and elegance at an early age. A gown in the collection of the James Monroe Museum indicates she was a petite woman, not taller than 5 feet. She first caught Monroe's attention in 1785 while he was in New York serving as a member of the Continental Congress. James, age twenty-seven, married Elizabeth, age seventeen, on February 16, 1786, in New York City. After a brief honeymoon on Long Island, the newlyweds returned to New York to live with her father until Congress adjourned.Their first child, Eliza, was born in late 1786 or early 1787 in Virginia.

Ambassador's Wife[link]

In 1794, James was appointed United States Minister to France by President George Washington. In Paris, as wife of the American Minister during the Reign of Terror, she helped secure the release of Madame La Fayette, wife of the Marquis de Lafayette when she learned of her imprisonment and threatened death by guillotine. The Monroes also provided support and shelter to the American citizen Thomas Paine in Paris, after he was arrested for his opposition to the execution of Louis XVI. While in France, the Monroes' daughter Eliza became friends with Hortense de Beauharnais, step-daughter of Napoleon, and both girls received their education in the school of Madame Jeanne Campan, who had been an advisor on court etiquette to Marie Antoinette. This association led to a friendship between the family of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Monroes.

James was recalled from his Ambassadorship in 1796, due to his support of France in the opposition of the Jay Treaty. The Monroes returned to Virginia where he became Governor. A son, James Monroe, Jr., was born in 1799 but died in 1801.

In 1803, President Jefferson appointed James to be United States Minister to Great Britain, and also the United States Minister to Spain. The Monroes' third child, a daughter whom they named Maria, was born in 1803, probably in England. In 1804, James was sent as a special envoy to France to negotiate the purchase of Louisiana, in addition to remaining the Ambassador to both Great Britain and Spain. In December 1804, he and Elizabeth were invited by Napoleon to attend his coronation in Paris, and were part of the official American delegation. The Monroes returned to Virginia in 1807.

Life in Virginia and Washington[link]

Monroe returned to the Virginia House of Delegates and was elected to another term as governor of Virginia in 1811 but served only four months. In April 1811 he became Secretary of State. He had little to do with the War of 1812, as President Madison and the War Hawks in Congress were dominant. The war went very badly, so Madison turned to Monroe for help, appointing him Secretary of War in September 1814. Monroe resigned as Secretary of State on October 1 but no successor was ever appointed so he kept doing the work. Thus from October 1, 1814, to February 28, 1815, Monroe effectively held both cabinet posts. Monroe formulated plans for an offensive invasion of Canada to win the War of 1812, but the peace treaty was ratified in February, 1815, before any armies moved north. Monroe therefore resigned as Secretary of War and was formally reappointed Secretary of State. Monroe stayed on at State until March 4, 1817, when he began his term as the new President of the United States. During the War of 1812, Elizabeth stayed primarily on the Monroe family estates near Loudon and Albemarle, Virginia.

First Lady of the United States[link]

Elizabeth began her tenure as First Lady on March 4, 1817, when her husband commenced his first term as the fifth President of the United States. Her husband was re-elected to a second term in office, therefore she remained in her role of First Lady until March 3, 1825.

Children[link]

James and Elizabeth had three children:

• Eliza Kortright Monroe Hay (1787–1835): Eliza appeared to many a haughty, pompous socialite, quick to remind others of her good breeding and lofty station. In 1808 she married George Hay, a prominent Virginia attorney who had served as prosecutor in the trial of Aaron Burr. He later ran his father-in-law's campaign in Virginia and was appointed a federal judge by President John Quincy Adams. During the Monroe administration, Eliza often substituted as official White House hostess for her ailing mother. Eliza soon alienated most of Washington society for her refusal to call on wives of the diplomatic corps, as was the custom. She caused another social furor in closing her sister's wedding to all but family and friends. For all her apparent vanity, however, she demonstrated genuine compassion during the fever epidemic that swept Washington during Monroe's term. She spent many sleepless nights selflessly caring for victims. Following the deaths of her husband and father, she moved to Paris, converted to Catholicism and lived in a convent. Her daughter, Hortense, was named in honor of her friend, Hortense de Beauharnais, step-daughter of Napoleon.

• James Spence Monroe (1799–1801): The only son of the Monroes was sickly and he died in early childhood. His name is merely a speculation, as his grave reads "J.S. Monroe", and not this name.

• Maria Hester Monroe-Gouverneur (1803–1850) was still a child when her father was elected president. Maria finished school in Philadelphia before moving into the White House in 1819. On March 9, 1820, she married her first cousin, Samuel L. Gouverneur, in the first wedding of a president's child at the White House.^[1] Many in Washington criticized the Monroes for keeping the wedding private; just 42 members of the family and close friends were invited. Friction between Maria's husband and her outspoken sister strained family relations thereafter. The Gouverneurs moved to New York City. Former President Monroe, upon losing his wife in 1830, moved in with them. President John Quincy Adams appointed her husband postmaster of New York City.

Death and legacy[link]

Although Elizabeth Monroe regained a measure of respect and admiration during her husband's second term, she compared poorly to her predecessor, Dolley Madison, who had captivated Washington society, setting a standard by which future First Ladies were measured.^{[citation needed]}

Retiring sickly and suffering several long illnesses, Elizabeth died on September 23, 1830 aged 62, at her home, Oak Hill. She was interred at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.

The First Spouse Program under the Presidential $1 Coin Act authorizes the United States Mint to issue 1/2 ounce $10 gold coins and bronze medal duplicates^[2] to honor the first spouses of the United States. Elizabeth Monroe's coin was released in February 2008.

• 

  Obverse

• 

  Reverse

• 

  Obverse (bronze medal)

• 

  Reverse (bronze medal)

See also[link]

• Oak Hill Plantation - home of James and Elizabeth Monroe

Relations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/em5.html
• Elizabeth Monroe at Findagrave

v t e First Ladies of the United States Martha Washington Abigail Adams Martha Jefferson Randolph Dolley Madison Elizabeth Monroe Louisa Adams Emily Donelson Sarah Jackson Angelica Van Buren Anna Harrison Jane Harrison Letitia Tyler Priscilla Tyler Julia Tyler Sarah Polk Margaret Taylor Abigail Fillmore Jane Pierce Harriet Lane Mary Lincoln Eliza Johnson Julia Grant Lucy Hayes Lucretia Garfield Mary McElroy Rose Cleveland Frances Cleveland Caroline Harrison Mary Harrison Frances Cleveland Ida McKinley Edith Roosevelt Helen Taft Ellen Wilson Edith Wilson Florence Harding Grace Coolidge Lou Hoover Eleanor Roosevelt Bess Truman Mamie Eisenhower Jacqueline Kennedy Lady Bird Johnson Pat Nixon Betty Ford Rosalynn Carter Nancy Reagan Barbara Bush Hillary Clinton Laura Bush Michelle Obama

Dolley Madison
First Lady of the United States
In office March 4, 1809 – March 4, 1817
Preceded by	Martha Jefferson
Succeeded by	Elizabeth Monroe
Personal details
Born	(1768-05-20)May 20, 1768 Guilford County, North Carolina
Died	July 12, 1849(1849-07-12) (aged 81) Washington, D.C.
Spouse(s)	John Todd (1790-1793) James Madison (1794-1836)
Children	John Payne Todd William Temple Todd
Occupation	homemaker, First Lady of the United States of America
Signature

Dolley Payne Todd Madison (May 20, 1768 – July 12, 1849) was the spouse of the fourth President of the United States, James Madison, and was First Lady of the United States from 1809 to 1817. She was notable for her social gifts and helped define the role of the First Lady. Her success as a hostess contributed to increasing the popularity of Madison as president.

During the previous administration of Thomas Jefferson, a widower and their friend, she occasionally acted as First Lady for him to fulfill the ceremonial functions more usually associated with the President's wife.^[1] She also aided in the completion and furnishing the interior of the newly constructed White House.

Spelling of name[link]

In the past, biographers and others stated that her given name was Dorothea after her aunt, or Dorothy, and that Dolly was a nickname. But, her birth was registered with the New Garden Friends Meeting as Dolley, and her will of 1841 states "I, Dolly P. Madison".^[2] Based on manuscript evidence and the scholarship of recent biographers, Dollie, spelled with an "i", appears to have been her given name at birth.^[3] Spelling was more variable in those years. Historians have settled on using Dolley as the spelling of her given name.

Early life and first marriage[link]

Miniature of Dolley, painted by James Peale, 1794

Dolley Payne was born as the first girl in her family on May 20, 1768, in the Quaker settlement of New Garden, North Carolina, in Guilford County.^[4] Her parents, both Virginians, had moved there in 1765. Her mother, Mary Coles, a Quaker, had married John Payne, a non-Quaker, in 1761. Three years later, he applied and was admitted to the Quaker Monthly Meeting in Hanover County, Virginia, where Coles' parents lived. Dolley Payne was reared in the Quaker faith.

By 1769, the family returned to Virginia to live near the Coles family.^[4] As a young girl, Dolley grew up in comfort at her parents' plantation in rural eastern Virginia, deeply attached to her mother's Coles family. In total, the Paynes had four boys (Walter, William Temple, Isaac, and John) and four girls (Dolley, Lucy, Anna, and Mary).

In 1783, following the American Revolutionary War, John Payne emancipated his slaves,^[4] as did numerous slaveholders in the Upper South.^[5] Some, like Payne, were Quakers, who had long encouraged manumission; others were inspired by revolutionary ideals. From 1782 to 1810, the proportion of free blacks to the total black population in Virginia increased from less than one percent to 7.2 percent, and more than 30,000 blacks were free.^[6]

Payne moved his family to Philadelphia, where he went into business as a starch merchant. By 1789, however, his business had failed. He died in October 1792. Dolley's mother Mary Payne initially made ends meet by opening a boarding house. A year later she moved to western Virginia to live with her daughter Lucy, who had married George Steptoe Washington, a nephew of George Washington. The widow Mary Coles Payne took her two youngest children, Mary and John, with her.

Marriage and family[link]

In January 1790, Dolley Payne had married John Todd, a Quaker lawyer in Philadelphia. They quickly had two sons: John Payne (called Payne) and William Temple (born July 4, 1793^[7]). After their mother left Philadelphia in 1793, Dolley's sister Anna Payne moved in with the Todds to help with the children.

In August 1793, a yellow fever epidemic broke out in Philadelphia. More than 4,000 people died during the four months that the epidemic raged.^[8] Twenty thousand people fled the city by mid-September. Dolley lost both her husband and younger son William in the epidemic, as well as her Payne parents-in-law.^[4] Husband and child both died on October 24, 1793, at the ages of twenty-nine and three months, respectively.^[9] Dolley Todd was a widow at the age of twenty-five, with her young son Payne to support.

Second marriage[link]

Dolley Payne Todd and James Madison, a delegate to the Continental Congress which met in Philadelphia until 1800, likely encountered each other at social events in the temporary federal capital. In May 1794, Madison asked his friend Aaron Burr to introduce him to the young widow. Madison was seventeen years her senior and, at the age of forty-three, a longstanding bachelor. The encounter apparently went smoothly, for a brisk courtship followed; by August Dolley accepted his proposal of marriage. Since he was not a Quaker, she was expelled from the Society of Friends for marrying him. They were married on September 15, 1794 and lived in Philadelphia for the next three years.^[10]

In 1797, after eight years in the House of Representatives, James Madison retired from politics. He returned with his family to Montpelier, the Madison family plantation in Orange County, Virginia. There they expanded the house and settled in. When Thomas Jefferson was elected as the third president of the United States in 1800, he asked Madison to serve as his Secretary of State. Madison accepted, and his family: Dolley, her son Payne Todd (as he was commonly called), and her sister Anna Payne, moved to Washington, with their domestic slaves. They stretched to take a large house, as Dolley believed entertaining would be important in the capital.^[11]

In Washington 1801-1817[link]

Sketch of Dolley, c. 1800

An engraving

Dolley Madison worked with the architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe to furnish the White House, the first official residence built for the president of the United States. In addition, as Jefferson was a widower, she sometimes served as his First Lady for official ceremonial functions.

In the approach to the 1808 presidential election, with Thomas Jefferson ready to retire, the Democratic-Republican caucus nominated James Madison to succeed him. He was elected President, serving two terms from 1809 to 1817, and Dolley became the official First Lady. She became renowned for her social graces and hospitality, and contributed to her husband's popularity as president. In 1812 Madison was re-elected, when war with Great Britain had begun.

Burning of Washington, 1814[link]

As the invading British army neared Washington in 1814 during the war, Dolley Madison ordered the Stuart painting to be removed, as the White House staff hurriedly prepared to flee:

"Our kind friend Mr. Carroll has come to hasten my departure, and in a very bad humor with me, because I insist on waiting until the large picture of General Washington is secured, and it requires to be unscrewed from the wall. The process was found too tedious for these perilous moments; I have ordered the frame to be broken and the canvas taken out"..... "It is done, and the precious portrait placed in the hands of two gentlemen from New York for safe keeping. On handing the canvas to the gentlemen in question, Messrs. Barker and Depeyster, Mr. Sioussat cautioned them against rolling it up, saying that it would destroy the portrait. He was moved to this because Mr. Barker started to roll it up for greater convenience for carrying." ^{[12][13][page needed]}

Popular accounts during and after the war years tended to portray Dolley Madison as the one who removed the painting, and she became a hero. According to the memoir of Paul Jennings, a young slave in the White House, Madison's slaves in 1814 helped collect the valuables such as silver, Washington's portrait, and original drafts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.^{[citation needed]} Early twentieth-century historians noted that Jean Pierre Sioussat, a Frenchman, had directed the servants in the crisis.^[14][15]

Dolley Madison hurried away in her waiting carriage, along with other families fleeing the city. They went to Georgetown and the next day crossed over the Potomac into Virginia. With the danger lower after the British left Washington, a few days later she returned to the capital to meet her husband.

In Montpelier 1817-1837[link]

Dolley at the end of her tenure as First Lady in 1817

Dolley Madison grave at Montpelier

On April 6, 1817, a month after his retirement from the presidency, Dolley and James Madison returned to the Montpelier plantation in Orange County, Virginia.^[16]

In 1830, Dolley Madison's son by her first marriage, Payne Todd, who had never found a career, went to debtors prison in Philadelphia. The Madisons sold land in Kentucky and mortgaged half of the Montpelier plantation to pay his debts. ^[17]

James Madison died at Montpelier on June 28, 1836. Dolley remained at Montpelier for a year. One of her nieces, Anna Payne, came to live with her, and Todd also came for a lengthy stay. During this time, Dolley Madison organized and copied her husband's papers. Congress authorized $55,000 as payment for editing and publishing seven volumes of the Madison papers, including his unique notes on the 1787 convention.^[18]

In the fall of 1837, Dolley Madison returned to Washington, charging Todd with the care of the plantation. She moved with her niece Anna Payne into a house located on Lafayette Square. It was bought by her sister Anna and her husband Richard Cutts. Madison took Paul Jennings with her as a butler, and he was forced to leave his family in Virginia.^[19]

In Washington 1837-1849[link]

While Madison was living in Washington, Payne Todd was unable to manage the plantation, due to alcoholism and related illness. Madison tried to raise money by selling the rest of the president's papers. She agreed to sell Jennings to Daniel Webster, who allowed him to gain his freedom by paying him through work.

Unable to find a buyer for the papers, she sold Montpelier, its remaining slaves, and the furnishings to pay off outstanding debts.

Paul Jennings, the former slave of the Madisons, later recalled in his memoir,

"In the last days of her life, before Congress purchased her husband's papers, she was in a state of absolute poverty, and I think sometimes suffered for the necessaries of life. While I was a servant to Mr. Webster, he often sent me to her with a market-basket full of provisions, and told me whenever I saw anything in the house that I thought she was in need of, to take it to her. I often did this, and occasionally gave her small sums from my own pocket, though I had years before bought my freedom of her."^[20]

In 1848, Congress agreed to buy the rest of James Madison's papers for the sum of $22,000 or $25,000.

In 1842, Dolley Madison joined St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C. This church was attended by other members of the Madison and Payne families.

She died at her home in Washington in 1849 at the age of 81. She was first buried in the Congressional Cemetery, Washington, DC., but later was re-interred at Montpelier next to her husband.^[21]

Representation in other media[link]

• Irving Stone, Magnificent Doll (1946), film directed by Frank Borzage, Universal Pictures
• Brown, Rita Mae, Dolley: A Novel of Dolley Madison in Love and War, New York: Bantam Books, 1994; reprint (Presidential Wives Series), Huntington, NY: Nova History Publications, 2001.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dolley Madison

• Allgor, Catherine, Parlor Politics: In Which the Ladies of Washington Help Build a City and a Government, Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2000.
• Allgor, Catherine, A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation, New York: Henry Holt, 2005.
• Arnett, Ethel Stephens, Mrs. James Madison: The Incomparable Dolley, Greensboro, N.C.: Piedmont Press, 1972.
• Howard, Hugh. Mr. and Mrs. Madison's War: America's First Couple and the Second War of Independence, (Bloomsbury Press, 2012)
• Witteman, Barbara (2003). Dolley Madison: First Lady (illustrated ed.). Mankato: Capstone Press. pp. 48. ISBN 0-7368-1551-1. 
• Hart, Craig (2004). A Genealogy of the Wives of the American Presidents and Their First Two Generations of Descent (illustrated ed.). Jefferson: McFarland Publishing. pp. 309. ISBN 978-0-7864-1956-2. 

External links[link]

Biography portal

• http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/jennings/jennings.html - Paul Jennings book on James Madison
• The Dolley Madison Project - The life, legacy, and letters of Dolley Payne Madison
• The Dolley Madison Digital Edition - The online correspondence of Dolley Payne Madison
• Dolley Madison Letters - Digitized collection of letters from Dolley Madison - no login required
• Dolley Madison at Find a Grave
• Dolley Madison - PBS American Experience documentary
• American Artifacts: Congressional Cemetery, American History TV, CSPAN3, on YouTube, accessed April 16, 2012.

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