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Dolley Madison
American
Icon
While
Dolley Madison may be best known to us today as either the name
of a pastry company or because she used snuff, to her contemporaries
she was a widely honored, respected and beloved figure. As she
served as occasional White House hostess, later First Lady in
her own right, Presidential widow and then Washington society icon, she spanned some eight
decades in some very important early years of American history,
Indeed, it was this multiplicity of roles while bearing that
love and respect that made Dolley Madison unique to her era.
Dolley’s
father John Payne was a Virginia
farmer and her mother Mary was a sister of Patrick Henry’s mother.
After two sons were born to the couple in Virginia they moved to another farm in North
Carolina and there on May
20, 1768 was born their first daughter.
Since the family held membership of the Society of Friends (Quakers)
it was with that organization that they registered the baby
as Dolley (with an “e”). However, when the North
Carolina farm proved unprofitable the
family returned to Virginia
in 1775 where they acquired a plantation once owned by Patrick
Henry. Still, their Quaker affiliation presented a problem to
John Payne when he faced a quandary about operating the farm
with slaves. Quakers opposed slavery but Payne needed the slaves
to work the farm, so what was he to do? Finally in 1783 he decided
to free his servants, sell the farm, and move to Philadelphia where he purchased a starch business.
Yet there was a problem when the seller who had claimed to be
leaving the trade, reneged and then set up a competing business
of his own.
There
in Philadelphia
when still her mid teens, Dolley grew into a lovely young lady
who attracted admiring male glances, even wearing the somber
Quaker garb, Tall with black hair, white skin and rosy cheeks
she combined a pleasant appearance with a loving and lively
demeanor. Still, she was in no hurry to commit herself until
one persistent suitor, local Quaker lawyer John Todd, won her
hand and they were married in 1790.
A
loving and generous husband to Dolley, Todd was greatly assisted
the Payne family in their financial difficulties as Mr. Payne
failed in business then later died. Todd helped them sell the
business with a small profit and even used his own funds to
help provide them food and shelter. With his help, Mrs. Payne
acquired a larger home where she could take in boarders. Some
of these were various federal office holders since Philadelphia was the capital of the new republic at
that time. Two of her lodgers were Secretary of State Thomas
Jefferson and New York Senator Aaron Burr.
A
promising young lawyer of 27 at the time of his marriage, Todd
moved his wife and growing family into their own home. First
child John Payne Todd was born in February, 1792 and William
Temple arrived about a year later. Yet the new baby was just
a few months old when Philadelphia
was stricken by an epidemic of yellow fever.To escape the disease,
Payne transported his wife and two small sons to a nearby community
to join her mother and several sisters and brothers. He returned
to Philadelphia
to continue his practice and then rejoined her several months
later as the epidemic seemed to have subsided. However, he became
ill and died shortly after rejoining Dolley, who also caught
the disease, as did baby William Temple. She recovered but the
infant did not.
When
she came out of mourning, Dolley went on with a new life that
included new suitors. One of these was Aaron Burr. Burr was
intelligent, ambitious and politically egocentric, and Dolley
admired him enough to ask him to be a guardian to her surviving
son. Though she might have expected a more serious relationship
to develop after the death of his wife, instead he introduced
her in 1794 to Congressman James Madison from Virginia . Madison
was 42 but had already become enamored of the 26 year old Dolley,
though the potential bride was not ready for a commitment. In
an effort to help persuade her to accept him, Madison elicited the help of General and Mrs.
George Washington who had a family tie since Dolley’s sister
Lucy was married to the General’s nephew Steptoe Washington.
Even a gentle encouraging visit with Martha Washington caused
Dolley only more concern as to whether to accept Madison or not. However, she finally accepted
and they were married in September, 1794 then quickly returned
to Philadelphia
because Congress was in session. There she entered a lively
social routine of dinners, balls, and receptions where she participated
with poise and charm. The Madisons
enjoyed three more congressional terms in Philadelphia before he retired from Congress and then
in 1797 they retired to Montpelier , Madison ’s Virginia farm. There they remained for four years
until the new President Thomas Jefferson appointed Madison Secretary
of State. The Madisons
returned to public life in 1801 but this time in the new Federal
City of Washington.
What
is now an international city with wide plazas and elegant public
buildings and monuments was in 1801 a frontier community with
clumps of homes and public buildings amidst a swampy forest.
Travel even within the city was chancy because of primitive
muddy quagmires that passed as roads. After staying in the White
House briefly, the Madisons
finally moved into a house they would occupy for 8 years.
From
her home at Montpelier
or in her Washington
home during the winter, Dolley was in her element as hostess
and society leader. An early observer described Dolley as possessing
“Unassuming dignity, sweetness, grace. It seems to me that such
manners would disarm envy itself and conciliate even enemies.”
She also assisted at the White House when widower Thomas Jefferson
welcomed her as hostess at an occasional state affair; an appropriate
duty since her husband was the third highest official and President
Jefferson and the Vice President Burr were widowers. Aside from
her entertaining duties, Dolley also encouraging and advising
young women relatives and friends as they entered society and
sought a good marriage. She was particularly successful when
two of her sisters married well – one to a congressman and the
other a Supreme Court Justice.
When Madison was elected
president in 1809 Dolley entered the next phase of her life
where she would preside over official events as First Lady in
her own right. Her White House receptions attracted many visitors,
particularly since the president’s house was a public building
and open to any caller. One of these visitors was author Washington
Irving who wrote a friend describing Dolley as “a fine, portly
dame, who has a smile and a pleasant word for everybody” and Madison as: “poor
Jemmy, a withered little apple-john.”
She
did use snuff but often even used the snuffbox as a fashion
object when she entertained. As one observer wrote: “She snuffs,
but in her hands the snuffbox seems only a gracious implement
with which to charm.”
She
also decorated the White House as she developed a social schedule
of dinners and receptions that was fitting for the President’s
Home. She returned as many calls as she could and managed a
large staff. At the same time she and Madison dealt with the
disappointments brought by Dolley’s son Payne Todd. He had gone
to private school, but never attended college nor had he settled
on a career or job. Dolley was an indulgent mother who sympathetically
tolerated his lack of ambition, and even Madison came to see that encouraging him to acquire
a profession was a lost cause. The Madisons occasionally paid his debts, and even
one time bailed him out of debtor’s prison.
Madison was re-elected in 1812, and as the couple
remained in the White House the stage was set for one of Dolley’s
most well known feats. The War of 1812 had been raging for some
months when finally Washington
itself was threatened by a British invading force. As they came
nearer, Madison and several cabinet members hurried out to inspect
the city’s defenses, leaving a small force to defend Dolley
and the White House. As the invaders neared, Madison hastened
a note to Dolley to evacuate, and she described her efforts
to secure as much government property as possible to a letter
to her sister: “I have pressed as many cabinet papers into trunks
as to fill one carriage; our private property must be sacrificed,
as is it impossible to procure wagons for its transportation…”
Then later she described a friend who had come to help her finally
leave and what happened with a special artifact: “Our kind friend,
Mr. Carroll, has come to hasten my departure and is in a very
bad humor with me because I insist on waiting until the large
picture of Gen. Washington is secured, and it requires to be
unscrewed from the wall. This 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 of New
York for safekeeping. And now, dear sister,
I must leave this house, or the retreating army will make me
prisoner in it by filling the road I am directed to take…”
Her
courage and poise in securing the important portrait won widespread
admiration from soldiers as well as history. Fortunately, after
a few more adventures she reached safety and rejoined her husband.
However, the British had burned many public buildings, including
the White House, so the Madisons
had to find lodgings elsewhere in the city.
When Madison left the
White House in 1817, the Madisons
retired to Montpelier
and there Dolley remained for nearly 20 years. They continued
to receive a steady stream of visitors, to find Dolley as a
charming but very practically minded homeowner. She retained
a youthful outlook partly because she attracted many young people
to her home, including nieces and nephews and their children. Madison continued
to enjoy the youthful visitors, as he worked to prepare his
papers for eventual publication.
When Madison died in
June 1836, Dolley soon discovered that his farm management had
been essential for their comfortable lifestyle. At first she
relied on Payne Todd but when he just added to the farm’s debt,
she was forced to sell off the land. In 1837 she finally moved
to Washington where
her husband had owned a small house where she would live with
a niece who would be her companion.
Madison had intended Dolley would complete his
work on compiling his papers for publication. After Payne Todd
ineptly and unsuccessfully tried to negotiate with a publisher
for publication of his report on the Constitutional Convention,
Congress finally purchased the papers for $30,000. However,
Todd soon wasted the money, along with all his other mother’s
assets, and when Dolly could not deny him her trust, Congress
purchased the remaining papers in 1848 and placed the $20,000
in a trust fund Todd could not access.
During
the next ten years that she lived in Washington as society icon, it was not widely known
that Dolley actually struggled with debt and lived in genteel
poverty. Statesman Daniel Webster received word of her condition
by means of a servant who had once been with Madison , and he made it a point to provide her
household with necessary foodstuffs, small sums or whatever
was needed to help her live. Yet though Dolley was ostensibly
comfortable and continued to be admired and respected, she wore
old out-of-fashion gowns and her home became run down. Visitors
who called on the president at the annual New Year ’s Day reception
would also visit Dolley, and she was included in inaugural celebrations
as well as Congressional sessions. Dolley retained a sense of
amused tolerance at the attention she had caused during these
final years. There was some speculation among Washington ladies as to whether she “rouged” or
not (applied cheek makeup – considered scandalous in an era
when “decent” women did not wear makeup). As biographer Margaret
Bassett wrote: “The passing scene and its people were still
her delight and there she was to be found, knowing and urbane,
a tall figure in an old black velvet gown with a white tulle
turban rising above clusters of jet black ringlets on each side
of her smooth white forehead.”
As
she grew older, Dolley was baptized and confirmed at the Episcopal
church she attended, and also drew up a will giving half of
her $20,000 trust fund to Payne Todd and the other half to the
loyal niece she had adopted. Her last appearance was in February
1849 at a final reception of the Polk presidency, receiving
guests along with the president and Mrs. Polk. She died on July
12 of that year, and her funeral brought such honors and attendance
than had not been seen in Washington
for many years. After her death Todd attempted to break the
will, claiming the niece’s half, but was dead himself within
three years.
From
her birth in an obscure Carolina
farm through the tragic deaths of husband and son, the grief
of a dissolute son, to the loving respect and honor derived
from a happy marriage to a remarkable member of the nation’s
Founding Fathers, Dolley Madison had remained and still remains
a notable American woman.
~*~
A native
of Kansas City , Missouri , Anne grew up in northwestern Ohio
, and holds degrees in history: a BA from Wilmington College
, Wilmington , Ohio (1967), and a MA from Central Missouri State
University , Warrensburg , Missouri (1968).
A freelance
writer since the early 1970s, she has published in Christian
and secular publications, has taught history on the junior college
level, and has spoken at national and local writers' conferences.
Her book "Brittany, Child of Joy", an account of her severely
retarded daughter, was issued by Broadman Press in 1987. She
also publishes an encouragement newsletter "Rainbows Along the
Way."
~*~
A native of Kansas City, Missouri , Anne grew up in northwestern
Ohio , and holds degrees in history: a BA from Wilmington College,
Wilmington , Ohio (1967), and a MA from Central Missouri State
University , Warrensburg , Missouri (1968).
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