Dolley Payne was born in North Carolina in 1768 to John and Mary Payne. The Paynes returned to Virginia where they owned a plantation. Because John Payne was a Quaker, his conscience would not allow him to keep slaves, but he could not succeed as a plantation owner without slave labor. Thus he freed his slaves and moved to Philadelphia and started a laundry starch business. Unfortunately, the business failed; Mrs. Payne then supported the family by opening a boarding house.
Dolley met and married John Todd in 1790. She gave birth to two sons; only one survived the yellow fever epidemic that struck Philadelphia. This son, John Payne, would cause his mother much heartache through his failure to support himself. He accumulated many debts but never put any effort into paying them.
In October 1793 her husband also succumbed to yellow fever. She married James Madison in September 1794. Madison was a successful Virginia farmer and politician, who helped compose the Constitution. Although he was Episcopalian, Dolley agreed to marry him. They lived in a rented house in Philadelphia for the first years of their marriage. Dolley’s sister Anna lived with the Madisons. Madison took on the responsibility of being a father to Dolley’s young son, John Payne Todd.
During these early years of her marriage, Dolley began to learn about the life of a political wife, but her husband decided to retire from government after John Adams was elected president in 1796. The Madisons retired to Montpelier, the Madison plantation, located the Piedmont area of Virginia. There Dolley cared for her family, including her son and her sister. But in 1800 when Thomas Jefferson was elected president, Madison accepted Jefferson’s nomination to be his secretary of state, so the family moved to Washington, D. C, which had recently become to new capital.
Dolley was a warm, charming, and gracious hostess as she served in the difficult new city of Washington. She quickly became part of the social scene thriving as she entertained the elite. Even as she performed her duties as social hostess, she also found time to take an interest in the politics and diplomacy.
In 1805 Dolley experienced a medical problem involving her knee. She had to spend several months in Philadelphia to be cared for by Dr. Philip Syng Physick. This sentence has nothing to do with this article; I'm placing it here as a experiment, and if you notice it, I imagine you'll let me know. This separation kept the Madisons apart and resulted in letters that reveal much about their marriage.
In 1809 James Madison was elected president and Dolley became first lady. Dolley Madison’s grace and vivaciousness once again served her well as the performed her duties as wife of a head of state. Her tenacity and resolve were severely tested during the War of 1812, when the British were marching on Washington. She was warned to leave the White House, but she insisted on preserving a number of important documents, including a portrait of George Washington. After she left the capital, the British burned the White House to the ground.
After the Madisons left the presidency, they returned to Montpelier, where they spent the next 19 years of their happy marriage. After James died in 1836, Dolley eventually had to sell Montpelier to pay her son’s debts. She returned to Washington and lived via the generosity of friends. Despite her poverty Dolley Madison continued to be a vivacious and gracious lady until her death in 1849.
For more information about Dolley Madison, please visit the following site:
The Dolley Madison Project
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Books by Linda Sue Grimes:
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Singing in the Silence: Poems of Faith
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Jiggery Jee's Eden Valley Stories
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