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Dorothy Payne Madison 1768 ~ 1849
Dorothy Payne Madison
There are few figures on the canvas of American history that
stand out with such undimmed charm as that of beautiful Dolly
Madison. Certainly no one of its kerchiefed dames of the early
Republic made their public and private life a better example of
American womanhood to American girls of the succeeding
generation than the bright-eyed Quaker girl widow, who became
hostess of the White House in 1809.
By the chance of a parental visit, it was in the province of
North Carolina, under the reign of King George III, that
Dorothea Payne was born, on the 12th of May, 1768. By lineage
and residence, however, she had a good right to call herself "A
Daughter of Virginia," for her parents returned to their Hanover
county plantation when she was an infant, and it was at the old
school in Hanover that she learned her first lessons. Her
grandfather, John Payne, was an English gentleman, who came to
Virginia, and married Anna Fleming, a lady of Scottish birth,
and who was descended, it is claimed, from the Earl of Wigton, a
Scottish nobleman. Her father, John Payne, Jr., married Mary
Coles, the daughter of an Irish gentleman from Enniscorthy,
County Wexford, Ireland. This Mary Coles was descended from the
Winstons, of Virginia, a family known for its aristocratic
lineage. Indeed, it is reasonable to suppose that much of Dolly
Payne's conversational gift was a legacy from these Winstons.
Her mother's uncle, Patrick Henry, the orator, was said to have
inherited his talent from his brilliant mother, Sarah Winston,
while another cousin, Judge Edmund Winston, was a local
celebrity.
Of the three strains of blood, English, Irish and Scotch, that
flowed in Dolly Payne's veins, the Irish appears to have
predominated. The roseleaf complexion, the laughing eyes, the
clustering curls of jet-black hair, the generous heart and
persuasive tongue, all these were legacies from the County
Wexford ancestors. The "Cousin Dolly" for whom Dolly Payne was
named was the lovely Dorothea Spotswood Dandridge granddaughter
of the famous Sir Alexander Spotswood, of Virginia. Curiously
enough, this "Cousin Dolly" married two of Dolly Payne's
mother's cousins, first, Patrick Henry, and, after his death,
when her little namesake was nine years old, Judge Edmund
Winston, making a bewildering maze of cousins, as they used to
do, and still do, down in Virginia, Dolly Payne's father was a
Quaker, and so little Mistress Dolly wore her ashen gown down to
her toes and the queer little Quaker bonnets and plain kerchiefs
and long cuffs covering her dimpled arms, as prescribed for
those of her sex by the decree of the "Friends." But this sober
dress was not to her mind, it seems, for we read that she wore a
gold chain about her neck, under the folds of her kerchief, a
sin which she confessed to the old black "Mammy Rosy," and who,
no doubt, after scolding her for such an impropriety, consoled
her with an extra allowance of some particularly longed for
dainty.
It was on account of John Payne's religious belief that he set
free his Negro slaves, sold his plantation, and moved his family
to Philadelphia, where he hoped to find more sympathy than was
to be had from the Virginia cavaliers. But John Payne found his
financial position much embarrassed with the sale of the
Virginia plantation, and was, no doubt, glad when a desirable
suitor, in the person of young John Todd, a Quaker lad and
rising young lawyer, asked for the hand of Mistress Dolly.
Mistress Dolly herself was not enthusiastic in the matter, but
she finally yielded to her father's desire, and was married to
Lawyer Todd on the seventh day of January, 1790, in the Friends'
Meeting House on Pine Street. There were no minister, no bridal
veil, no wedding music, no dancing, and no drinking the bride's
health, nor any of the merrymaking her gay young heart would
have liked. Her wedding must have cost her many a pang in its
absence of all gayety and brilliancy.
Dolly's years with her first husband were brief, though happy,
and they ended tragically. Three years later John Todd died of
yellow fever, that swept over Philadelphia, and Dolly Todd was
left a young widow in poor circumstances, and with one child,
Payne Todd, who was in after years to sadden and shadow her
life. She went to live with her mother, then also a widow, in
straitened means, who had taken some gentlemen to board. But
Dolly's sunny nature would not let her brood over her grief.
Now, for the first time, she was mistress of herself. There was
no Quaker father or Quaker husband to restrain her in her life
of frivolity. This period of her life was her real girlhood, and
that training school for the personal charm and social grace
wherein lay the secret of her future greatness. In about a year
after the death of John Todd, Aaron Burr, who had been an inmate
of Mrs. Payne's house-hold, introduced the young widow to James
Madison, who had already made a wide reputation. Mrs. Todd wrote
to a friend that Mr. Burr was going to bring "that great little
Madison'' to call upon her. The "great little Madison" called;
in the words of a biographer, "He came; he saw; she conquered."
Shortly after this Mrs. Washington sent for Dolly, and
questioned her about Madison's attentions, strongly advising the
youthful widow to accept him as a husband. She did so at once,
receiving the President's and Mrs. Washington's heartiest
congratulations. Dolly's sister had married George Steptoe
Washington, the President's nephew, so there was a connection in
the two families, and the second marriage was solemnized at
Harewood, the estate of her brother-in-law, on September 15,
1794. From Harewood they went to Montpelier, Madison's home, in
Orange County, Virginia, traveling over a distance of a hundred
miles by coach.
It was here, through his wife's influence, that Madison was
induced to hold his seat in Congress until the end of the
Washington administration, which concluded in 1797. When it
ended Dolly Madison lived in Philadelphia, for Madison did not
come to take part in national affairs again until Jefferson
became President, in 1801, and in the meantime the seat of
government had been moved to Washington. Then the man who had
framed the Constitution of the United States, and was known as
the "Father of the Constitution," was needed, and Jefferson
appointed Madison Secretary of State. From this time began Dolly
Madison's social reign in Washington. She became, indeed, a
power to be reckoned with in political games. For, though she
made no effort to mix in the affairs of state, her influence was
felt indirectly in matters of great importance.
In 1809, Dolly Madison's husband succeeded Jefferson as
President, and she realized her ambition by becoming the first
lady of the land. She was equal to the occasion. When shy young
youths came to the White House it was she who put them at ease.
When aiders of the opposition party grew most bitter, the
President's wife was always unfailing in her courtesy and
attention to their wives. In her drawing room opposing elements
met, and she smoothed away the friction with one of those rare
smiles or a pleasant word. Even during the trying period of the
War of 1812, when Madison was torn to distraction by the Peace
party, she was the most popular person in the United States. The
story of her cutting out Washington's portrait from the frame
when the British were about to enter the Capital, does not seem
to be quite true; she had the frame broken because it had to be
unscrewed, and there was no time to lose, but one of the
servants actually did it. It was a sultry August day that the
English fleet sailed up the Chesapeake and anchored at the mouth
of the Potomac. At sight of the enemy's ships Washington
presented a spectacle very much like Brussels had before
Waterloo fell. The bewildered crowds were employed in conveying
valuables out of the city, and an endless procession of coaches
and chaises, with flurried-looking occupants, went streaming out
of the Capital. Mr. Madison and his secretaries were at
Bladensburg, the field of battle, and his wife was unwilling to
leave Washington until he returned. In spite of her great
anxiety she kept brave and cheerful, and even planned a dinner
party for the night which was to witness the burning of the
Capital. She saw one official after another go out of the city,
but heroically refused to desert her post and, though the
British Admiral sent her the startling word that he would make
his bow in her drawing-room, not until a messenger from her
husband arrived, crying, "Clear out, clear out ! General
Armstrong has ordered a retreat!" did she turn her back upon the
White House. And even then she took time to save a carriage load
of cabinet papers and the White House silver. Then, reluctantly,
she took her departure. "I longed, instead," she affirmed with
spirit, "to have a cannon from every window."
She barely escaped the marauding British troops, for it was only
a few hours later that they entered Washington, and set fire to
the Capitol. By the lurid light of that burning building the
destroying army marched down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White
House, where they partook of the wines and viands that had been
prepared for Dolly Madison's dinner party. Mrs. Madison,
meantime, with her little train of followers, was journeying to
meet Mr. Madison, as some penciled notes from him had directed.
Of the next few days' wanderings of the President and his wife,
which, to us, in our later century, read like a comedy of
errors, it can only be said that had President Madison showed
the same coolness and judgment as his wife, much of the ridicule
to which he was subjected would have been avoided.
But in the days of general rejoicing that followed the
declaration of peace Mr. Madison's official blunders were
forgotten, and Dolly Madison became more popular than ever. The
soldiers, returning home from their long service, stopped before
her home, "The Octagon," to cheer. Her receptions in this
comparatively small house were more brilliant than those of the
White House had been. In the gayeties of the "Peace Winter"
Dolly framed a memorable epic in the annals of Washington
society. James G. Blaine wrote of her: "She saved the
administration," and while, perhaps, his praise was too great,
she held greater social and political sway than any other woman
of her country. In the midst of her greatest social glory she
had one great grief. Her son, Payne Todd, the "American Prince,"
had his mother's charm, but not her nobility.
After Madison's two terms were over he returned again to
Montpelier, where he lived until the year 1836, when he passed
out of the world in which he had left so lasting an impression.
After his death Dolly Madison returned to Washington, where the
remaining twelve years of her life were spent in the house now
owned by the Cosmos Club, but which is still called the Dolly
Madison Mansion. Here the old lady, now in poverty, for
Montpelier had been sacrificed to pay the gambling debts of her
unworthy son, lived, still retaining her old popularity, and
receiving attention from everybody who resided in or came to
Washington. The nation settled a goodly sum upon her, and voted
her "A Seat in the House."
When Dolly Madison died, July 12, 1849, her funeral was
conducted with pomp that has marked no other American woman's
last rites. The President and Cabinet, Senate, Diplomatic Corps,
Judges of the Supreme Court, and officers of the Army and Navy,
clergy, and all Washington society attended. It was a pageant
worth her beautiful life record. In late years her body was
removed to Montpelier.
Women of
America
Source: The Part Taken by Women in
American History, By Mrs. John A. Logan, Published by The Perry-Nalle
Publishing Company, Wilmington, Delaware, 1912.
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