Hello Dolley

Dolley Madison only had two children, John Payne Todd and William Temple Todd, both with her first husband John Todd, whom she married when she was 21 years old. The Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 in Philadelphia claimed the lives of her husband and young William, who was only 3 months old.

Dolley was born the fourth of eight children to John and Mary Coles Payne. She lived a quiet life without any formal education in the Quaker religion and little else is known of her childhood. After her father's business failed in 1789, Dolley's mother opened their home to boarders, including Congressman Aaron Burr of New York. Several years later Burr was the person who introduced the widowed Dolley Payne Todd to James Madison.

James Madison was a learned man of very small stature, known as the Father of the Constitution and the Father of the Bill of Rights. He served as Secretary of State in the Administration of his friend, President Thomas Jefferson, from 1801 to 1809. During this time, Dolley served as the hostess at the White House whenever the widower, Thomas Jefferson, requested her assistance. This exposure to the political and diplomatic figures visiting the White House was very beneficial to the quiet and reserved James Madison's political future.

Dolley had a grand style about her that created a persona far different from her two predecessors. She was extremely active in the presidential life of her husband and was often referred to during the day as the "Presidentress". Dolley not only recreated the role of the President's wife, but she redecorated the White House in a style that was very impressive to visiting foreign diplomats. She also became active in public projects as a fundraiser and served as a board member on one project in Washington, D.C. to fund a home for orphaned girls.

More than likely, her lasting fame was cemented in history when she worked furiously removing treasures from the White House just hours before the British put it to the torch. The most repeated story details the account of Dolley saving the large (8 ft by 5 ft) Lansdowne Portrait by Gilbert Stuart of George Washington. This may be a farce however; as there is some evidence that it was a slave, Paul Jennings, and a White House cook who saved the portrait. There is another story about Dolley being the one who persuaded her husband to allow Francis Scott Key board a truce ship to seek the freedom of a friend, which placed him in the appropriate place to witness the firing on Fort McHenry and subsequently write our National Anthem.

Dolley's son John created some enormous debt for his Mother and after his Father's death this debt necessitated her selling her home, the plantation Montpelier. She also organized and sold her husband's papers to Congress, which he used to draft the U.S. Constitution. She returned to Washington a few years after her husband's passing and remained there until she died at the age of 81.

For years afterwards, Dolley Madison was the standard by which all First Ladies were measured.