Dolley Madison

“ Dolly found herself more than comfortably provided for.
The moving of the national capital to Philadelphia had crowded the city to its utmost capacity, and homes were hard to find. Mary Payne had opened her doors, [38] and Aaron Burr, then Congressman, was fortunate to find boarding there.
Dolly was soon drawn into society, and her brilliant beauty and charming manners drew many admirers. James Madison requested to be introduced, and Dolly wrote her friend, Elizabeth Lee: "Thou must come to me, for Aaron Burr [39] is [76] going to bring the great little Madison to see me this evening." ”

“ Of Dolly, Harriet Martineau said:
"She is a strong-minded woman, fully capable of entering into her husband's occupations and cares, and there is little doubt that he owed much to her intellectual companionship, as well as to her ability in sustaining the outward dignity of his office. When I was her guest she was in excellent health and lively spirits, and I trust that, though she has lost the one great object of her life, she may yet find interests enough to occupy and cheer many years of honored age."
James Madison had died shortly after this visit on June 28, 1836. ”

“ Returning to Philadelphia, Dolly threw herself into the gay life of the capital, of which she at once became one of [86] the chief ornaments. John Adams wrote to his wife from Philadelphia: "I dined yesterday with Madison. Mrs Madison is a fine woman, her sisters equally so. One of them is married to George Washington. The ladies, whose name is Payne, are of a Quaker family, one of North Carolina."
Her marriage to Madison opened up to her a larger and broader life, one for which, by nature, she was well fitted. ”

“ Dolly Madison was probably the greatest social genius that has ever occupied the White House. The papers of that day declare “Mrs. Madison is the most popular person in the United States.”
Washington social life yet abounds in pleasing legends of her graceful, courteous kindness, not only to the gentlemen and ladies of the legations, but to the ignorant and socially unskilled who were among her worshipers. ”

“ Here also are the portraits of George Steptoe, and the "gay fox-loving squire," Samuel Washington, his father, the loving husband of five wives, who laid them [90] one by one in the little family burying plot near by, where now he himself and many of his descendants sleep the last sleep.
"In ancient graves, where trailing vines
And tender wild flowers grow."
In 1807 a great grief came to Dolly in the loss of her beloved mother, who did not live to see her mistress of the White House. Mary Coles had been a belle and beauty during her girlhood. ”

“ During the eight years when, as wife of the Secretary of State, she and her sisters, Lucy and Anna, were often called on by Jefferson [57] to do the honors of the White House, she wore her "pretty Quaker cap." Indeed it was not until she came there as its mistress that she reluctantly laid it aside as "no longer suitable to her surroundings."
She has sometimes been accused of adhering less strictly to some of the more essential beliefs of Quakerism, for which her father had suffered so much.
Dolly was perhaps never a great woman, but she was infinitely better, a loving one. ”

“ Jany 29th 1839 D. P. Madison.
To The Honble W. C. Preston.
Darwin has said that a man's worth is best measured by the duration of his friendships. Dolly's friendships were life-long. She never allowed the friends of more recent date, no matter who they might be, to crowd into the background the friends of her youth. In the days of her prosperity, rich and poor were alike welcomed at her lavish board.
The little daughter of that early correspondent, Elizabeth Brooke (Ellicott) , was treated to strawberries and cake, during informal visits at the White House. ”

“ The grave "elders" of the Friends' meeting had hesitated ere they drew up the letter of disownment against Lucy Payne, [45] now the wife of the nephew, namesake and ward of Washington. And now again, as was their custom, "Dolly" Madison [46] was "disowned because of her marriage" to one not a member of the Society. The many strangers drawn to Philadelphia by the establishment of the government there were causing sad havoc in their midst. ”

“ Her kind heart, frank, cordial manners, and personal beauty made her very popular. When she presided at the White House her tact, ready recognition of every one, and her remembrance of events concerning them increased this feeling. Although her entertainments lacked the ceremony of past administrations, “Dolly” Madison was considered a charming hostess. While she was extremely charitable, she always dispensed her husband’s wealth with prudence and judgment. ”

“ Dorothy Madison was disowned Twelfth month 20th, 1794, by the monthly meeting of Friends of Philadelphia, on account of her marriage.
[88]
CHAPTER III. Washington and the White House.
When Jefferson became President, in 1801, Madison was made Secretary of State. The capital had been moved the year before to Washington, and the Madisons settled on F street, between 13th and 14th. From this time Dolly's history is well known. She became at once the center of the social life of the capital; all eyes were turned her way, and she soon won the hearts of the people. ”

“ A rough people many of them still were, without doubt, when the little Dolly was born in their midst, on a plantation in Guilford county, to take charge of which her father had come a few years before from his Virginia home to where a thrifty, God-fearing colony of Quaker emigrants from New Garden, Pennsylvania, had peopled the wilderness, and in memory of the Pennsylvania home had erected a new "New Garden Meeting House" in a forest clearing. ”

“ This property Madison bought shortly before his death, and the last twelve years of Dolly's life were spent in this house, already endeared by many associations, as the home of her sister Anna.
It overlooked Lafayette Square with its fine trees, shrubbery and statuary, which years ago had been the "old apple orch [116] ard" of David Burns. In the new home, her niece Anna Payne, daughter of her brother John, who had settled in Kentucky, was her devoted adopted daughter and caretaker. Here her old friends rallied around her and she held court during her declining years. ”

“ She was the well-known “Dolly Madison,” famous for her grace, accomplishments, and belle humeur, of whom there are stories still current in Washington.
My authority informed me that there were among the boarders in the house two remarkable men, one of whom often petted me as a babe, and took a fancy to me. He was a Swedish Count, who had passed, it was said, a very wild life as pirate for several years on the Spanish Main. He was identified as the Count Bruno of Frederica Bremer’s novel, “The Neighbours.” ”

“ It was probably in the fall of 1787 that two of Dolly's Virginia friends came to pass the winter in Philadelphia,—Deborah Pleasants, [19] the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Pleasants of Beaver Dam, who had been a friend and schoolmate at the old Cedar Creek School; and her cousin Elizabeth Brook, [20] then from Leesburg, Virginia, a Quaker settlement where the smaller plantations of from one hundred to three hundred acres were cultivated entirely by free labor. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Surely this is enough of the men; let us return to the women. See the future Dolly Madison at her first meeting with the "great, little Mr. Madison." She had lived a Quaker during her girlhood, but she grew bravely over it. "Her gown of mulberry satin, with tulle kerchief folded over the bosom, set off to the best advantage the pearly white and delicate rose tints of that complexion which constituted the chief beauty of Dolly Todd." ”

“ A few years earlier a cousin of Dolly Dandridge, from her own home, the White House on the Pamunky, had been married to Colonel Washington, a gallant young officer lately elected to the House of Burgesses. A few years later Dolly Dandridge herself became the second wife of Patrick Henry, the cousin of Mary [20] Payne, a young lawyer of Hanover county, whose eloquence had electrified the House of Burgesses, and who was now its acknowledged leader in the fight against English taxation. ”

“ At the time of Dolly's death [64] her negro slaves were valued at two thousand dollars.
Madison was much interested in the Colonization Society. Of the National Society, founded in 1817, Bushrod Washington was president. Afterward there [113] was a State Colonization Society of Virginia organized, and of it John Marshall was president, and its vice-presidents were James Madison, James Monroe, James Pleasants, John Tyler, Hugh Nelson and others. These men all recognized the fact that "slavery proved the spring of woes innumerable," and hindered progress in the south. ”

“ Mitchill, in turn representative and senator from New York: "She has a fine person and a most engaging countenance, which pleases, not so much from mere symmetry or complexion, as from expression. Her smile, her conversation, and her manners are so engaging that it is no wonder that such a young widow, with her fine blue eyes and large share of animation, should be indeed a Queen of Hearts."
Dolly Madison was the representative leader of American society of that day. ”

“ She sent for Dolly and asked, "What is this I hear about Madison and Mistress Todd?" and, when Dolly hid her blushing face, took her into her arms, and told her that she and "the President" approved, and wished to see her again happily married; "and Madison will make thee a good husband," she said.
In the summer of 1793 Lucy Payne had become the girlish bride of George Steptoe Washington, [40] the nephew and [77] ward of the President. She was but fi [78] [79] [80] fteen and he seventeen years old at the time, and they were now living at Harewood [41] , near Harper's Ferry. ”

“ 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 household, introduced the young widow to James Madison, who had already made a wide reputation. ”

“ We were standing in front of that portrait of Washington which Dolly Madison once slashed from its frame to save from vandal British.
“Come,” said Peg, tugging at my wrist with the two hands of her, “I'm weary of these. Doubtless he was a wondrous fine gentleman”—pointing to the painted figure of our first president—“and lived well aware of it, himself, as one may know by the satisfied smirk of him. But show me some other picture, one more beautiful and less grand—and not so satisfied with itself, and respectable. All the folk I hate are respectable, and I begin to loathe the word!” ”

“ A sudden recollection struck Dolly. “No wonder that you did not care to have me introduce you to Professor Newton that first evening; do you remember? And of course she had saved a place at her table purposely for you. Mary Sutherland, if I supposed you repeated to her all the nonsense that you have heard me talk about her, I should never let you return to college alive.”
Mary smiled, not very much overcome by the threat. “You always say nice things about her; now, if it had been Professor Arnold–you really don’t like her at all.” ”

“ William Coles came later to America from Enniscorthy, Ireland, and married Lucy, the sister of his brother's wife, then the widow of William Dabney, by whom she had one son, William. William and Lucy Winston Coles had three children: Walter; Lucy, who married her cousin Isaac Winston, and Mary, the wife of John Payne, and mother of Dolly Madison.
Lucy Winston came of a Quaker family that has, perhaps, furnished more men of note than any other in our country. Her father, Isaac Winston, [5] emigrant, was an able man of an old Yorkshire family that had settled in Wales. ”

“ Dolly leant over to my cousin, and whispered, 'Tell me her name.' And he whispered something back to Dolly.
'It's awfully kind of you. Lady Mickleham,' he said.
'I am a kind old thing,' said Dolly, all over dimples. 'I can easily get to know them.'
'Oh, you really are awfully kind, Lady Mickleham.'
Dolly smiled upon him, waved her hand to me, and drove off, crying,—
'Do try to make Mr. Carter understand!'
We were left alone. George wore a meditative smile. Presently he roused himself to say,—
'She's really a very kind woman. She's so sympathetic. She's not like you. ”

“ A woman very rarely asks an opinion or seeks advice on such an occasion till her mind is wholly made up, and then it is with the hope and expectation of obtaining a sanction, and not that she means to be governed by your disapproval.
Afterward when Dolly Madison with, her yellow turban and kittenish ways was making a sensation in Washington society some one recalled her old association with Burr. At once the story sprang to light that Burr had been her lover and that he had brought about the match with Madison as an easy way of getting rid of her. ”