Dolley Madison biography

Synopsis

Early Life

Dolley Madison was born Dolley Payne on May 20, 1768, in the Quaker settlement of New Garden, North Carolina. Her parents had moved to New Garden in 1765 from their native Virginia. Her mother, Mary Coles, was already a Quaker when she married John Payne in 1761. Payne was admitted to the Quaker monthly meeting in Hanover County, Virginia, where he attended services with his wife and her parents until the couple relocated to New Jersey.

The Paynes soon returned to Virginia, to live near the Coleses and raise their young children. Dolley grew up at her parents’ plantation in eastern Virginia, with her four brothers and three sisters.

Although John Payne owned slaves, his Quaker faith preached against the practice. In 1783, following the American Revolution, Payne finally emancipated his slaves. Abandoning the plantation, Payne moved his family to Philadelphia, going into business as a starch merchant. He died in 1792.

Mary Payne initially supported herself by operating a boarding house. Shortly thereafter, she left Philadelphia to move in with her daughter Lucy, who had married a nephew of George Washington and was living in Virginia.

Marriages and Family

In 1790, Dolley married John Todd, a Quaker lawyer in Philadelphia. The couple had two sons, John Payne (called Payne) and William Temple. After Dolley’s mother left Philadelphia, her sister Anna Payne moved in with the Todds.

In August 1793, a yellow fever epidemic broke out in Philadelphia. More than 4,000 people died over the spring and summer months. By mid-September, thousands had fled the city. Dolley’s husband John and son William died of yellow fever on the same day. She was a widow at the age of 25, with her young son Payne to support.

It was not long before she met the man who would become her second husband. James Madison was a delegate to the Continental Congress, which met in Philadelphia. In 1794, Madison asked his friend Aaron Burr to introduce him to Dolley, who was well known and liked in the city’s social circles. Madison was 43, a lifelong bachelor 17 years older than Dolley. Several months later, Dolley accepted his proposal of marriage. They were married on September 15, 1794, and remained in Philadelphia for the next three years. Since James Madison was not a Quaker, Dolley had to relinquish her religious identity in order to marry him.

By 1797, Madison decided to retire from politics after eight years in the House of Representatives. He and his family returned to Montpelier, the Madison family plantation in Virginia. When his political ally Thomas Jefferson was elected as the third president of the United States in 1800, however, he asked Madison to serve as his secretary of state.