‘The Queen of America’: Dolley Madison

On May 20, 1768, a girl with jet black hair and skin of porcelain fairness was born to a devout Quaker family in Guilford, North Carolina. Dolley Payne was raised with similar skills that many young girls were instilled with such as needlework, household help, and harvesting crops. Although she could not boast of formal education, she grew to be an intelligent and politically savvy woman of exceptional charm.

During the year 1769, Dolley and her family moved to Hanover County, Pennsylvania. Her father pursued several unsuccessful business ventures that plunged her family into compounding debt, leading her father to be cast out of the Quaker community. Her father spiraled downward as his financial debts remained unresolved and he struggled to provide for his wife and eight children.

Dolley grew into a beautiful young woman and caught the attention of an intelligent man and rising lawyer, John Todd Jr. They married in a simple and traditional Quaker ceremony in 1790. The match was highly favored and Dolley saw a bright and promising future ahead as they were blessed with two young boys, Payne (born 1792) and William (born 1793). However, the marriage ended prematurely as yellow fever spread throughout Philadelphia in 1793. Despite Dolley traveling to the outskirts of Philadelphia to escape the yellow plague, the illness found her home like so many others, and Dolley lost her husband John, and six-week-old son, William on the same day. Dolley gave a tearful goodbye to the life she had only just begun to build.