The marriage, though childless, was notably happy “our hearts understand each other,” she assured him. Before long Dolley was reporting to her best friend that “the great little Madison has asked…to see me this evening.”Īlthough Representative James Madison of Virginia was 17 years her senior, and Episcopalian in background, they were married in September 1794. With her charm and her laughing blue eyes, fair skin, and black curls, the young widow attracted distinguished attention. Just three years later he died in a yellow-fever epidemic, leaving his wife with a small son.īy this time Philadelphia had become the capital city. John Todd, Jr., a lawyer, exchanged marriage vows with Dolley in 1790.

Dolley grew up in the strict discipline of the Society, but nothing muted her happy personality and her warm heart. In 1769 John Payne took his family back to his home colony, and in 1783 he moved them to Philadelphia, city of the Quakers. She always called herself Dolley, and by that name the New Garden Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends, in Piedmont, North Carolina, recorded her birth to John and Mary Coles Payne, settlers from Virginia. To this day she remains one of the best known and best loved ladies of the White House–though often referred to, mistakenly, as Dorothy or Dorothea. Her iconic style and social presence boosted her husband’s popularity as President.įor half a century she was the most important woman in the social circles of America. Dolley Payne Todd Madison, one of the best known and loved First Ladies, was the wife of James Madison, the fourth President of the United States (1809-1817).

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