Dolley Maddison: American Hero
The American Revolution was fought and won by Patriots, people who had nothing to lose but their lives. Patriots came in all forms, men and women – often, we forget the importance women played in the American Revolution, the role they have historically played as champions of society and freedom. I was reminded of this recently by a reader – I have placed much focus on America’s Founding Fathers without mentioning the women that not only gave these men strength, but the women who helped inspire the freedoms and liberties we enjoy today. That is entirely my bad, American history is the experience of all Americans, and only exists because of the strength and efforts of women. Let’s explore Cibola’s connection to one of America’s greatest and least discussed heroes.
In 1768 an American girl named Dolley Payne was born in New Garden, North Carolina. New Garden was a Quaker settlement – a Christian religious town settled in 1748. At only 10 months old, Dolley’s parents would make one of the most consequential moves in her upbringings – they moved to a plantation and her father owned slaves.
Growing up, Dolley learned what girls were supposed to learn at that time: housekeeping, needlework, cooking, and all things that were at the time expected to be done by a woman. Dolley received little to no formal education, which would have been frowned upon anyway because she was a woman.
In 1783 the American Revolution came to an end and her father, John Payne, freed all of his slaves and moved the family to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Having now grown up with her father owning slaves, and seeing him liberate them, Dolley had a sense of the importance of freedom as she stepped in the next chapter of her life at age 15. This next chapter would be fabulous, exposing Dolley to a new metropolitan – potentially cosmopolitan – lifestyle. Here, Dolley fell in love with the fashion, art, and fastpaced lifestyle the city provided, but her Quaker upbringings denied her many of the fashionable trends among young women at the time, forcing her to admire the pomp and circumstance from a distance. This fast-paced way of living would plague her family as John Payne’s business would fail and he would be expelled from the Quakers for not paying his debts. John Payne died in 1772.
Before her father died, he told Dolley that she should marry a Quaker lawyer, a wish she fulfilled in 1790 when she wed John Todd Jr. The couple enjoyed two years of marriage before Dolley gave birth to their first son, Payne Todd; in 1793 an epidemic of Yellow Fever began to sweep through Philadelphia, in this same year Dolley would give birth to her second son, William Todd (Temple).
John Todd was busy doing business in the city while his wife and sons stayed in the suburbs to escape the disease ravaging Philadelphia; John caught Yellow Fever, and soon after so did the infant William. Dolley’s world shattered when the two died on the same day in 1793.
Following his death, John Todd’s brother seized control of the family finances and shut Dolley out.
In 1794 the Continental Congress was in session in Philadelphia while Washington, D.C. was being built. The widow Dolley was not unknown to the city’s famous, as she was socially involved in every event. James Madison, coauthor of the Federalist Papers, took notice of the attractive, young widow and asked a friend of his, Alexander Hamilton, to introduce them.
At the time, James Madison was 43 and had been a bachelor his entire life, Dolley was 25 with one surviving son. The two hit it off, though Dolley was unsure at first about the advances, she came to find security with James, who soon after their first meeting asked for her hand in marriage. Having turned 26, Dolley married James in 1774. James was not a Quaker, because Dolley married outside of the sect, she was ostracized and expelled from the community.
Having now shed her Quaker lifestyle, Dolley embraced the cosmopolitan life and began wearing the fashion once denied to her, a staple part of her historical image. Nobody could have predicted what this marriage would mean for American history, but the importance of women was about to become incredibly clear – even if people pretended not to see it.
In 1801 James was made US Secretary of State by President Thomas Jefferson, a widower. James, Dolley, Payne, and the enslaved people on the Madison Plantation moved to Washington D.C.
President Jefferson was in desperate need of assistance, requiring help to hold gatherings with congressional leaders and other global heads of state. Fortunately for the president, Dolley spent her youth planning extravagant parties in her head, her young adult years were spent acquiring the capability to execute her plans, and in her middle life she could make all of those dreams a reality.
Dolley quickly became an important and celebrated figure in the White House, organizing weekly parties across the capital which presented James an opportunity to politick and spread his name around influential circles.
In 1809 James Madison was inaugurated as the President of the United States, Dolley was known as the Wife of the President, a title she was about to transform.
In 1808, thanks to the efforts and sociability of Dolley, James Madison received the Presidential Nomination from the Democrat-Republican Caucus and would win two terms as the President of the United States.
President Madison took over at a time when tensions were rising with the United Kingdom, tensions which led to war. The War of 1812 erupted in June of that year, and the President went across the Union to help prepare for the conflict, while he was out of the capital, the British attacked.
Washington D.C. was set ablaze; British troops were torching everything they could. Dolley knew that this country could not afford to lose its founding documents like the Declaration of Independence, or the famous oil painting of George Washington; she understood the importance of preservation. To protect the capital and this nation’s most treasured, sacred, and important items, Dolley organized a tactical retreat from the capital.
With her assistants, Dolley grabbed everything she could think of and escaped the burning city, crossing the Potomac River into Virginia.
Thanks to Dolley’s bravery, quick wit, and gusto, American history was saved and preserved.
Days after the British burnt the city, Dolley returned and immediately began throwing parties in a classically American way as to say, “You have taken my home, but not my spirit.”
President James Madison died on June 28, 1836. Having been a Founding Father, codrafter of the Federalist Papers, and President of the United States, he left Dolley a decent fortune which was wasted paying the debts of her son, Payne Todd, who lived up to his name. Payne Todd’s alcoholism and poor financial skills left Dolley with nearly no money when, in 1844 she moved permanently to the capital city and was granted the honorable title, “The Grand Dame of Washington”. During this time of her son’s poor financial decisions, Dolley sold the Madison Plantation slaves. Congress purchased historical items of James Madison’s from Dolley and put the money in a trust so that Payne Todd couldn’t extort his mother.
1844 marked the beginning of Dolley’s Golden Years, Congress considered Dolley a living relic due to her connection to the founders of this great nation. Dolley was awarded an honorary seat in the US Congress and was one of the first private Americans to send a telegraph message. In her old age, Dolley counseled other Wives of the President.
In 1849 Dolley died, and her eulogy was given by President Zachary Taylor, the man whose name was given to the majestic turquoise Mount Taylor here in Cibola County. In his eulogy, President Taylor called Dolley a “First Lady” the first known use of a term which has since stuck for every Wife of the President so far.
Dolley Madison was the first Wife of the President to receive the honor of First Lady – “receive” isn’t the right word, but neither is “earn”; Dolley forged this title through her bravery and strength. Through pure American willpower and desire, with only the promise of A More Perfect Union guiding her. This is a title that is now automatically bestowed on the wives of the president, and when we elect our first president who has a male husband, his title will be “The First Gentleman”, titles which are only possible because of Dolley’s incredible American Heroism.
It is fitting that President Taylor acknowledged the strength and importance of Dolley, but more fitting that his name adorns Cibola’s greatest natural beauty. Cibola is full of women who, much like Dolley, are tenacious fighters with a willpower to see success for the community. Mount Taylor gives Cibola a connection to one of our greatest heroes.
Turn your attention away from the distant past and let’s look closer, in 2018 Cibola County Manager Kate Fletcher entered the picture and saved Cibola County from the economic ruin our leaders had previously led us down. In 2021, Grants City Manager Vanessa Chavez was hired and is actively working on bringing the city away from the brink of financial ruin; and Village of Milan Manager Linda Cooke is now entering the fold to help shepherd the village to a more fiscally responsible path.
Cibola County is very fortunate to have strong female leadership across the board. The Village of Milan has the Sentinel of Milan Vivian Brumbelow, and Trustee Rosanne Lopez. The Cibola County Board of Commissioners has two proud women serving, First Vice Chair Martha Garcia, and Second Vice Chair Christine Lowery. The City of Grants does not have any women in elected positions of leadership, but the Grants/Cibola County School District has Member Emily Hunt Daily, and just elected Aleisha A. Lundstrom to the board, she will take up her position in 2022.
November kicked off Native American Heritage month, and in terms of strong women, there are few from Cibola County stronger than the Pueblo of Laguna’s Debra Haaland, who is also the United States Secretary of the Interior. Since her appointment, for the first time, the DOI has made the frequent disappearances of Native American women a priority to address.
In other roles, Cibola Communities Economic Development Foundation has Executive Director Eileen Yarborough, the Chamber of Commerce has Brenda Curtwright – Female leadership is ripe in this county, there are far too many great female leaders to name all of them, in what has been a productive change to the years of male-dominated politics which helped bring the county near economic ruin.
We are blessed to have the leadership of these strong, intelligent women.
Dolley Madison was an American Hero, and though she owned slaves, she was a champion for equality in a time where little existed. We should all strive to exert her level of strength, pride, and American Patriotism.