Dolley's Final
Years
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| Daguerreotype
by Matthew Brady of Dolley around 1848. Photo taken by
Mark Sties at Montpelier, National Trust for Historic
Preservation. |
|
Madison,
in declining fortune, could not afford to free his slaves in his
will lest he further impoverish his widow.
Dolley moved to Washington the year following his death and
lived there initially in poverty. Her friends tried to
alleviate her financial difficulties. Paul Jennings, no longer a
slave, reports how he and Daniel Webster helped her:
"In
the last days of her life, before Congress purchased her
husband's papers, she was in a state of absolute poverty, and
I think sometimes suffered for the necessaries of life.
While I was a servant to Mr. Webster, he often sent me to her
with a market-basket full of provisions, and told me whenever
I saw anything in the house that I thought she was in need of,
to take it to her."
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| The
purchase of her husband's papers by Congress relieved her
poverty. She lived in Washington until her death on July
12th, 1849. At her funeral, President Zachary Taylor,
Madison's second cousin, paid her tribute as the "first
lady". She was the first Presidential spouse afforded this
title. |
| Dolley's
residence, the Dolley Madison House in Washington D.C.
American Memory Collection, Library of Congress. |
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