First Ladies For Dummies. Marcus A. Stadelmann, PhD

When asked whether she had saved George Washington’s portrait, Dolley Madison said: “Our kind friend, Mr. Carroll, has come to hasten my departure, and is in a very bad humor with me because I insist on waiting until the large picture of Gen. Washington is secured, and it requires to be unscrewed from the wall. This process was found to be too tedious for these perilous moments; I have ordered the frame to be broken, and the canvass taken out it is done, and the precious portrait placed in the hands of two gentlemen of New York for safe keeping.”

      THE STORY OF A MISSPELLED NAME

      The story of Dolley Madison’s first name is a strange one. Everybody referred to her as Dolley Madison until her grand-niece Lucia B. Cutts published a book in 1886 entitled “The Memoirs and Letters of Dolly Madison.” With the book, she set the precedent of spelling her name, Dolly. Nobody questioned her because she was a relative of Dolley’s. Lucia further claimed that Dolly was the abbreviation for Dorothea and that she was named after the granddaughter of the famous Virginia governor Alexander Spotswood.

      Many businesses soon began marketing products under the name Dolly Madison. The Dolly Madison Bakery for example was started in 1937. The image the company used to market their products portrays Dolley in her famous turban but obviously her name was changed to just Dolly. The bakery is most famous for their Zingers snack cakes still sold today even though the bakery has been bought out by Hostess Brands.

      Then in 1958 it was discovered in some of James Madison’s papers that the name of his wife was spelled Dolley. This discovery made the front page of the New York Times. Already having trademarked their products, American businesses were not about to change the name and so they just stuck with Dolly.

      So, yes, the correct spelling of her name was Dolley Madison, but often she is just referred to as Dolly Madison.

Dolley Madison became so popular that businesses used her name and image to market their products. Soon, items such as ice cream and cigars had her name attached to them.

      Becoming the first lady named First Lady

      President Madison decided to abide by the precedent George Washington set of serving only two terms and retired in 1817. He and Dolley moved back to Virginia, and Dolley continued to host her parties for local and state notables. She enjoyed her life in retirement until James Madison died in 1836. A widow for the second time in her life, Dolley returned to Washington, D.C., in 1837 to pay off her son’s debts.

Her son, Payne Todd, had accrued lots of debts and had been in debtor’s prison twice. For this reason, she had to sell her planation in Virginia. With the money from the planation, she paid off his debts and bought a house right across from the White House in Washington, D.C., where she continued to host crowded receptions. As soon as she returned, people flocked to her, and she soon became a hostess and social affairs advisor to President Martin Van Buren, whose wife had died before he became president. She helped him with social events, such as planning White House parties. She would do the same for Letitia Tyler, the wife of President John Tyler, who was disabled, and later on even advised First Lady Sarah Polk, who wasn’t familiar with the process of hosting White House social events.

      

Dolley Madison lived a long and fulfilling life and died at the age of 81 in 1849. When she died, President Zachary Taylor noted: “She will never be forgotten because she was truly our First Lady for half a century.” With this statement, he coined the term First Lady for future presidents’ wives.

      

Dolley Madison enjoyed taking snuff, even though it was considered unladylike at her time. She used her habit for good purposes. As the story goes, when Speaker of the House Henry Clay wanted to go to war against Great Britain, at a time when President Madison wasn’t yet ready to do so, Dolley invited him over to discuss the issue, and the two dipped snuff together, and Henry Clay later became a close ally of President Madison. One of Dolley’s friends is even quoted as saying, “The snuff box has a magic influence.”