(1768-1849), wife of President James Madison. Born in Philadelphia, Dolley Payne Todd was a young widow when Madison married her in 1795. Considered the ultimate Washington hostess, she presided over the White House with elegant style when her husband became president. She had already served eight years as White House hostess for widowed President Thomas Jefferson while Madison was Jefferson's secretary of state. When, during the War of 1812, the British burned the White House, Dolley Madison earned the nation's enduring gratitude by rescuing the original Declaration of Independence and a Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington and carried these historical treasures to safety.
