James Madison’s Montpelier

What Was in That desk?

As part of the Presidential Detective Story, Montpelier’s research team examines correspondence and other records from family members who inherited or purchased objects with a Madison provenance.  Once such sale that we have been studying to better understand the dispersal of Madison objects is the 1852 sale of the contents of Toddsberthe, the home of John Payne Todd, Dolley’s son.

John Payne Todd only outlived his mother by two and a half years. He died in Washington in January 1852. In the last decade of his life, he began to construct a series of dwellings which he named Toddsberthe, on land near Montpelier. Our research indicates he hoped his mother would spend her final years with him at Toddsberthe.  He spent extravagant amounts of money to construct this home, despite his heavy debt.  Todd’s outlandish design included a ballroom,  rotunda, and several other rooms that suggest grandiose intentions which were never fully carried out. Some of the buildings were unfinished and t at least one was damaged by fire when he died.

Following Todd’s death, Toddsberthe  and its contents were sold to satisfy his many creditors. The November 1852 sale liquidated much of Montpelier’s furniture and artwork that  Dolley did not take to Washington in 1844. Family members, including Dolley’s niece  Annie Payne Causten, arranged to purchase some of Dolley’s belongings at the  sale. Causten, was Dolley’s caretaker and companion during the former First Lady’s final years.

At the time of the sale, Annie lived in Washington. Shortly after Dolley Madison’s 1849 death, Annie had married Dr. James H. Causten, Jr., a prominent Washington physician. Surviving letters suggest that her health declined. She died only a few days before Toddsberthe’s sale. Shortly before the sale, she and her husband drafted a memorandum to her father-in-law, James Causten, Sr., to suggest objects to purchase at  Toddsberthe sale.

While Dr. Causten likely prepared to bury his wife, his father journeyed to Orange County, Virginia, to attend the sale, list in hand. The first item listed was “The large book case with drawers (it is called the Walnut press and valued at 12 $. it has fancy open work cornice. The papers in the drawers not to be removed”. Why was this piece of furniture so important to Annie Causten? Why on the document was it noted to purchase this piece “at all means”? Evidence suggests it was not the piece of furniture that was of value to Annie Causten, but rather the papers it contained. So what were these papers?

In a letter written six years before, in October of 1844, Todd wrote  to Dolley to update her on Toddsberthe’s construction. In the same letter, he commented, “your papers were brought to Toddsberthe in a wooden desk or chest flat in the wagon all safe & untouched in the same position & put away equally safe for you to open in the spring.” This suggests  Dolley’s papers- moved from Montpelier to Toddsberthe-were stored in this piece of furniture and awaited her return to sort them. Dolley never made it back to Montpelier, so the papers stayed in the desk at Toddsberthe. Annie was eager to retain them.

While we have been able to determine what was in the desk that Annie Causten coveted, we haven’t yet located the desk itself.   James Causten, Sr. shipped it to Washington, however, we cant’ trace what happened after the shipment. Further complicating matters are the early deaths of Annie in 1852, and her husband James, only 4 years later. This left their daughter, Mary, an orphan. Relatives raised her. Many of the Madison objects Mary inherited as well as other objects her parents owned were dispersed to other family members or were sold.  Whoever received this desk might have been completely unaware of its Madison provenance.

This is just one example of the mysteries our curatorial team seeks to solve as we learn more about the dispersal of Montpelier’s furniture.  We may never be able to locate this desk and this mystery may remain unsolved.  For every mystery such as this one, we have been lucky to have three or four that we have been able to solve.  We will continue to keep you updated on this project and the many  other fascinating twists and turns  of this Presidential Detective Story.

Letters quoted:

James H. Causten, Jr., “Memorandum”, ca. 1852, MS 47, Greensboro Historical Museum, Greensboro, NC.

John Payne Todd to Dolley Payne Todd Madison, October 1844, box 2, folder May–Dec 1844, Papers of Dolley Madison, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Tags: Dolley Madison, Dolley Madison's Family, Household Goods, John Payne Todd