A Tale of Two Tales
In addition to reading the the Madisons’ personal correspondence, Montpelier’s documentary researchers read memoirs and reminiscences written by contemporaries and Madison family members. There are two particularly interesting sources which survive for the life of Dolley Madison, written by members of her family. Dolley’s niece, Mary Estelle Elizabeth Cutts, wrote a set of memoirs of the life of her famous aunt, to whom she had been very close, titled Memoir I and Memoir II. In turn, Mary’s niece Lucia adapted those memoirs into a compact and readable book titled Memoirs and Letters of Dolley Madison.
Lucia presented a romantic ideal of Dolley Madison by changing names, dates and the text of actual letters. Although Mary’s admiration of Dolley is apparent from her Memoirs, Lucia changed actual scenes of Dolley’s life and those changes are reflected in her editing of Mary’s Memoirs and her own published work. Together, these works and their creators make an interesting puzzle for documentary researchers at Montpelier.
Lucia and Mary approached their reminiscences of Dolley Madison differently to achieve their own objectives. Although Mary wanted to preserve Dolley’s privacy, she also wanted to leave a lasting legacy of her aunt. As a beloved niece and constant companion to Dolley, Mary brought an unique perspective to the Memoirs. Her accounts are divided into two manuscripts: the first focusing on Dolley’s childhood to the War of 1812; the second starting at James Madison’s presidency and ending with John Payne Todd’s death in 1852. As a witness to Dolley’s home and family life, Mary worked to faithfully record family genealogy, stories, and correspondence.
On the other hand, Lucia took Mary’s Memoir and heavily edited or changed the stories and letters to present a different, romanticized vision of Dolley. Lucia recreated Dolley’s image to fit the ideal of a notable figure for the 1880s, exaggerating stories and elaborating themes that Mary had glossed over.
Both memoirs contain stories from the life of Dolley Madison and transcriptions of letters she wrote and received. At Montpelier, we have access to some of Dolley’s original letters, so we were able to compare them to the transcriptions of those letters which Mary and Lucia had written.
Mary’s transcriptions are extremely accurate, which suggests she worked with the original letters, while Lucia appeared to have worked from Mary’s transcriptions. However, Lucia inserted or changed various parts of letters. Lucia also differed from Mary in her research. While it appears Mary drew from her own experiences, interviews with family and friends, and actual correspondence, Lucia chose to include information from other published works in her book. These works were published after Mary’s death and gave new insights into Dolley’s life.
Although both Mary and Lucia’s writings focused primarily on Dolley Madison’s life, they also provide insight into the authors and their times. Finally, both help us to see how Dolley Madison was remembered and mythologized in the decades after her death.
Tags: Dolley Madison, Dolley Madison's Family