She was born to Mary Coles a Quaker and John Payne who became a Quaker three years into marriage. So Dolley was raised with the Quaker faith and that set the tone of her life. Dolley was one of eight children in the Payne family, four boys and four girls. For a brief time that family lived in Greensboro and that is, of course, when she was born. They came from Virginia and later returned to Virginia until 1765 when John Payne let his slaves go free and moved to Philadelphia and went into business as a starch merchant.

In 1790, Dolley married John Todd a Quaker lawyer. He died of yellow fever in Philadelphia in 1793 along with her youngest son William Temple. Then came along James Madison who was seventeen years older than the twenty five year old Dolley. He had his friend Aaron Burr introduce them and they hit it off and were married in September of 1794. Dolley became an Episcopalian following James’s faith. James was in the House of Representatives for eight years and then retired. They moved to the Madison family estate in Virginia to be planters and live quietly. Thomas Jefferson had other plans as he asked James to be his Secretary of State. He accepted the position and they were diverted to Washington D.C.. She went on to be a very important person in the presidencies of Thomas Jefferson and her husband James Madison.

Greensboro Doll is a post from: VidMama

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