Monroe, Elizabeth, 1768-1830

Variant names

Hide Profile

Romance glints from the little that is known about Elizabeth Kortright’s early life. She was born in New York City in 1768, daughter of an old New York family. Her father, Lawrence, had served the Crown by privateering during the French and Indian War and made a fortune. He took no active part in the War of Independence; and James Monroe wrote to his friend Thomas Jefferson in Paris in 1786 that he had married the daughter of a gentleman, “injured in his fortunes” by the Revolution.

Strange choice, perhaps, for a patriot veteran with political ambitions and little money of his own; but Elizabeth was beautiful, and love was decisive. They were married in February 1786, when the bride was not yet 18. The young couple planned to live in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where Monroe began his practice of law. His political career, however, kept them on the move as the family increased by two daughters and a son who died in infancy.

In 1794, Elizabeth Monroe accompanied her husband to France when President Washington appointed him United States Minister. Arriving in Paris in the midst of the French Revolution, she took a dramatic part in saving Lafayette’s wife, imprisoned and expecting death on the guillotine. With only her servants in her carriage, the American Minister’s wife went to the prison and asked to see Madame Lafayette.

For 17 years Monroe, his wife at his side, alternated between foreign missions and service as governor or legislator of Virginia. They made the plantation of Oak Hill their home after he inherited it from an uncle, and appeared on the Washington scene in 1811 when he became Madison’s Secretary of State.

Elizabeth Monroe was an accomplished hostess when her husband took the Presidential oath in 1817. Through much of the administration, however, she was in poor health and curtailed her activities. Wives of the diplomatic corps and other dignitaries took it amiss when she decided to pay no calls–an arduous social duty in a city of widely scattered dwellings and unpaved streets. Moreover, she and her daughter Eliza changed White House customs to create the formal atmosphere of European courts. Even the White House wedding of her daughter Maria was private, in “the New York style” rather than the expansive Virginia social style made popular by Dolley Madison. A guest at the Monroes’ last levee, on New Year’s Day in 1825, described the First Lady as “regal-looking” and noted details of interest: “Her dress was superb black velvet; neck and arms bare and beautifully formed; her hair in puffs and dressed high on the head and ornamented with white ostrich plumes; around her neck an elegant pearl necklace. Though no longer young, she is still a very handsome woman.”

In retirement at Oak Hill, Elizabeth Monroe died on September 23, 1830; and family tradition says that her husband burned the letters of their life together.

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Monroe, James, 1758-1831. Correspondence : with son-in-law, Samuel Lawrence Gouverneur, 1817-1828. James Monroe Museum & Memorial Library
referencedIn Records of the National Park Service, 1785 - 2006. National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records, 2013 - 2017 National Archives Library, National Archives Records Administration
referencedIn Monroe, James, 1758-1831. Letters of James Monroe, 1794-1828. University of Virginia. Library
referencedIn Monroe, James, 1758-1831. Letters : concerning the Hay family, 1809-1830. James Monroe Museum & Memorial Library
referencedIn Cohane, J. J.,. Letters of Richard Smith and Wiliam W. Boardman [manuscript] 1795-1823. University of Virginia. Library
referencedIn King, George Harrison Sanford. Correspondence concerning Monroe genealogy [manuscript], 1968-1969. University of Virginia. Library
referencedIn Monroe, James, 1758-1831. Family letters : of James Monroe, 1805-1824. James Monroe Museum & Memorial Library
creatorOf Carr, George, 1800-1886. Papers of George Carr (1745) 1801-1939. University of Virginia. Library
referencedIn Peale, Charles Wilson, 1741-1827. Silhouettes of James Monroe and Elizabeth Monroe [manuscript] ante 1830. University of Virginia. Library
referencedIn Shaw, Samuel, 1768-1827. Shaw family papers, 1809-1824. Library of Congress
creatorOf Monroe, Elizabeth Kortwright. Elizabeth Kortwright Monroe to [Richard] Smith Note 1815-1815. William & Mary Libraries
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Carr, George, 1800-1886. person
associatedWith King, George Harrison Sanford. person
spouseOf Monroe, James, 1758-1831. person
spouseOf Monroe, James, 1758-1831. person
associatedWith Peale, Charles Wilson, 1741-1827. person
associatedWith Shaw, Samuel, 1768-1827. person
associatedWith Smith, Richard. person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Madrid 29 ES
District of Columbia DC US
Aldie VA US
Richmond VA US
London ENG GB
Fredericksburg VA US
Paris A8 FR
New York City NY US
Subject
Occupation
Presidents' spouses
Activity

Person

Birth 1768-06-30

Death 1830-09-23

Female

Americans

English

Information

Permalink: http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cs6htd

Ark ID: w6cs6htd

SNAC ID: 84523454