Description:

Dolley Madison
Montpelier, Montpelier Station, VA, November 12, 1835
Dolley Madison 2x Signed ALS Welcoming Visit By Martin Van Buren, Dutch Ambassador, & Madison Biographer
ALS

A 1p autograph letter twice signed by former First Lady Dolley Madison (1768-1849), the first time partly signed as "Madison" when writing out her husband's name on the first line, and the second time signed in the third person as "Mrs Madison" on the second line. November 12, 1835. Written at Montpelier, Madison's ancestral home and plantation, in Montpelier Station, Virginia. Inscribed on a watermarked sheet, with a trimmed portion of the integral address leaf engrossed by Dolley Madison affixed to the sheet at lower left. A manuscript note in Dutch signed "Adr. Martini" relates to one of the individuals mentioned in Dolley's letter. Expected wear including flattened transmittal folds, else near fine. 7.875" x 10." Provenance: Ex-Charles Hamilton, 1973.

Dolley Madison wrote this courtly note to William Cabell Rives (1793-1868), a close friend of Madison's then between terms as a U.S. Senator from Virginia. Rives had evidently written to the Madisons proposing an imminent visit to Montpelier. The trip necessitated advance warning, as Montpelier was located approximately 20 miles northeast of Castle Hill Plantation, in Keswick, Virginia, where the Rives lived in an 18th C. white clapboard and brick mansion. The former First Lady mentions that the "Vice-President" will also visit, referring to then Vice President and future 8th U.S. President Martin Van Buren (1782-1862).

Dolley Madison wrote in full, with unchanged spelling and punctuation:

"Mr Madison has received the note of Mr Rives, and will be very happy, as Mrs Madison will be, in the promised visit of the Vice-President, Mr. Martini and himself tomorrow. The pleasure will be much increased should it be convenient for Mrs Rives to be of the company.

Montpelier Novr. 12. 1835 -."

Dolley Madison's letter also identifies one "Mr. Martini" as a guest; this referred to Chevalier Jonkheer Evert Marius Adrian Martini, who is described by various contemporary sources as a diplomat from the Low Countries. (One 1837 source states that he was the chargé d'affaires from Belgium, while an 1840 source indicates that he was Minister from the Netherlands in the United States.) Martini's name appears as a correspondent of Dolley Madison in The Papers of Dolley Madison Digital Edition hosted by the University of Virginia Press.

Lastly, Dolley Madison mentions Rives's wife Judith Rives (1802-1882), a novelist who had a literary bent like her husband; Senator Rives wrote the 3-volume "The Life and Times of James Madison" (Boston: Little Brown & Co.), published in 1859, 1866, and 1868.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 7.875" x 10"
  • Medium: ALS

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