Elizabeth Kortright Monroe
1817-1825
Elizabeth Monroe was born June 30, 1768 in New York City.
Her father was an officer in the British Army and a merchant. He lost most of his fortune in the Revolutionary War.
She married James Monroe in February of 1786. She was seventeen.
They had three children. They had two girls (Eliza and Maria) and a boy who died as a baby.
It is said that her happiest days were the ones she and James spent in France while he was the Minister to France from the United States.
She is credited with saving the life of Madame deLafayette. On the day Madame deLafayette was scheduled to die, Elizabeth went to visit her in her prison cell. The French realized the Americans did not want deLafayette, whose husband helped in the American Revolution, to die. The French released her.
In 1817, she and James moved into the White House.
Mrs. Monroe was ill much of the time while James Monroe was President.
She died on September 23, 1830 at Oak Hill. Oak Hill was their estate in Virginia. She was 62.
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