Elizabeth Monroe (née Kortright; June 30, 1768 – September 23, 1830) was the first lady of the United States from 1817 to 1825, as the wife of James Monroe, fifth president of the United States. Due to the fragile condition of Monroe's health, many of her duties as the official White House hostess were assumed by her eldest daughter, Eliza Monroe Hay.
Birth, parents, and childhood (1768–1778) Monroe was born in New York City on June 30, 1768, the youngest daughterSaturday, February 18, 1786, Independent Journal (New York, N. Y.), No. 232, page 2: "On Thursday evening [February 16] was married at her father's house in Great Queen-Street, the Hon. Colonel JAMES MONRO, Member of Congress for the State of Virginia, to Miss ELIZA KORTWRIGHT, youngest daughter of Lawrance Kortwright, Esq; of this City." of Lawrence Kortright, a wealthy merchant, and Hannah (née Aspinwall) Kortright.COURTRIGHT (KORTRIGHT) FAMILY by JOHN HOWARD printed by ABBOTT TOBIAS A. WRIGHT Printer and Publisher 150 Bleecker Street, New York 1922 Elizabeth Monroe's paternal second great grandfather, Cornelius Jansen Kortright, was born in Holland, Netherlands, in 1645, and immigrated to New York in the year of 1663. His father, Jan Bastiaenson Van Kortrijk, was also born in Holland, Netherlands in 1618 and immigrated with his son to New York. Jan Bastiaenson's father, Bastiaen Van Kortrijk, was born in the city of Kortrijk in Flanders, Spanish Netherlands, in 1586, and immigrated to Holland, Netherlands, in 1615. Monroe's father was one of the founders of the New York Chamber of Commerce. During the American Revolutionary War, he was part owner of several privateers fitted out at New York, and it has also been documented that he enslaved at least four Black people.March 10, 1750, Record of Purchase of Slaves, from the Estate of Adolph Philips, Manor of Philipsburg, New York, Compiled by J. M. Haley in The Slaves of Philipsburg Manor Upper Mills, HHV, 1988: "Sampson - sold to Lawrence Kortright, New York City, for 75 pounds; Kaiser - sold to Lawrence Kortright, New York City, for 75 pounds"; June 27, 1763, The New-York Mercury, No. 609, page 3, (Advertisement:) "RUN-AWAY, From on board the Snow CHARMING NANCY, Francis Haines, Master; a Molatto [sic] Negro, about 18 Years of Age, his Hair curls much, speaks good English. Had on when he went away, a striped Waist-Coat. Whoever takes up said Negro, and will bring him to Lawrence Kortright, shall have Forty Shillings, and all reasonable Charges, paid. N. B. All Masters of Vessels are forwarned not to carry said Negro off". September 11, 1780, The New-York Gazette and the Weekly Mercury, No. 1508, page 3 [Advertisement:] A REWARD. RUN-AWAY about 15 days ago, my Negro Man PARIS, about 21 years of age, about 5 feet 9 inches high, he is rather remarkable, having one bandy leg, so much that one knee knocks against the other when he walks and is much addicted to liquor. Whoever takes up said Negro Man, and will deliver him to me, shall have a reward of Five Dollars, and all reasonable charges paid them. LAWRENCE KORTRIGHT. New-York, 9th September, 1780" He purchased land tracts in what is now Delaware County, New York, and from the sale of this land the town of Kortright, New York, was formed.
Monroe grew up in a household with four older siblings: Sarah, Hester, John and Mary. According to the parish records of Trinity Church, New York, Monroe's mother, Hannah, died on September 6 or 7, 1777, at the age of 39. The cause of death was recorded as resulting from childbed.September 7, 1777, Trinity Parish (New York, N. Y.), Parish Register [Burial Record:] "Mrs. Kortright, died September 7, 1777, aged 39 years, in Child-Bed. St. George's. [Burial site]"; September 8, 1777, The New-York Gazette and the Weekly Mercury, No. 1350, page 3: "Departed this Life the 6th Instant, Mrs. HANNAH KORTRIGHT, the Wife of Mr. Lawrence Kortright, in the 39th year of her Age, much lamented by all her Acquaintances." An unidentified sibling of Monroe's, aged 13 months, succumbed to flux and fever a few days later. Hannah and the infant were both buried at St. George's Chapel in New York.September 10, 1777, Trinity Church (New York, N. Y.), Parish Register [Burial Record:] "Child Kortwright, died September 10, 1777, age 13 mos. of Flux & Fever. St. George's [Burial site]" At the time of their deaths, Monroe was nine years old. Her father never remarried.
On August 3, 1778, almost a year after the death of Monroe's mother, the home of the Lawrence Kortright family was nearly destroyed by fireAugust 26, 1778, The Pennsylvania Evening Post (Philadelphia, Pa.), Vol. 4, No. 522, page 309: "A list of the houses burnt in the late fire at New York, the third inst.... Mr. Isaac Low's house, and that of Mr. Lawrence Kortwright, adjoining, greatly damaged..." during a blaze which caused damage and destruction to fifty homes near Cruger's Wharf in lower Manhattan. A historian later wrote that this blaze was due to the mismanagement of British troops while directing the firefighters.James Grant Wilson, The Memorial History of the City of New York, [(New York): New-York History Company, 1892], Vol 2, page 540: "Another fire occurred August 3, 1778, on Cruger's Wharf, and about fifty houses were destroyed. It was said the loss was increased by the ill-advised attempt of the British officers to direct the firemen..." Monroe, age 10, with her father and siblings, survived the fire unscathed.
Courtship and marriage (1785–1786) Kortright first caught the attention of James Monroe in 1785 while he was in New York City serving as a member of the Continental Congress. William Grayson, James Monroe's cousin and fellow Congressman from Virginia, described Elizabeth and her sisters as having "made so brilliant and lovely an appearance" at a theater one evening, "as to depopulate all the other boxes of all the genteel male people therein."Harlow Unger, The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness (Boston, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press, 2009) page 61
James Monroe, then 27 years old, married Elizabeth, then 17 years old, on February 16, 1786, at her father's home in New York City. The marriage was performed by Reverend Benjamin Moore, and recorded in the parish records of Trinity Church, New York.Thursday, February 16, 1786, Trinity Church (New York, N. Y.), Parish Record - [Marriage Record:] February 16, 1786, James Monroe to Elizabeth Kortright, Minister: Benjamin Moore" After a brief honeymoon on Long Island, the newlyweds returned to New York City to live with her father until Congress adjourned. Their first child, whom they named Eliza Kortright Monroe, was born in December, 1786, in Virginia.Letter, April 10, 1788, James Monroe (Richmond, Virginia) to Thomas Jefferson (Paris)The Thomas Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D. C.: "...I think I mention'd to you in my last Mrs. M[onroe] had made us happy by giving us a daughter who is now 16 months old an[d] begins to talk..."
Ambassador's wife (1794–1796) In 1794, George Washington appointed James as United States Minister to France. In Paris, as wife of the American Minister during the Reign of Terror, she helped secure the release of Madame La Fayette, wife of the Marquis de Lafayette, when she learned she was imprisoned and scheduled to be executed by guillotine. The Monroes also provided support and shelter to the American citizen Thomas Paine in Paris, after he was arrested for his opposition to the execution of Louis XVI. While in France, the Monroes' daughter Eliza became a friend of Hortense de Beauharnais, step-daughter of Napoleon, and both girls received their education in the school of Madame Jeanne Campan. James was recalled from his Ambassadorship in 1796, due in part to his support of France in the opposition of the Jay Treaty.
Governor's wife (1799–1802) The Monroes returned to Virginia, where James became governor, and Elizabeth became First Lady of Virginia. The couple's son, James Spence, was born in 1799 but died in 1800. During this time, Elizabeth suffered the first of a series of seizures and collapses that were possibly a product of epilepsy, which plagued her for the rest of her life and gradually caused her to restrict her social activities. The Monroe's third child, a daughter they named Maria Hester, was born in Virginia in early 1802.James Monroe (Richmond, Va.) to James Madison, 12 April 1802, "Mrs. M[onroe] who has lately added a daughter to our family, unites in best regards to Mrs. Madison." Founders Online, National Archives (https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/02-03-02-0149 [last update: 2015-12-30]) and printed source: The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State Series, vol. 3, 1 March–6 October 1802, ed. David B. Mattern, J. C. A. Stagg, Jeanne Kerr Cross, and Susan Holbrook Perdue. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1995, pp. 122–123.
Great Britain (1803–1804) In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson appointed James as United States Minister to Great Britain and Spain. Elizabeth found the social climate in London less favorable than it had been in Paris, possibly because British society resented the United States' refusal to aid it in its conflict with France. In 1804, James was sent as a special envoy to France to negotiate the Louisiana Purchase. That same year, the Monroes were invited by Napoleon Bonaparte to attend his coronation in Paris, as part of the official American delegation.
Return to Virginia and Washington (1807–1817) The Monroes returned to Virginia in 1807. James Monroe won election and returned to the Virginia House of Delegates, and also resumed his legal career. In 1811, Monroe won election to another term as governor of Virginia, but served only four months. In April 1811, his friend President James Madison appointed Monroe Secretary of State, and he was confirmed to the position by the United States Senate. Monroe had little to do with the War of 1812, since President Madison and the war hawks in Congress were dominant. During the War, Elizabeth stayed primarily at the Monroe family estates at Oak Hill in Loudoun County, Virginia, and later at Ashlawn-Highland in Albemarle County, Virginia.
The war went very badly, so Madison turned to Monroe for help, appointing him United States Secretary of War in September 1814 after the Burning of Washington by the British, who had captured the national capital and burned the White House. Monroe resigned as Secretary of State on October 1 but no successor was ever appointed, so he handled both offices from October 1, 1814 to February 28, 1815. As Secretary of War, Monroe formulated plans to invade Canada a second time to win the War of 1812, but a peace treaty was ratified in February 1815, before any U.S. military forced moved north. Monroe then resigned as Secretary of War and was formally re-appointed Secretary of State, where he served until March 4, 1817, when he succeeded James Madison to become the nation's fifth President of the United States.
First Lady of the United States (1817–1825) Elizabeth began her tenure as First Lady on March 4, 1817, when her husband commenced his first term as the fifth president of the United States. Upon moving into the White House, the Monroes relocated several of the dozens of Black people they enslaved in order to continue their forced labor. However, the White House was still under reconstruction, so Elizabeth hosted the inaugural ball at their private residence on I Street, and part of the time the First Family lived in the Octagon House. Since all the White House furnishings had been destroyed, the Monroes brought some from their private residences. Her husband was re-elected to a second term in office in 1820, and Elizabeth attended the inaugural ball held in Brown's Hotel. She remained in her role of First Lady until March 4, 1825.