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Friday, January 27, 2012

Days 105 & 106: Biography Report outline + draft

Days 105, 106

Math: 4 pages

LA book: 2 pages

Babysitting: Sophie is planning to take the American Red Cross babysitting course this summer and after her 12th birthday she can begin to babysit some of the neighbor kids! To prepare for her new responsibilities, I have been teaching her how to make basic kids’ lunches and dinners, which she is enjoying! Today she made mac’n cheese with veggies (no hot dogs but we talked about that!) She is also learning about home safety and basic childcare.

Latin: Chapter 4 & flashcards: Verbs with 6 endings

Skate, skate, skate: I realized that I don’t actually list “Skating” as one of her activities for every day she actually skates. Skating and finding good ice time with Coach Linda is still the primary reason Sophie homeschools and we take advantage of the ice time available when other young skaters are in school.

Sophie’s weekly skating schedule (generally) is:

Monday—off from skating and she spend 1 ½ in a yoga class with her skating coach

Tuesday—skating midday for at least an hour and sometimes two

Wednesday—skating early am with the Skating Club and then again for an hour in the afternoon with Coach Rob working on her ice dances

Thursday—skating midday for at least an hour and sometimes two

Friday—off from skating but reserved as “sometimes” depending on shows or competitions and dance in afternoon

Saturday—Skating School and Club from 7 am to after 11. Sophie also works as a junior coach for some the younger, beginner skaters

Sunday—afternoons with Skating Club for two hours

*She also spends one day a month, again generally, down in Boxborough, Mass. at Colonial Figure Skating Club and works with another coach and professionals for 2-3 hours.

She is determined, focused, bruised, and amazing! And she loves every minute she’s on the ice. I rarely second-guess our decision to homeschool, especially when I watch her on the ice.

Biography Outline: Dolley Madison

1.       Introduction

a.       Name

1. Dolley Payne Todd Madison

b. why write about her

                1. she was the first “First Lady”

                2. she rescued the historical documents and artifacts from the burning of the White House during the War of 1812

                3.  she was brave, courageous, and stylish

c. 3 most important things reader will learn about

                1. married to James Madison

                2. hero for saving the stuff in the White House

                3. one of the first women involved in the political life of the President



2.       Young Life & First Marriage

a.       Born

1. May 20, 1768

b. Her family was Quaker

1. John Todd Dolley’s first husband was Quaker as well

2. James Madison was not Quaker

c. John Todd

1. Dolley married John Todd in 1790

2. Dolley had two sons with John Todd, Payne Todd, and William Henry Todd

3. In August 1793, John Todd and William Henry died of Yellow fever



3.       Marriage to Madison

a.       Aaron Burr

1.       Aaron Burr introduced Dolley to James on order of James

b.      Truly in love

1.       Unlike John Todd and Dolley, James Madison and Dolley Madison were truly in love

c.       September 15, 1794

1. The marriage date of James and Dolley
 

4.       First Lady & White House

a.       First lady

1. Dolley loved being the first lady

b.     The Burning of Washington

1. Dolley Madison saved the American artifacts out of the white house when it was buring during the war of 1812

c. Slaves

1. Dolley liked having slaves in the White House



5.       After White House/ death

a.       Montpelier

1.       After James’ term, The Madison’s moved to Montpelier where they lived together

2.       2. James Madison’s death

3.       Had to sell Montpelier because she was broke

b.      Daguerreotype

1. Before Dolley died she had a daguerreotype photo of her taken

c. Death

1. Dolley died in Montpelier in 1881

2. Dolley was put in the graveyard with James Madison and his family



6.       Conclusion

a.       Thank you for reading

b.      I liked learning about Dolley

Bet you learned a lot as well, hope you liked it



Biography Report: First Draft

Dolley Payne Todd Madison was a remarkable woman who was not afraid to stand out and do what she had to do even during tough times of the early 19thcentury. She risked her life and did her duty for America and during the burning of the White house in the War of 1812. Dolley is remembered now as the First “First Lady” of the United States and Dolley is a wonderful example of a true American. Now one of the most important things that you will have to know to understand this biography report is that Dolley Madison was married to James Madison the 5th American President. James was also president during the War of 1812 which made being the first lady extra difficult for Dolley. I had a lot of fun learning about Dolley Madison and I suspect you will too. We shall start off with her young life and first marriage.

                Dolley Madison was born on May 20, 1768 in the Quaker settlement of New Garden (New Jersey.) When Dolley’s father John Payne got a job in Pennsylvania, Dolley’s family moved to Philadelphia the temporary capital of the United States at the time. Dolley had eight siblings, 4 boys, and 4 girls, but she best got along with her sister Anna who was one year younger than Dolley. In 1790, Dolley’s father died; Dolley’s mother initially made ends meet by opening a successful boarding house. Before John Payne died, he told Dolley that he wanted her to marry John Todd, a business man and Quaker. Dolley obeyed her father and married John Todd that same year.


John Todd and Dolley were not truly in love and rarely ever got along. Dolley and John Todd had two sons together though, Payne Todd in 1792 and William Temple Todd in 1793. John and Dolley lived together in Philadelphia in a small house by Dolley’s mother. In February 1793 Anna got married to a farmer in Virginia and Dolley was left alone. Later that summer in August, yellow Fever struck Philadelphia killing many people including Dolley’s mother, two of her brothers and one of her sisters, William Temple Todd, and Dolley’s husband John Todd was also murdered by this dreadful disease. Dolley became scared and sad left alone with Payne Todd her eldest son in Philadelphia in her mother’s old boarding house. Anna left her husband in Virginia to visit Dolley and to help find her another husband.

In about 1794 James Madison, a very well known political man, noticed Dolley walking down the streets of Philadelphia with Anna. James asked his friend and partner Aaron Burr to introduce Dolley to James. They instantly fell in love and were to be married in September later that year. James and Dolley lived in Philadelphia for a few more years until they moved to Montpelier in Virginia in 1797. James Madison was elected president in 1808 and Dolley was very excited as well as overwhelmed! She knew that she would have a big duty as the wife of the president and wasn’t sure she was ready for it.

James and Dolley moved into the White House in 1809. Dolley refurnished the white house with the most stylish of patterns in the 19thcentury. Dolley was a very stylish woman herself. In fact most of the woman in the United States at this time looked to Dolley as their fashion statement. As I said earlier, Dolley was not afraid to stand out and to be herself.

Living in the North for so long, Dolley did not have slaves, but having to move to the south and to be known as the first lady, (Dolley invented the term “First Lady” term) she did have slaves. Her slaves were known as Emily and Paul Jennings. Dolley was very loyal to her slaves although she did enjoy having them.

Now at this time James Madison had signed the declaration for the War of 1812 and it was mostly being fought in British North America (Canada).It was 1814 and James Madison was in England trying to get the treaty of peace to end the war. No one had any idea that the British were planning an attack on Washington D.C but as you probably guessed they were. The British got sticks covered with fire and threw them on the Congress building, the White House and all of the other buildings in the United States. Dolley got only a brief warning of the attack so she knew what she had to do. She told Emily and Paul to rush out of the house while she stayed in and saved the grand portrait of George Washington, The U.S Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence out of the burning building. Just in the nick of time Dolley got out safely, but all of the furniture Dolley designed for the White house was ruined. 


Dolley was probably most famous for saving these artifacts out of the White House and this is one of the major reasons that I am writing about her. Now after James Madison retired from being President, the Madison’s moved back to Montpelier in Virginia. Montpelier was in what is now known as Orange, Virginia. Montpelier was a Tobacco plantation owned by the Madison family. There were 2,650 acres of land at Montpelier and it was much bigger than what Dolley was used to in Philadelphia, but she liked it. On June 28, James Madison died, being the last of the founding fathers to die. Dolley was heartbroken, she had lost both of her husbands now although she really only loved James.


Now all of this time that Dolley was living with James Madison from Philadelphia, to Virginia, to Washington, and then to Virginia again. Payne Todd, Dolley’s only living son was spending his mothers money gambling and drinking. Dolley was very disappointed in her son because he did not grow up the way she wanted him to. When James and Dolley were living in Washington in the White house, Payne was alone on Montpelier and let all of the tobacco plants fail for the eight years. Payne Todd died the same year as Madison and no one know exactly how.

Since Payne Todd took all of Dolley’s money, she didn’t have much left to pay the bills. Dolley began to sell Montpelier bit by bit until nothing but the house on the plantation was hers, she decided to sell that in 1837 and move back to Washington. In Washington she sold all of James’ papers to raise money to buy a small house. She did end up purchasing a house near the White house. Dolley Madison became close friends with the current first lady of America, Mrs. Rachel Jackson. Dolley Madison had a very famous daguerreotype photograph taken of her in 1848 the year before she died.


And yes that year approaches now in the story, because in 1849, Dolley Madison dies at her home in Washington D.C. Dolley Madison was a wonderful woman that many people in America at this time looked up too. Dolley’s funeral was one of the most visited funerals for that decade because over 30,000 people came. Dolley was buried next to James Madison in the Madison family graveyard in Montpelier.

Now I told you, you would learn a lot! Dolley Madison is a very fascinating person right! I learned a lot about Dolley and I hope you did to. I learned about Dolley mostly because she exemplifies the War of 1812 because of the remarkably heroic act where she saved the artifacts out of The White House. But you learned a lot of other little details that are just as important, correct? Thank you for reading my biography report on Dolley Madison.

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