Born Dolley Payne in 1768 in Guilford County, her family moved to Virginia and later to Philadelphia. Widowed young Madison met senator and future president James Madison in 1794. As a socialite and hostess, Madison knew all of the first 11 presidents on a first-name basis. A lifelong patron of the arts and sciences, she promoted social progress into the middle of the 19th century.
Topics Related to Women's History Month
Famous heroine Flora MacDonald immigrated to North Carolina after her imprisonment in Scotland for her involvement in a plot to help usher Prince Charles Edward Stuart of Scotland to safety after the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745.
Abby House, known widely as “Aunt Abby,” was born around 1796 and lived much of her life near Franklinton. House dedicated herself to care for Confederate soldiers in need during the Civil War. Described by Governor Zebulon Vance as “the ubiquitous, indefatigable and inevitable Mrs. House,” House often paid visits to various leaders of the Confederacy, including Jefferson Davis.
Rose O’Neal Greenhow, a widowed Washington socialite turned Confederate spy, drowned near Fort Fisher.
At a court session in May 1673, Ann Durant became the first woman to act in the capacity of an attorney in North Carolina.
The success of the pottery industry in the area around Seagrove, also known as Jugtown, is largely the result of the work of Jacques and Juliana Busbee.
“Tiny” Broadwick, remembered as the “First Lady of Parachuting,” holds a place in The Guinness Book of World Records for her achievements as a parachutist.
All this month we’re bringing you stories from North Carolina women’s history. Check back here each week day for a new tidbit on the women of our state’s past.
Harriet Morehead Berry, often called the champion of good roads, was born in 1877 in Hillsborough.
Evelyn B. Whitlow was serving as a nurse in the Philippines when Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941. She was captured following the fall of the Philippines in May 1942. One of the Angels of Bataan and Corregidor, these nurses were the first group of American women taken as prisoners of war.