Benjamin Latrobe
White House Collection
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Benjamin Latrobe expresses
his indignation to Dolley Madison
about her servants
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Architect
of the Capitol and Surveyor of Public
Buildings under Jefferson, had advised the
Madisons about changes to the White House
even before they arrived in 1809.1 He
continued to consult with Mrs. Madison about
her household until about 1813.2
Latrobe
once visited the White House in Mrs. Madison's
absence, to make sure that the curtains had
been laundered. He discovered that they had
not, and demanded to know why. He wrote to
Mrs. Madison that a housekeeper, Mrs. Swiney, "told
me, that on attempting to obey me she was informed,
that you are so displeased with my conduct .
. . that you intended I should do nothing more
for you. . . . As this information could
only come from your servants, I ought to
presume that it was false. . . .[It] would
be an insult to you to suppose . . . that
such intelligence would be conveyed to a
man of character, . . . at second hand,
by a servant."3
Dolley Madison replied, "I shall be
strict in my examination of the servants,
when I return, as I wish to know those, who
have taken the liberty to mis-represent me."4
1 William Seale, The President's
House (Washington: White House
Historical Association, 1986), 119.
2 Benjamin Henry Latrobe to Dolley
Payne Todd Madison, 27 August 1813, in The
Dolley Madison Digital Edition,
ed. Holly C. Shulman. Charlottesville:
University of Virginia Press, 2004. http://rotunda.upress.virginia.edu/dmde/DPM0408
3 Benjamin Henry Latrobe to Dolley
Payne Todd Madison, 8 September 1809,
in The Dolley Madison Digital Edition,
ed. Holly C. Shulman. Charlottesville:
University of Virginia Press, 2004. http://rotunda.upress.virginia.edu/dmde/DPM0220
4 Dolley Payne Todd Madison to Benjamin
Henry Latrobe, 12 September 1809, in The
Dolley Madison Digital Edition,
ed. Holly C. Shulman. Charlottesville:
University of Virginia Press, 2004. http://rotunda.upress.virginia.edu/dmde/DPM0221
Read More:
Click
here for White House worker Paul Jennings's
remembrances of the Madisons
Profile
of Benjamin Henry Latrobe
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