Marriage and Family
James Monroe married Elizabeth Kortright Monroe (1768–1830), daughter of Laurence Kortright and Hannah Aspinwall Kortright, on February 16, 1786, in New York City. He had met her while serving with the Continental Congress, which then met in New York, the temporary capital of the new nation. After a brief honeymoon on Long Island, New York, the Monroes returned to New York City to live with her father until Congress adjourned. The Monroes had the following children:
- Eliza Monroe (1786–1835) – married George Hay in 1808 and substituted for her ailing mother as official White House hostess for her father's presidential events.
- James Spence Monroe (1799–1801) – his grave reads "J.S. Monroe", so the proper names are speculative but typical of naming patterns of the time, which passed on family names.
- Maria Hester Monroe (1803–1850) – married her cousin Samuel L. Gouverneur on March 8, 1820, in the first wedding of a president's child in the White House.
Read more about this topic: James Monroe
Famous quotes containing the words marriage and/or family:
“Yes, marriage is hateful, detestable. A kind of ineffable, sickening disgust seizes my mind when I think of this most despotic, most unrequited fetter which prejudice has forged to confine its energies.”
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
“Family living can go on existing. Very many are
remembering this thing are remembering that family
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certain that family living can go on existing. Very
many are remembering that they are quite certain that
family living can go on existing.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)