Nancy, Gary Boyd Roberts has been running articles on ancestral lines of famous people, including wives of presidents such as Dolley Madison, in the pages of the NEHGS' publication "NEXUS". Your local library or genealogy society might have them. Another public library reference book, William A. DeGregorio, "The Complete Book of U. S. Presidents", Dembner Books 1984, states on p. 58 she was born 29 May 1768 at the New Garden Quaker settlement in North Carolina where her parents, John Payne and Mary Coles Payne, lived briefly. However, she spent her early years mostly on the family plantation in Goochland, VA. Her father, a devout Quaker convert, later freed his slaves, sold the plantation and moved the family to Philadelphia "where he went bankrupt as a starch manufacturer." The stuff you can find in the public library! There may be a Dolley Madison society with a webpage. The US Mint earlier this year produced a special commemorative coin in proof silver for some such society. As there's already one for her husband James Madison, you can actually get the couple "together again"! Bob Gerrity ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com