Mary Cutts

Mary Estelle Elizabeth Cutts was born on September 16, 1814, in Washington, D.C. Her parents were Anna Payne Cutts and Richard Cutts, a Massachusetts congressman who was residing in what is now Maine at the time. She was the sixth of seven children in the family, with her closest relationship being with her younger brother Richard and her sister Dolley. Her maternal aunt was Dolley Madison, the wife of President James Madison, and Mary was considered her "favored niece."

Throughout her life, Mary Cutts remained unmarried and lived with her family in various locations including Washington, Boston, and Cutts Island in present-day Maine. During her childhood, the family often corresponded with Dolley Madison, and they spent summers at Madison's estate in Montpelier, Virginia. As a child, she was homeschooled and developed skills as an amateur artist, drawing figures such as her aunt.

In the 1820s, Mary spent time living with her father near Lafayette Square in Washington. She became acquainted with her cousin Annie Payne during this period. During the 1830s, she and her sister Dolley Payne Cutts resided in Washington, D.C., and maintained close contact with Dolley Madison, who was a significant influence in their lives. Madison was described as a "mother and best friend" to the girls. Mary was involved in efforts to collect signatures for autograph books and was advised on social etiquette by Madison. The family maintained a correspondence with Madison, often sending her letters, gifts, and updates.

Her mother, Anna Payne Cutts, died in August 1832, which had a profound impact on her. Following her mother's death, Mary assisted in preparing biographical sketches of Dolley Madison, including efforts led by Margaret Bayard Smith. She also helped James Madison organize and review his papers before his death in 1836. The death of her sister Dolley in 1838 further affected her.

During the 1840s, Mary, her father, and her brother Richard were living in Washington. Mary traveled to New York City in early 1842 with Madison. She also visited the homes of John Quincy Adams and Louisa Adams frequently and was with Louisa at the time of John Quincy Adams's death in 1848.

In 1852, she visited relatives in Virginia. During a visit in July 1856, she fell ill with tuberculosis and died on July 14, 1856. She was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery.

Mary Cutts compiled and transcribed many of her letters with Dolley Madison. Madison had requested that her private papers be burned upon her death; however, Mary and her sister Annie confiscated some of Madison's letters and burned many of them. Following Madison's death, Mary authored two memoirs about her, which covered different periods of Madison’s life. The first, written in the early 1850s, was approximately 32 or 57 pages long and outlined Madison’s life up to 1812, omitting the years 1801 to 1809. The second memoir, written at the behest of editors seeking a more conventional biography, expanded to cover Madison’s life from 1801 until her death, totaling between 61 and 95 pages. It is believed that Dolley Madison provided the information for these memoirs.

In 1888, Lucia B. Cutts, Dolley's grandniece, edited and published a heavily revised version of these memoirs titled *Memoirs and Letters of Dolley Madison, Wife of James Madison, President of the United States*. This work incorporated unpublished memoirs and letters transcribed by Mary Cutts but was notably edited, and Mary was not credited as an author. The publication was considered the standard authority on Dolley Madison’s life until 2003, when it was succeeded by more recent scholarship, including *The Selected Letters of Dolley Payne Madison* and *The Queen of America: Mary Cutts's Life of Dolley Madison*, the latter being a republication of Cutts's original memoirs with scholarly contextualization.