Born on May 20 in what is today Guilford County, North Carolina, where her parents (John and Mary Coles Payne) had moved three years earlier to the Quaker settlement of New Garden.

The Paynes return to Virginia.

John Payne manumits his slaves and moves his family to Philadelphia where he opens a business manufacturing laundry starch.

On January 7, Dolley Payne marries John Todd, Jr. He is a young lawyer and Philadelphia Quaker. Anna Payne moves in with them.

John Payne's business fails. Mary Coles Payne opens a boarding house.

Dolley Payne Todd gives birth to her first child, John Payne Todd, on February 29. John Payne dies on October 24. Dolley's sister, Lucy, marries George Steptoe Washington, nephew of President George Washington.

Birth of Dolley Payne Todd's second child, William Temple Todd. Outbreak of yellow fever in Philadelphia kills her husband's parents, her husband, and her second child in October. Dolley removes to the outskirts of the city, and only returns with her son Payne and sister Anna to Philadelphia in December. Mary Coles Payne closes her boarding house and moves in with her daughter Lucy Payne Washington, bringing with her her two youngest children, Mary and John Coles Payne.

Dolley Payne Todd, now a young widow, meets James Madison (JM), congressman from Virginia, in May. The two marry on September 5 at the home of Lucy Payne Washington. That December the Society of Friends reads her out of the Meeting.

Two of her older brothers, William Temple Payne and Isaac Payne, die.

JM retires from the U.S. House of Representatives and brings his family (Dolley, Anna, and Payne Todd) back to Montpelier, the Madison plantation in Orange County, Virginia.

Mary Payne, youngest sister of Dolley Payne Todd Madison (DPM), marries Virginia congressman John G. Jackson. Thomas Jefferson is elected president of the United States.

Jefferson appoints JM his secretary of state. JM's father dies in February and in June the family moves to Washington, D.C.

DPM plays host for presidential dinners, and becomes embroiled in the "Merry Affair" in which diplomacy gets played out through social customs and diplomatic protocols.

Anna Payne marries Richard Cutts, Massachusetts congressman, on March 30.

DPM suffers from an ulcerated knee and spends three and a half months in Philadelphia being treated. JM's absence from her in October and November is the couples' longest separation. JM enrolls Payne Todd in Bishop John Carroll's school in Baltimore.

Mary Coles Payne dies.

Mary Payne Jackson dies.

JM inaugurated fourth president of the United States and DPM becomes Washington's first First Lady. With the architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe and his wife, Mary Latrobe, DPM begins decorating the White House. She establishes her protocols as social mistress of the administration. George Steptoe Washington dies.

Lucy Payne Washington marries Thomas Todd, Associate Supreme Court Justice, on March 29. It is the first wedding held in the White House. Payne Todd graduates from St. Mary's College in Baltimore; the Madisons hope to send him to Princeton, JM's alma mater. June 18, JM sends war message to Congress.

JM inaugurated for his second term as president of the United States. The Madisons send Payne Todd to Europe as secretary to the American peace mission to Britain. JM becomes seriously ill.

August 24, the British burn the White House. DPM saves the silver, official papers, the red curtains, and Gilbert Stuart's portrait of George Washington.

War with Great Britain ended by the Treaty of Ghent. Payne Todd returns from Europe, having run up a debt in excess of $6,500.

JM leaves office and the Madisons return to Montpelier.

Thomas Jefferson dies. JM becomes Rector of the University of Virginia.

JM and DPM go to Richmond for three months while JM sits as member of the convention to revise the Virginia state constitution. Payne Todd is threatened with prison for his (ever-accumulating) debts. JM pays his step-son's debts. JM's mother, Nellie Conway Madison, dies.

Payne Todd again imprisoned; JM again pays his debts.

Anna Payne Cutts dies.

JM dies.

DPM tries to get JM's paper's privately published. The U.S. Congress appropriates $30,000 for the purchase of JM's notes on the Constitutional Convention.

DPM moves back to Washington, D.C. with her companion - her niece Anna Payne, daughter of her younger brother John Coles Payne.

DPM moves back to Montpelier to run the plantation. She fails to make a profit.

DPM again returns to Washington, D.C.

DPM tries to publish more of JM's papers with Harpers. She consults John Jacob Astor about mortgaging her house in Washington, and does so in August. She sells part of the Montpelier plantation to Henry W. Moncure, a merchant from Richmond.

The United States House of Representatives honors DPM with a permanent seat in Congressional Hall. From the White House she dictates the first personal message sent by telegraphy. Growing every poorer, she offers the rest of JM's papers to Congress, which adjourns without taking action. That summer she sells the balance of Montpelier to Moncure. In December the Senate votes to purchase the remaining works of JM, but the House still fails to act.

DPM converts to Episcopalianism and joins St. John's Church in Washington.

Lucy Payne Washington Todd dies. Congress finally purchases the rest of JM's papers for $25,000. Of this sum, $20,000 is invested in a trust fund for her out of fear that Payne Todd will waste it on gambling and alcohol. DPM serves as Honorary Chair of a women's group to raise funds for the Washington Memorial.

DPM dies on July 12. Last rites are held on July 16. Her body is first placed in a vault in Washington and later buried next to JM at the family graveyard at Montpelier.

Payne Todd dies.