Eliza's True Story: The First Biography of President Monroe's Eldest Daughter

by Barbara VornDick

Overview

For almost two hundred years, the historical narrative about Eliza Monroe stated that after her father died, she threw a tantrum, abandoned her family and country, and stormed off to Europe to live out the rest of her life in Paris. All the major Monroe biographers said so.

But was it true? For author Barbara VornDick, this narrow, oft-repeated tale did not make sense. Five years of digging through letters, court documents, and archives on both sides of the Atlantic uncovered documents buried for two centuries that revealed a tantalizing story: medical conditions carefully hidden from public view; a president who dared to offend foreign dignitaries to protect his beloved wife; and a dutiful daughter reduced to poverty by betrayal.

Extraordinarily well-researched and packed with primary sources, this true story of Eliza rewrites history, and reflects the tragic situation of women in the 1800s who were often at the mercy of the men in charge of their rights to property and survival. Eliza's true story is one you will not soon forget.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781732924345
Publisher:	Barbara VornDick
Publication date:	06/11/2024
Pages:	294
Sales rank:	129,108
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x 0.67(d)

About the Author

About the Author

After a three-decade career teaching in major Virginia school systems, as well as at the college level, Barbara VornDick retired to the Charlottesville area. For the past six years, she has worked as an Interpreter of History at James Monroe’s Highland, in Albemarle County. It was there that she became interested in the tragic story of Monroe's eldest daughter, and she could not let it go until she had found the truth. When not researching and writing, she enjoys music, traditional arts such as crochet and sewing, and hiking in the Appalachian Mountains. She resides in the foothills of Virginia's beautiful Blue Ridge.