Evening star., 1950-10-29

death of Daniel Parke Custis, mar
ried Gen. George Washington, our
first President, and proved the
ideal wife to both husbands. Her
first husband died at the age of
about 80. leaving her a consider
able estate, consisting of real and
personal property. one item alone
being 10000 pounds sterling. the
certificates for which, on the Bank
of England, she kept in an iron
chest. which may be seen in the
Washington collection in the Ma
tional Museum.
Perhaps one of the most charm
ing romances that ever developed
in this city was that involving the
Baron Alexander de Bodisco and
Harriet Beall Williams. He was
the Russian Minister to the United
States and she was the daughter
of Brooke Williams, then chief
clerk of the adjutant generals
office. She was tall, probably had
sandy or reddish hair, and a COM
plexion that powder and rouge
would have detracted from. She
was sweet 16; he was over SO.
He was one of the most generous
of husbands on record. for, prior
to his death, he urged his wife to
remarry when he had gone, that
she might make some other man
just as happy as she had made
him.
Buchanan at Ceremony
OF her second marriage, an item
of 1860 reads:
Marriage Of Nine. Bodisco-l
have just returned from a spec
tacle of great interest. which has
stirred the memories and asso-
Citations of us old habitues OF
Washington more than anything
else that has occurred here for a
long time. Today at noon, in st
Johns Church, Lafayette Square
the Countess Bodisco, widow Of
the late distinguished and popular
Minister from Russia, was married
to Capt. Douglas Gordon Scott OF
Scotland. The ceremony was per-
formed by the Rev. DR.. Norwood
of Georgetown. to whose congre-
cation the bride and her family
belonged. The bride was given
away by President Buchanan
There was a quiet simplicity about
the whole scene. which impaired
the character rather of a religious
than a festive occasion"
The famous Dolly Madison was
another celebrated woman who
took a second husband. She was
a Southern beauty. for at the time
Of her birth her parents were
residents of Hanover County. Va.
though the infant Dolly Payne
was born in North Carolina or
May 20. 1853. while her mother
Mary Coles Payne. wife of John
Payne. jr., was visiting her par
ents in the Tarheel State.
Dolly married John Todd. jr.
a young lawyer, who was tall
handsome in face and figure, OF
manly bearing. independent
means, was we'll established in his
profession and had given every
promise of future eminence at the
bar" ..-.
Yellow Fever Victim
In 1893, during one of Phila-
delphia's worst yellow fever
SOURCES, John Todd moved his
wife and infant son-there was
soon to be added another-to a
place of safety. just as President
Washington did at the same time
when he moved to Germantown
and leased the residence of Col
Isaac Franks.
After Mr.. Todd had succeeded
in getting his family safely To-
Gated, he returned to the infected
area to render what aid he could
to the sick and dying, which in
cluded watching at the bedside OF
his father and mother, who were
fatally stricken. When the cpl
demic had subsidized. he returned
to his little family. but it was toe
late, as her nephew tells US:
THE young wife threw herself
into his arms. but he bore with
him, all unconscious. the seeds OF
the dread disease, and died Octo-
ber "a. 1898; while she. having
taken the fever, lay at the point
of death for three terrible weeks,
and recovered only to find herself
bereft both of her husband and
infant"
Stephan A. Douglas, politically
known as the Little Giant" en-
tered into matrimony a second