“The great zeal for this precious breed of sheep, resulting from irresis[ta]ble evidence of their merit has raised them to such a value in this Market…”
James Madison on merino sheep, 18101
Improving American products – both agricultural and manufactured – was an important goal for many public-minded citizens in the young United States. James Madison was no exception, searching out the most efficient plowing methods, the most pest-resistant wheat varieties, and livestock breeds with the most desirable characteristics. One particular breed of sheep captured the attention of well-to-do farmers in the 1810s: merinos, prized for the quality of both their wool and their meat. Like many of their contemporaries, Madison and Jefferson became enthused (perhaps obsessed?) with the idea of importing merino sheep, breeding them, and distributing them widely to improve the quality of American wool.
Early Flocks at Montpelier
President Madison was not the first to raise sheep at Montpelier. Sheep husbandry was part of the plantation economy from its earliest years. When Madison’s grandfather Ambrose Madison died in 1732, a few months after arriving at Mount Pleasant, his inventory included 19 sheep and a pair of sheep shears.2 We don’t know whether Ambrose brought the flock to Mount Pleasant with him, or if they had been raised by the enslaved laborers whom he sent to the site in 1723. Ambrose’s sheep are the earliest to be documented in this area.3 (For more about the change in name from Mount Pleasant to Montpelier, see Montpelier: What’s in a Name?)
Madison’s father, James Madison Sr., continued to raise sheep during his ownership of Montpelier. In 1798, Madison wrote to his father about a possible purchaser for some of the sheep: “If you intend to let Mr. Anderson have any of your sheep it may be well for you to drop me a line to that effect by the post.”4 According to an 1835 deposition given by overseer Thomas Melton, James Madison Sr. “sold off the choice [sheep] from his flocks a short time before his death” in February 1801. The rest of the sheep were “considerable” in number but “indifferent” in quality.5 There were 77 sheep listed in Madison Sr.’s estate inventory, taken in September 1801. The sheep were apparently undercounted in the inventory, since estate sales records show that 93 sheep were sold from the estate between September and October 1801. The widowed Nelly Madison bought 13 sheep, and the other 80 were sold to buyers outside the Madison family.6
Breeding a Better Sheep
In the first two decades of the nineteenth century, Madison and Jefferson corresponded with a number of gentleman farmers who were intently concerned with improving American breeds of sheep. (Madison’s brother-in-law John George Jackson and his nephew James Madison Hite were among his correspondents.) They sent each other samples of wool, compared the merits of various breeds of sheep, and circulated treatises by Robert R. Livingston and Richard Peters. George Washington Parke Custis advocated for the native Smiths Island sheep. Others preferred imported breeds such as the broad-tailed Barbary. One breed, however, became the focus of what was variously called an “ardor,” a “mania,” and even an “influenza”: the Spanish merino.7 Pureblood merinos were highly valued. Crossing them with common American sheep was seen as a way to improve the quality of the flock. As Livingston wrote to Madison regarding quarter-merino sheep, “even that degree of blood makes a very considerable difference both in the Quantity & quality of the wool, as well as in the beauty of form.” Livingston also praised “the excellence of Merino mutton,” considering the merino “the fattest, the best flavoured, & the most easily kept of any sheep.”8
Robert Livingston gave James Madison a copy of the 1809 edition of Livington’sEssay on Sheep; Their Varieties—Account of the Merinoes of Spain, France, &c.…Livingston explained to Madison that his “little treatize … was written with a view to remove the prejudices of common farmers, who are suspicious of every thing new, & to instruct them as to the mode of forming & managing a flock.”9Madison replied that “Interesting as [the subject] is in itself, I perceive that you make it more so by your advantageous manner of treating it.”10
Reestablishing a Montpelier Flock
James Madison Jr. did not buy any sheep from his father’s estate in 1801. He was, however, raising broad-tailed sheep as early as 1806, based on his comment to Richard Peters in May 1811 that “I have had broad tails, 4 or 5 years on my farm.”11 The first mention of Madison attempting to acquire merino sheep is in October 1808, when he requested Richard Forrest to purchase a few merinos for him at an upcoming sale.12 In December 1808, George Washington Parke Custis offered to provide the President a spring lamb from his Smiths Island flock.13 We don’t know whether Madison acquired any sheep from either the October sale or from Custis’s offer.
The first time that we do know that Madison acquired merino sheep was in 1810. William Jarvis, the American consul at Lisbon, reserved a breeding pair of merinos for Madison and another for Jefferson from a shipment that arrived in Alexandria in May.14 Madison’s overseer Gideon Gooch transported both pair of merinos and a ewe lamb to Orange. Gooch arrived on June 6, 1810, and notified Jefferson to send someone from Monticello to pick up Jefferson’s ram and ewe at Black Meadow, a dependent farm of Montpelier located near Gordonsville.15 This is one of two mentions of Black Meadow in connection with sheep, and could refer either to a temporary or permanent location for sheep. Jarvis had earlier advised Madison that the merinos “will require housing a[t] nights for seven or eight months in the year.”16 Madison found “that the arrangements necessary for the original pair, would provide for a small flock.”17 This could suggest that Madison had a sheep barn or enclosure built at Black Meadow or elsewhere.
Madison acquired additional sheep in 1810 and 1811. Tobias Lear, the American consul general to Algiers, sent eight Algerine rams for Madison to keep or to distribute “in a way you may judge most beneficial.”18 (This Algerine breed was also referred to as Barbary, Cape, Cape of Good Hope, broad-tailed, or large-tailed.) After the rams arrived in September 1810, Madison gave several to friends, including Jefferson and Isaac Coles. The one other mention of Black Meadow is in regard to these rams; Gideon Gooch wrote to Jefferson in October 1810, “I have two Barbary Rams at Mr Madisons farm Blackmeadow which I Brot on from washington last week one for you the other for Colon[el] Coles…”19 From Lear’s shipment, Madison kept one broad-tailed ram, one broad-tailed lamb, and “a very large handsome sheep with 4 horns” which was not a broad-tail. The lamb and the four-horned sheep died soon after Madison acquired them. Madison requested that Lear obtain another pair of broad-tails for him, but Lear was unable to do so after a diplomatic incident compelled him to leave Algiers.20
James Madison wrote to Robert Livingston, “In the middle States, I have long been of opinion that we kept on our farms, too many black cattle, and too few sheep, and that a valuable revolution would be found in a reduction of the former, and augmentation of the latter. The motives to it are now greatly strengthened by the additional value given to their fleeces by the merino blood.”21 Image by Derek Sewell from Pixabay
William Jarvis allotted Madison two merino ewes in a shipment that arrived in October 1810, and Madison purchased four more from Jarvis’s shipments.22 In January 1811 Madison asked his brother William to purchase eight or more sheep for him at an advertised sale, if the sheep were sold at the low prices he anticipated.23 By early 1811, then, Madison’s flock included the merino ram, ewe, and lamb from Jarvis’s original shipment; six merino ewes from Jarvis’s later shipments; an Algerine broad-tail ram; the broad tails Madison had raised since approximately 1806; and possibly eight or more merino ewes obtained by William Madison. These were the same varieties observed by the Baron de Montlezun on his 1816 visit to Montpelier: “I went today to one of the farms of the President … the merinos, the large-tailed rams of the Cape of Good Hope, and their cross-bred offspring with the old stock, make up numerous flocks, the wool of which is highly prized and brings a good price.”24 Jefferson noted in 1813 that Madison was successful enough in breeding merinos that he “sells some ram lambs, but not ewes. … I do not know mr Madison’s prices, but in general the price of these rams is fallen to from 50. to 100.D. a piece.”25
A letter from Nelly Willis to her aunt Dolley Madison suggests that the production of merino yarn at Montpelier was in the experimental stages in June 1812:
I have attended to yr request about the Merino Wool but on enquiry learn that it is extremely difficult to spin & that you have not a good yarn spinner amongst yr Women I wished Mrs Gooch to do it but she alledged the want of time as an excuse—one of my spinners would I am sure be adequate to it if I could procure suitable cards but they are not to had in the County—however I have set her about it with such as I have & if an opportunity should occur to Fredbg will try to get better but am told they are very sacarce, even there—if you can get cards no 10 had better lay some by—the machine does not answer for the Marino wool.26
The fact that there were no expert yarn spinners within the Montpelier enslaved community in 1812 is another hint that sheep husbandry had been only recently reestablished at Montpelier.
Dolley consigned a “parcell of wool” to Georgetown merchant John Mason in 1813. Mason wrote back a year later to report its sale for a low price in Philadelphia.27 In September 1814 Alexandria merchant Anthony Charles Cazenove (acting as an agent for Dupont, Bauduy, & Co. of Wilmington, Delaware) paid $428.75 for a shipment of Montpelier wool.28 (By comparison, James Madison paid $487.50 for ten mules in February 1814.29) Clearly wool production had the potential to contribute significantly to Montpelier’s income, but as was the case with other agricultural products, good prices rarely lasted. Cazenove offered $1.25 per pound for unwashed, full-blooded merino wool in 1814; his price fell to 90 cents the next year.30 By 1822, Fredericksburg merchant Robert MacKay reported a top price of 40 cents for unwashed wool and suggested that shipping Madison’s wool to Boston might bring a better price.31
This modern-day merino sheep has the thick wool prized by Madison and his contemporaries. Image by Derek Sewell from Pixabay
Madison’s interest in sheep husbandry seems to have waned during retirement. In 1825 he mentioned his sheep while reflecting on crop failures and uncertain prices to nephew James Madison Hite: “Had I counted enough on these failures, I might have turned my attention more to the object which is attracting yours, particularly the Merino part of the flock: As it has happened, I have not done more keep that part, up to about forty or fifty, and have reduced the other parts to a mere supply of mutton & wool for household use.”32 The “other parts” of the flock likely included the broad-tailed sheep, as well as any remaining descendants of the 13 sheep his mother bought from his father’s estate. Madison considered “the mutton of the broad tails, superior by far to any I ever tasted of other sheep.”33
Madison’s comment that he kept the broad tails and any other non-merinos “for household use” (in the broad sense) suggests their mutton and wool was also used to supply the needs of the enslaved community, as well as supplying Madison’s own table. This is the only hint in the documentary record of mutton as food for the enslaved; bacon, pork, and poultry are the meats specifically mentioned in other descriptions of foods eaten by enslaved workers at Montpelier. Archaeologists have found sheep bones in the context of slave dwellings at Montpelier, however, confirming that mutton was part of the diet of the enslaved.34
Sheep at Montpelier After James Madison’s Death
“We are all in high health, and looking on promising crops, Flocks and Herds,” Dolley wrote cheerfully to her friend Anthony Morris in 1839.35 A newspaper account from the same year estimated the number of sheep at 100, on Montpelier’s 1800 acres. By comparison, it noted 300 sheep on Governor James Barbour’s nearby 5000-acre plantation.36
When Dolley sold Montpelier to Henry Moncure in 1844, the livestock was included in the sale. Forty-seven sheep were listed among the animals received by Moncure’s overseer J. B. Chewning, according to an 1845 receipt.37 It’s possible that this receipt reflects the transfer of only a portion of the livestock at one specific point during the complicated sale of the plantation. Alternately, if 47 sheep constituted the entire Montpelier flock, this would suggest that a number of sheep had been sold or slaughtered in the last years that Dolley owned Montpelier.
Given how sparse the records of Montpelier plantation management are, it’s remarkable that the Madisons’ correspondence allows us to trace so much of the rise and fall of sheep husbandry at Montpelier. “Merino mania” not only pushed James Madison to try to improve his flock by cross-breeding with superior sheep. The “mania” also prompted Madison and his colleagues to write about their sheep acquisitions in so much detail, that we can track a wooly paper trail from the markets of Algiers and Lisbon all the way to the sheep pens at Black Meadow.
Why did James Madison have a temple in his front yard? He didn’t come here to pray– it wasn’t that kind of temple. Maybe it reminded him of the ancient Roman temple where the “flame of Liberty” was kept burning. But what does “liberty” mean? Does it mean that you can do anything you want? Whenever you want? Of course not! Can you imagine a whole country of people doing whatever they want? Imagine how quickly things would get out of control!
Things were getting out of control after the colonies broke away from the King of England during the American Revolution. The new states didn’t have a good system to govern themselves. They needed a rulebook. They needed a constitution.
Enter James Madison. He read lots of books right here at Montpelier that gave him ideas about the rules that other countries played by, if they didn’t have a king. Madison went to Philadelphia and worked with people from many different states to write a Constitution. His ideas were so helpful that now he is known as the “Father of the Constitution.”
What does the Constitution say about who makes the rules? Instead of a king, it’s “We The People.” The Constitution gives citizens the FREEDOM to govern themselves, to choose their own leaders, and to make their own laws and rules. The Constitution also protects the people’s rights like freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of the press.
At first the Constitution didn’t allow everyone to participate in government, but over the past 240 years, Americans have made changes — things called Amendments– that let more people have rights, and vote, and run for office. Now “We the People” means just about “All the People!”
The United States Constitution is the modern world’s longest lasting Constitution, and many countries have used it as a model when they wrote their own Constitutions . And just think: it all began right here, on this plantation, Montpelier. That’s how Montpelier made its mark on the world!
Madison was the 4th President, but can you guess six other Presidents who came to Montpelier?
Madison’s best friends were Presidents 3 and 5. Maybe you’ll visit their homes, Monticello and Highland. Who were they? … Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe!
President Number 7 visited Montpelier in 1832. Someone in your family might have his picture right now – he’s on the $20 bill. Who was he? … Andrew Jackson!
Three other Presidents visited Montpelier after Madison’s lifetime. They might be harder to guess, but let’s give it a try.
President Number 19 came in 1878, and gave a speech in praise of Madison and the Constitution. In fact, his last name rhymes with “praise.” Any guesses?… Rutherford B. Hayes!
President Number 26 came to Montpelier on Thanksgiving Day 1907, when the duPonts lived here. A toy bear is named for him. Who was he? … Teddy Roosevelt!
And finally, President Number 41 came here in 1991 for the 200th anniversary of the Bill of Rights. His son was a President too. Can you guess? … George H. W. Bush!
That’s a lot of Presidents who made their mark on Montpelier. And today you’re here! Now you’re part of Montpelier’s story too.
Sometimes the people who lived at Montpelier chose to make their mark, but other times they were forced to make their mark. From the time President Madison’s grandparents came to Montpelier, it was a plantation––a huge farm–where enslaved people of African descent grew crops like tobacco, wheat, and corn and did many other jobs to make money for the Madison family. People who were enslaved had many skills and worked hard, but they didn’t get the benefit.
It was not only enslaved adults that labored for the Madisons, but enslaved children were also forced to do a lot of different tasks such as gathering firewood, helping in the kitchens, hauling water, cleaning stables, and… making bricks. Look at this huge house in front of you— each and every one of these bricks was made one at a time, by hand. On plantations, brick-making was often a task given to enslaved children. They pressed wet clay into rectangular-shaped molds. Then the bricks were left in the sun to “bake,” and once enough bricks were made they “fired” them to harden them. Have you ever pressed your fingers into wet clay? What happens when you do that? Your fingerprints make a mark. That’s exactly what happened here when enslaved people were making bricks to build this house. As you walk around the house, see if you can find any fingerprints in the bricks. These fingerprints remind us that nearly 300 enslaved people, of all ages, made their mark on Montpelier.
Since enslaved adults and children did most of the work at Montpelier, they didn’t have a lot of time for fun. What did they do when they did have a little time to themselves? Archaeologists found artifacts – marbles, doll parts, and toy wagon wheels – that tell us that enslaved children sometimes played with toys. Other artifacts, like musical instruments called jaw harps, tell us that enslaved people made music. Many of the activities that enslaved people probably enjoyed, like storytelling or dancing, didn’t leave artifacts in the ground.
The Madisons had much more time to themselves. Written records describe one of their favorite ways to have fun: parties.
Dolley Madison wrote about a barbecue picnic that she and James hosted on the 4th of July 1816. Ninety guests sat at tables set up on the lawn by enslaved people. Enslaved waiters served them roasted meats and punch, and most likely, fresh vegetables from the garden.
We don’t have a written account of what enslaved people had to do to get ready for that party, but historians found one written account that gives us a clue. In 1824, the famous General Lafayette visited Montpelier. A young enslaved maid named Ailsey Payne was there. Years later, she gave a newspaper reporter her eyewitness account. She saw so many horse drawn carriages she could hardly count them. Young enslaved men rode and led the horses. Enslaved people stored all kinds of food and meat in the icehouse. Ailsey Payne helped clean every inch of the House and shined all of the glass, silver, and china.
Ailsey Payne left her mark on Montpelier by telling her story! Will you tell someone about your visit?
Have you ever been asked to “sweep the floor?” Maybe it’s your chore to sweep up the crumbs that fall to the floor after dinner (if you don’t have a dog to do it for you). But have you ever been asked to “sweep the yard?” Archaeologists at Montpelier believe that enslaved people who lived here did just that! They used brooms to sweep away all of the grass and weeds. The ground would have been like a smooth, hard, clay floor.
Sweeping the yard cut down pests and unwanted creatures like ticks, mice, and snakes. It was a natural way of getting rid of pests that ruined food or caused disease.
The building in front of you was once a kitchen. Enslaved cooks labored here from long before sunup to long after sundown to prepare meals for the Madison family and their guests. They could build their hot cooking fires outside in the swept yard so that the work was more tolerable.
Except for the two smokehouses, the buildings here were homes for enslaved families who mostly worked inside the Madisons’ House. Their homes could be crowded, dark, and unbearably hot in summer. Having a smooth, swept yard allowed them to move many of their indoor activities outdoors. Imagine how busy this place would have been!
The ancestors of enslaved people at Montpelier had also swept their yards in Africa.They passed their wisdom along to their descendants. This is just one example of how enslaved people and their ancestors left their mark on Montpelier.
Do you have pets?
The Madisons had a pet parrot named Polly, but most of the animals at Montpelier weren’t pets – they were working animals. Horses pulled plows that made the ground ready for planting wheat or corn. Horses also pulled wagons, loaded with barrels of Montpelier tobaccos or wheat flour, to market in Fredericksburg and Richmond, and brought supplies back. Aleck was an enslaved wagoner who drove and cared for the horses. On one trip to Fredericksburg, Aleck had to borrow 50 cents to go to the blacksmith for new horseshoes so the horses could make the trip back.
Besides horses, there were cows and sheep and pigs at Montpelier. Some animals were raised for food. Sheep were also raised for their woolly coats. Enslaved women spun the wool into yarn or thread, and weavers like Reuben, Amy, and Harriet wove it into cloth.
James Madison wanted to improve the American breeds of cows and sheep. He bought some Merino sheep, because their wool was so good. A friend gave him some Devon calves as a gift, because they were a better breed of cows.
Animals made their mark at Montpelier – and so did the people who worked with them and took care of them!
How do we know what we know about the past? We can’t ask the people who used to live here— they’re long gone. We have to piece together clues from “primary sources”— letters, journals, diaries, paintings, and newspapers. History is kind of like a giant jigsaw puzzle— as we put the pieces together, a picture of the past emerges!
The very first people to live at Montpelier were Native Americans, or Indigenous people. They didn’t leave written records behind, but they did leave artifacts– objects that were made or shaped or used with their own hands. People who study artifacts are called archaeologists. Montpelier’s archaeologists have discovered artifacts that are about 2000 years old. That tells us that Indigenous people were here, thousands of years before the Madisons, or enslaved people, ever set foot on this land.
The Manahoac tribe were the native people living on this land just before the Madisons arrived here. Artifacts show us that the Manahoac made their mark by making their homes here for periods of time. The artifacts found near President Madison’s house, and near his grandparent’s house at Mount Pleasant–objects such as ceramics, stone tools, and projectile points— show us that the Manahoac thought these were good places to live too.
Did you know that there are descendants of Manahoac people living and making their mark in Virginia today? They are now part of the Monocan tribe, one of the 7 Federally recognized tribes in Virginia.
Some of the people that left their mark on Montpelier are buried here in the Madison family Cemetery. Can you guess which of these gravestones marks the final resting place of James Madison? It’s the tallest monument, and it’s called an obelisk. Today it’s easy to spot Madison’s grave, but if you visited Montpelier in the first 20 years after his death, you wouldn’t know where he was buried unless you were a member of his family. James Madison passed away on June 28, 1836, and two days later, he was buried here, in an unmarked grave.
Why would a president of the United States be buried in an unmarked grave? Today we usually place a marker at the head of a grave, but in the 1700s and 1800s people didn’t always do that, especially in a family cemetery where everyone knew where their family members were buried. If you count the gravestones you’ll find that there are about 30, but we know there are about 100 Madison family members buried here.
It wasn’t until 20 years later that people, outside of the Madison family, decided to place the large gravestone to honor the “Father of the Constitution.” Now, ready for a creepy story? Before placing the gravestone, a deep foundation had to be dug to a depth below James Madison’s coffin. “The boards placed above the coffin had decayed…and the coffin lid was slightly out of place…” so the men digging the foundation opened the coffin lid and “looked in upon the remains…” of James Madison!
Some people made their mark at Montpelier by leaving it.
Anthony was just 17 years old when he decided to make his escape from Montpelier. He had been enslaved here all his life, working in the Madisons’ house, and he was ready to take a big risk for freedom. James Madison’s father placed an ad in the newspaper to say that Anthony had escaped. The ad said that Anthony had light hair and gray eyes, and it described his coats, pants, striped overalls, hat, and buckled shoes. The ad offered a reward for capturing Anthony.
Anthony didn’t want to be caught, so he told people his name was Robert Jones. But one year after he escaped, Anthony was found, about 70 miles from Montpelier. He told the men who captured him that he had traveled to port cities in Virginia, to Philadelphia, and even the West Indies.
But the very next day, Anthony escaped again. He managed to get papers that said he was a free man named Billy Willis. There was a rumor that he was heading to Philadelphia. The Madisons never heard from him again. What happened next is a mystery. But Anthony left his mark by taking a big risk for freedom.
The duPont Family bought Montpelier in 1901 and made many changes to the House and the property. Did you see the racetrack on your way in today? You might even have seen some horses!
Marion duPont Scott loved horses and horse racing. She helped make Montpelier one of the most important horse training centers in America. When three of her favorite horses passed away, she had them buried here and put up these markers to remember them.
Perhaps her favorite horse was Battleship. He was so small that people called him the “American Pony,” but Marion DuPont Scott knew that he had big talent. She sent him across the ocean to race in the British “Grand National,” an important steeplechase race that is still run today. The race is over 4 miles long, and the horses have to jump 30 fences! Many people thought that a small horse like Battleship couldn’t possibly win, but in 1938 he surprised them all! To this day, he is still the smallest horse ever to win the British Grand National. You might say that Battleship left his hoofprints on the history of horse racing!
Marion duPont Scott left another mark on Montpelier. She wanted to share Montpelier and its story with everyone. Thanks to her, you can visit Montpelier today!
Lots of people made their mark on Montpelier. But there are two people you might already know: James and Dolley Madison!
How did James Madison make his mark? He was a Virginia lawmaker, a US Congressman, the Secretary of State, and our 4th President! (Not all at the same time.)
But most importantly, Madison was “Father of the Constitution” and “Architect of the Bill of Rights.” He didn’t write those documents all by himself, but he shared lots of good ideas that still help us govern our country. Madison got his ideas from reading books right here at Montpelier, and he made notes to take to the Constitutional Convention.
Madison could spend so much time in public service because his family had money from owning this plantation. The Madisons enslaved people who grew crops and tended animals. The enslaved people didn’t have much choice about being here, but their hard work made Madison’s career possible. The enslaved people made their mark as the “invisible Founders” of our country.
Dolley Madison made her mark too. James was shy and quiet, but Dolley liked to bring people together for dinners and parties, especially in Washington, DC. That made it easier for James to connect with other people in government.
As you explore Montpelier, see what else you’ll find out about people making their mark!
