This project envisions a three-part program:
*Exhumation and repatriation of the
remains of Eliza Monroe Hay, daughter of President Monroe.
*A ceremony honoring her in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
*A dedication of her gravestone and
her final resting place. During Monroe’s presidency, Elizabeth suffered declining health. Eliza and her family moved into the White House, and assisted
Elizabeth Monroe with the duties of First Lady during the eight years of her father’s
presidency, from 1817 to 1825. Through circumstances that began with the death of her mother, her father, and her husband within eight months, and a few years later, of her only child, Eliza Monroe Hay slowly, and wrongly, became disinherited of her rightful assets from both her father and her husband. The echo of rumors and criticism still resonated, and few came to her defense as she asserted her rightful heritage, despite legal manipulations to gain control of her inheritance. Eliza Monroe Hay died penniless and with no nearby family, in Paris, on January 27, 1840. By the goodwill of America’s consul in Paris, Daniel Brent, who had known her father, she was interred in a modest grave in the American section of Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France. Now her grave has deteriorated and this project aims to bring her remains home. This project envisions a three-part program:
-Exhumation and repatriation of the remains of Eliza Monroe Hay, beginning with the exhumation of the remains from Pere Lachaise, followed by the flight from Paris to Washington, DC, and concluding with the reinterment of her remains in the James Monroe family plot in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia.
-A ceremony honoring Eliza Monroe Hay in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where her father began his law practice. This event would help to re-establish her reputation and standing, and would promote public awareness of her contributions to her family and her country.
-A dedication of her gravestone and her final resting place, where she will be rightfully united with her mother, her sister, and her father, the last of the Republic’s Founding Fathers. A ceremony would be held in Richmond, further re-establishing her reputation and her standing, and further promoting knowledge of her life and contributions.
