After 200 year delay, Pres. Monroe's daughter is buried in Hollywood Cemetery

Nearly 200 years after her death, the remains of Elizabeth "Eliza" Kortright Monroe Hay, daughter of the fifth President of the United States, have been reunited with her family in Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery.

On Thursday, following a memorial mass at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, many from far and wide gathered on a sunny autumn afternoon to witness James Monroe’s firstborn daughter being laid to rest, after spending almost two centuries in an unmarked grave in Paris at the Père-Lachaise Cemetery. 

“I just met Eliza a few months ago at the Dulles International Airport in the Cargo Bay of Air France,” said Barbara VornDick, retired Virginia teacher and author of "Eliza's True Story: The First Biography of President Monroe's Eldest Daughter.”

“When I put my hand on her coffin and welcomed her home, the emotion was overwhelming, and it still is.”

This ceremony and reunion largely thanks to the efforts of VornDick and her colleagues with the Bringing Eliza Home Project, a passion project focused on bringing Eliza’s remains back to the United States.

When researching, VornDick had wondered how the firstborn daughter of the U.S. president had ended her life poverty-stricken and passing away alone across the Atlantic Ocean. 

“The last letters of her life were so poignant, and she was pleading,” said VornDick. “When you hold [her letters], I held them in my hands, and she was just screaming from the page…
That really grabbed my heart, and I couldn't let that go.”

There had been stories that Eliza had abandoned her country and family to live in France, many of them not favorable to her character. Through all of the noise, VornDick did not see a snobbish or ungrateful daughter of a politician, she saw a woman who was being discredited.

“We tend to think of her as a historical figure, someone in the distant past, and peripheral to the well known story of her father's accomplishments,” said Vorndick. “
But she was a real, living, breathing, human being who embraced many roles throughout her life.”

VornDick’s fascination with Eliza’s history drew her to dive into five years of research, analyzing primary sources such as personal letters to piece together the true history.

Through this research, VornDick found that Eliza stepped up when her mother’s health was failing, taking on many responsibilities as first lady, and would later go on to care for her husband, children and grandchildren. 

VornDick noted that Eliza’s confidence and leadership qualities as a woman during her time were not often warmly welcomed. 

“In today’s world, she would be applauded for her tenacity and resolve,” said Sen. Bryce Reeves, who spoke at the memorial. “She got things done even when it was unpopular.”

It was also noted that she was blocked from receiving her father‘s inheritance due to another male family member.

VornDick and her team worked effortlessly to raise money, worked with the French authorities for documentation and transport, and tracked down each living descendant for permission to retrieve the remains. 

“It was the right thing to do to bring her home,” said Vorndick. “When I found the documents indicating that she likely never intended to stay [in France], I  just felt really compelled to do it.”

A journey that once started out as a historical examination has become an emotional one for VornDick. Through her research, not only did VornDick see a new side to a figure who was misrepresented, she began to view her work as doing right for a friend. 

“Today marks the end of the Bringing Eliza Home Project, but thankfully, it is a happy ending,” said VornDick during her eulogy. “We extend our compassion to Eliza's descendants as we witness the burial of your ancestor. You can be proud of the life she lived and the legacy of her contributions to this nation.”

Some of Eliza’s living descends were in attendance for the memorial, along with the organizations that helped with the process of bringing Eliza home.

“It's a closing of a chapter,” said Shelby Chandler, Park Superintendent of the James Monroe Birthplace and Boyhood Home
. “I truly hope that when Americans understand the story and hear the story, they understand that as a people, we are family, too. Every single one of us interact with each other and influence each other, good or bad. And maybe, just maybe we can make this country a better place just by trying to be understanding of each other and coming together.”

Eliza now rests in the family plot overlooking the James River in Hollywood Cemetery.