Anne Tayloe

Ann Tayloe is probably most known nowadays for being the owner/resident of the famous house called “The Octagon” designed by Dr. W. Thornton (the first architect of the U.S. Capitol). During the war of 1812, the White House was burned by the British, and the Tayloes offered use of their house to President Madison and his wife Dolley as a temporary "Executive Mansion". The Tayloes sold the Octagon in 1855, after Mrs. Tayloe's death. Today, the American Architectural Foundation owns the Octagon House.

During the War of 1812, one of the Tayloe daughters fell in love with a British officer, and her father, solidly diasapproving of the romance, forbade her from seeing him further. After an illicit meeting with her lover, she snuck back into the house, her father caught her on the stairway and a violent argument ensued and somehow the young woman lost her balance and plunged over the spiral staircase to her death.

There are reports of a flickering candle shadow moving up the stairs, screams and. a thump at the bottom of the stairs! There are reports of Dolley Madison's ghost seen roaming the house after her death, still wearing her elegant clothes and the feathered turban! During the Civil War the place was used as a hospital. People still hear the sobbing and moans of the dead.

from: http://gilbertstuart.blogspot.com/2009/11/random-monthly-pick-mrs-j...

References

• Genealogical notes: containing the pedigree of the Thomas family, of Maryland, and of the following connected families: Snowden--Buckley--Lawrence--Chew--Ellicott--Hopkins--Johnson--Rutherford--Fairfax--Schieffelin--Tyson and others .. by Thomas, Lawrence Buckley, 1848-1914 Publication date 1877. Page 19. Archive.Org
• https://www.colonial-settlers-md-va.us/getperson.php?personID=I0336...