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James Madison

Early Life and Family

Whom did Madison nearly marry years before he met Dolley?

In Philadelphia, Madison became smitten with a fifteen-year-old girl named Catherine “Kitty” Floyd. In those times, women often married at a very early age. New York delegate William Floyd, Kitty’s father, approved and encouraged her relationship with the thirty-two-year-old Madison. The two became engaged, but Kitty later broke off the engagement.