Famous Genealogies

Biography

Born in New York, Elizabeth was the daughter of Lawrence Kortright, an officer in the British army who had made a fortune privateering during the French and Indian War, and Hannah Aspinwall. She acquired social grace and elegance at an early age. A statuesque beauty with raven hair and blue eyes, she first caught Monroe's attention in 1785 while he was in New York serving as a member of the Continental Congress. James, aged twenty-seven, married Elizabeth, aged seventeen, on February 16, 1786, in New York City.

After a brief honeymoon on Long Island, the newlyweds returned to New York to live with her father until Congress adjourned. In 1794, James was appointed United States Minister to France by President George Washington. In Paris, as wife of the American Minister during the Reign of Terror, she helped secure the release of Madame La Fayette, wife of the Marquis de Lafayette when she learned of her imprisonment and threatened death by guillotine.

Source :  http://www.wikipedia.org/