syphax senior and nephews of nancy syphax who worked with jennings earlier on lafayette square. now in the 1850s, jennings and charles syphax, ii worked together in the pension office under the department of the interior. charles's brother, william syphax was also employed in the interior department rising from messenger to clerk and he was a leader in public education for african-americans in washington. back to lafayette square proper, i want to tell you the story of jennings interactions with dolly madison in her old age. she was suffering financially all through her widowhood and things got worse and worse until in her last few years she wanted for the very necessities of life. webster would send jennings over to her house with basketfuls of provisions. jennings, as he writes in his memoir would pull small sums of money out of his own pocket to give to dolly madison. this is an ironic reversal of fortune, but it also indicates the great generosity of spirit that paul jennings displayed. now, i have a few illustrations to share with you in closing. i will be hanging in during

my current research has to deal with nancy syphax. she is my third great-grandmother. she is the sister of charles. i'm interested in documenting the lives, movement, and the relationships between nancy, her daughter margaret, which is in the picture behind me, and her son peter joseph. i'm exploring nancy's life in the household of john gadsby's tavern and house. nancy was born in the early 1790s. probably in virginia, but possibly in d.c. we're not sure when her daughter margaret was born. we think it was the mid-18 teens. 1818 or so. the story indicates that he and his wife's confidence brought their slaves with them when they moved to the cater house. that's consistent with nancy living in alexandria and showing up in the decatur house. nancy is thought to have lived there from 1836 to at least 1870. part of my research revolves around understanding why margaret would have been sold. i'm just driven by trying to understand the trade and why somebody would be sold. perhaps her birth was the result of an unexpected or unwanted pregnancy. we know slaves were a commodit

happened to be at an event and they saw her name on the placard in the building that said nancy syphax lived here. and we were just floored because we have been looking to place nancy as opposed to her brother in arlington. it was exhilaration and it also opened about a thousand more questions. >> does anyone else want to answer a question about what it meant when you first found out about how famous and historical your ancestors were? >> i did. i looked up and said, not that again. because i was a little child. it wasn't until i became a more mature person that i appreciated the significance. but i can remember my great aunt, who is the little infant in the picture there, sitting me and trying to describe the scene and the frosted doors and the elegance she had, little horse and carriage can. but she didn't spend so much time on that. she spent her time talking about honor and dignity and the way you carried yourself as being most important. on florida avenue, she lived over one house on 8th and s. i went out with her just a little 6-year-old. 7-year-old. we were going to the corner.