- Date:
- 1865
- Original Format:
- Carte de Visite
- Item#:
- MES23337
- Photographer:
- Alexander Gardner
Adele Cutts, Mrs. Stephen A. Douglas (1835-1889)
Adele Cutts, the second wife of Senator Stephen A. Douglas (1813-1861), was a Washington hostess and socialite. She grew up attending the receptions of her great-aunt, Dolley Madison. Cutts was admired for her grace, dignity, and beauty. In 1856 Cutts married Douglas, a shabby widower with two sons, twenty-two years older than his new bride. They built a mansion with a ballroom and it quickly became the social center of Washington. Mrs. Douglas accompanied her husband everywhere. Tragically they lost two children.