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Eliza Monroe Hay Reburied in Richmond Nearly 200 Years After Paris Burial

A grassroots project led by author Barbara VornDick secured French approvals to bring her home.

Overview

  • On Oct. 23, her remains were laid to rest at Hollywood Cemetery beside her father, President James Monroe, during an afternoon ceremony.
  • The Catholic Diocese of Richmond held a mass that morning at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart before the reinterment.
  • The Bringing Eliza Home Project led by VornDick spent about six years on research, fundraising, and permissions, with the remains arriving in the United States in May.
  • Her grave at Paris’s Père Lachaise had been unmarked and neglected for decades, with French cemetery policies posing a risk of eventual removal.
  • Letters preserved at the College of William & Mary show she reported illness and financial distress in 1839 while living in France.