Her father had died the year before her marriage, and other changes followed in quick succession. January 5, 1795, Elizabeth Drinker writes: "I heard this evening of the death of two of Molly Payne's sons, Temple and Isaac. The latter offended a man in Virginia, who some time afterward shot him with a pistol." [Illustration: James Madison Dolly Madison Portraits by Gilbert Stuart. Reproduced by permission of The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the owner of the paintings.] Her father's will was not proved until 1796. He left his wife, Mary Payne, sole executrix. His property consisted chiefly of lands in West Virginia and Kentucky, and it probably had little value. (De Chastellux tells of meeting a young emigrant who had bought one thousand acres in Kentucky for fifty guineas.) George Walker, John Todd and Dolly Todd were witnesses. The two former were no longer living, and the record reads: "This day appeared Dolly P. Maddison, of the State of Virginia, Gentlewoman, late Dolley P. Todd, who being one of the People called Quakers, and conscientiously scrupulous of taking an oath, Doth Solemnly affirm and declare," etc. Lucy Washington and Anna Payne likewise made affirmation to their belief in their father's signature to the will. [Illustration: Signatures of the three daughters who proved the will of John Payne in 1796.] FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 18: Population of Philadelphia in 1770 about 31,000.--Proud's History.] [Footnote 19: Deborah Pleasants, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Pleasants, was born 25th of Eleventh month, 1763, at Beaver Dam, Goochland County, Va.; married William Stabler in 1789, and settled at Leesburg, Va., but soon after removed to Sandy Spring, Montgomery County, Md. William Stabler died in 1806. Deborah Stabler died Sixth month 26th, 1845.] [Footnote 20: Elizabeth Brook, daughter of James Brook, Jr., born 1762; married 1790, at age of 28 years, to George Ellicott, of Ellicott's Mills, Howard County, Md. James Brook, father of Elizabeth, was the Friend who had freed the first slave freed in the State of Maryland.] [Footnote 21: In possession of Lucy Tyson Fitzhugh, Westminster, Md.] [Footnote 22: Post-offices were often at a great distance from the person addressed, and it was often better to wait for some one traveling that way. Then, too, postage was high. The "Historical Register" gives the following postage rates, 1810-1814. Every letter consisting of one sheet to go a distance less than 40 miles, 8 cents; 40 to 90 miles, 10 cents; 90 to 150 miles, 12-1/2 cents; 150 to 300 miles, 17 cents; 300 to 500 miles, 20 cents; over 500 miles, 25 cents. The rate was doubled, trebled and quadrupled as the number of sheets increased.] [Footnote 23: Her approaching marriage to John Todd.] [Footnote 24: Samuel Mickle Fox, son of Joseph and Elizabeth Fox, and Sarah Pleasants, born Eleventh month 8d, 1767, daughter of Samuel and Mary Pleasants, were married Eleventh month 27th, 1788.]