Remains of former president James Monroe’s daughter returned to America

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- The remains of former President James Monroe's daughter returned to America, with dozens gathering for the historic moment at a Richmond cemetery on Thursday.

The afternoon of Thursday, Oct. 23, the Catholic Diocese of Richmond held a reinterment ceremony at Hollywood Cemetery, and a mass service was also held earlier that morning at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, for the daughter of America’s fifth president -- Eliza Monroe Hay.

Hay had spent nearly 200 years in an unmarked grave in France, including those who pushed for this move.

(Photo: Jakobi Davis)

(Photo: Jakobi Davis)

(Photo: Jakobi Davis)

Barbara VornDick, a parishioner of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Fluvanna County, founded the Bringing Eliza Home Project with the sole purpose of finding and retrieving Hay’s remains.

"I felt like a lot of people understood my compassion and my passion for this story and my compassion for Eliza, and to make it right," VornDick said.

Through her research, VornDick discovered that Hay had been buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in France, where her grave was “neglected for decades.” According to VornDick, the most amazing aspect of the journey to returning Hay was the ways in which it enriched her faith.

"I think she has gotten justice in so many ways, on a personal level and in a lot of other ways too. She's back with her family, whom she loved," said Michael Kamtman, a 5th great-grandson of Hay.

This move was years in the making, and Hay was laid to rest next to her father and other family in the Monroe family plot.