Notes
This colorful bodice is supposed to have belonged to Dorothea Spotswood Henry (1778–1854), the first child of Patrick Henry, born to his second wife, Dorothea Dandridge Henry (1757–1831). The bodice is tiny and seems to imply that Dorothea wore it as a very young woman. It also shows signs of being reworked at a later date. The short sleeves are made of a completely different fabric and date back to the 1820s or 1830s—the original part of the bodice dates back to the 1790s.
Margo Pettway, the widow of Richard Pettway, discovered this bodice in her attic in 2004, accompanied by a note that connected the item to Dorothea Spotswood Henry. Richard Pettway was the son of Virginia Randolph Harper Pettway, a great-great-granddaughter of Dorothea Spotswood Henry. At the time the attached note was written (presumably by herself), the bodice was in her possession. It passed to her son Richard Pettway after her death.
After the death of her husband, Margo Pettway donated the bodice to the Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation. The bodice arrived at Red Hill in January 2004.