Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-02-23
l WOMAN OF HISTORY
WHO BROKE UP JAcKsoNs c4B1NEr.
An Interview with Mrs. Gen. John II. Eaton
Her Recollections of Old Hickory, CAL
houn and the Men of Their Times-Her
Domestic Life and Observation-Disclosures
brances of Happy Days.
Washington Post.

Il wish to see Mrs. Secretary Eaton said
the Post, standing at the opened street door
of wide, old-fashioned Pennsylvania avenue
residence near the Capitol.
Dunno SIGH a lady, said the colored girl.
::She must live Mrs. Secretary John
d. Eaton" persisted the Post.
"'Deed, sir, no SIGH pusson in dis house,
repeated the colored maid
''Mrs. Eaton certainly lives here; this is
the place and the house. Please call the
landlady.''
"Oh, Mrs. Eaton. Yes, sir; she lives here:
walk in sir.''
Up dark pair of stairs and down long
hall, jostling against number of boarders
on their way to the dining hall, (for this is a
crowded Washington boarding-house,) we
pass along to the door of small room and
are ushered in.
Mrs. Eaton rises with the grace of thor
ough-bred lady, and bows with old-time cour-
tesy, as we announce our name. The meet
ing has been arranged by lady friend, and
the reception is cordial but not ELUSIVE.
Mrs. Eaton does not .sinterview.'' During
the last dozen years reporters in search of
metal have repeatedly, under in
genious devices, gained access to her, only to
find her dumb as an offended oracle.
Mr.. Parton, when he was writing the life
of Andrew Jackson, attempted to gain access
to her for his purposes, but failed to do SO.
Ihe result was most unveracious account
of the Eaton war, which subverted cabinet
and agitated Washington society to its foun-
dation forty or fifty years ago. This is truly
Mrs. Gen. John Fl. Eaton, or 'sLady Eaton,''
as she was called in the days when Jackson's
handsome compeers and his elegant secre-
tary of war walked the stately measures of
the ''minuet' with her, and Sir Charles
Vaughan and other aristocratic diplomats
were proud to ride by her side, as with her
erect and supple form and glowing beauty
she sat her spirited horse with the ease of
Penthesilea, galloping over the roads about
the capital, much less smooth than now.
FROM SHADOW LAND.
This lady who sits SO erect, SO firm in
form, who moves around the little room with
SO much vigor and grace, who converses with
so much animation and ready command of
language, was born when George III. was on
his throne, when Bonaparte was Consul
and fighting at Acre, and Mrs. President
Adams had not transferred the Republican
court assemblies from Philadelphia to the
new White House. Although eighty years
old, she bears notable stamps of the great
beauty which once gave her SO much power.
and in its embers yet asserts itself so wildly
as to invest her presence everywhere with
uncommon interest Her form, of medium
height, straight and delicate, and of perfect
proportions, has never bent to time nor sick
ness, nor curved itself to the weight of mis-
fortunes. She has been rare example of
that Irish beauty, which, marked by good
blood, so suggest both the Greek and Span
lard, and yet, at times, presents a combina-
ton which transcends both. The hair, once
so rich in it's fine abundance and waves of
darkest shade, is now almost white. but yet
abundant and soft in the curls clustering
about her broad, full, expressive forehead:
her dark violet eyes shine with the wit and
spirit which still characterize her converse
ton: and the perfect nose, Of almost Grecian
proportions, and finely -curved mouth, with
the firm, round chin, complete profile of
faultless outline.
WHO SHE WAS.
::Peggy O'Neal' was the name Parton as
signed her, as having been hers in her
youth, and he calls her the ''danghter of an
Irish boarding house keeper Were some
other Parton, hundred pears hence, to re-
late the story of the present Parton's marital
union with his step-daughter with initiative
profigacy, in disregard of truth, not even
Baron Munchausen could be compared with
him in wild Imagination.
Mrs. Eaton's name was Margaret O'Neal,
not Peggy, and her father was American
born, though, as his name implies, of Irish
descent. He was famous builder in his
day, and his wife was the daughter of Gov
Howell, of New Jersey. They were propri-
etors of the chief public house in Washing
ton, and its hospitalities were sought by such
men as jackson, Eaton, Calhoun, Berrien
Van Buren,, Livingston, and Cass, for many
years. To reference on the part of the
Post to Mrs. Eaton's long acquaintance with
the history of Washington she replied sab
yes, my dear sir; my father brought my
mother here when there were but two brick
houses in this city. They made a tedious
journey from Trenton, New Jersey, where
my father was born. Father then owned
much property here and he built several fine
houses and improved the streets. All, my
father was good man and a gentleman
greatly beloved by the distinguished me1
who so long had their homes with him
The property to which Mrs. EauR alluded
is that long designated as the :'Seven Build
ings," yet numbered among the best of that
section, between Twentieth and Twenty frs
streets, upon street. They were and are
large, commodious and ell-fnished houses
| So beautiful and happy was Mrs. Eaton'l
youth that there were plenty of eligible suit
ors to struggle for her hand. John B. Tim
berlake, young gentleman Of fine appear
ance and excellent fortune, purser in tn
navy, became her husband.
WHO her DESCENDANTS ARE.
II was bat sixteen years DID," she said
''when my first son was born, and not mucl
Timberlake. My father gave me a Crane
satin with an over-dress of rich Brussels lac
seamless, and made to order and measure
I lived with my parents for long time, in
when in this country. I had two daughter
who lived, Virginia and Margaret. Virgin
married in Paris when we were abroad, afte
my second marriage, Mons. Sampayo, fo1
merly an attache Of the French legation i
Washington. She still lives in Paris, vic
ow, her daughter being married to distin
guished French gentleman. Margaret maj
ried John Randolph, of the Roanoke family
and grandson of the well-known DIR. Brocl
enbrough, of Richmond, Va. Her earl
death has ever been a source of poigna1
grief to me. I adopted her four children {
my own, and two of these now living are N
support and solace. y
"Your first marriage was happy, was it no
Mrs. Eaton?''
"a perfectly harmonious union, I assu1
you; had all that heart could wish. Purse
Timberlake had an income of $4,000
: year, and in his early death his last though
were mine. He died at Port Mahon,
1923, of acute asthma, which gave him gre
suferings. He addressed to me, just befo