The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1879-11-20
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RELIC OK The PAST
DEAnH OF MRS. SECRETARY
ol,AS, on iPEGGY o'NEIL,"
b WAsisINGToN.
Vs Wemsa N9S Caused Breakup Of
lJackson's Cabinet.

r WASHNNGTON.
tsses Wemsns Nh6 Caused a Breakup Of
,Jackson's Cabinet
Of Mrs. Margaret L, Eaton,
wlA4 neral John H. Eaton, Sec.
reIa IN the first Cabinet of Pres
,iaenl which occurred on Satur.
dd9 9i Sex Ton, D. c., removes one
sof .ha M NfyiVors of the actors in q
fafd Isode of our national history
and ils the fierce passions which
stirred Washington society to its depths
nearly ffty years ago. The deceased
lady has. indeed, double claim to be
&asbt As one Of the most famous Of
fAne..'n women by virtue Of another
8fod sode in her married life, less
54w the public, which occurred
idstbelole the outbreak Of our civil war,
2sa Mn Mons maiden name was Mar.
Qatet Neil. She was born in ono OF
The So0fhern States in 1895, and was
oonseog4ntly in her S4th year. Her
father wss gentleman of wealth, and
kocd social position, and she received an
nuauanY good education for that early
HNa. She was endowed with high
onal beauty, and had a singular fas-
of manner, which, combined
great strength of will, ambition and
NgeranCe, enabled her to become the
LINING belle and at later period the
RsAl queen of society at the Federal
court Her first husband, by whom she
Ahad several children, was Mr.. Timber.
lake, a purser in the United States navy.
Tile nuptials were celebrated with eclat,
and the father of Miss O'Neil presented
her on her wedding day, with well
furnished house in Washington. Mr..
Timberlake was an intimate personal
friend of Major John Henry Eaton, Sen.
stor from Tennessee from 1918 to 1929,
known as the most trusted companion
of General Jackson, of whom he had
published an elaborate biography in
1924, at the time of the first Presidential
campaign, in which the hero of New
Orleans" was candidate.
1t had been stated that Purser Timber.
lake had presentiment of early death
and had expressed the hope that his
young widow might become the wife of
his friend, Major, af5erward General,
) Eaton Be this as it may. the second
: mar ags took place in 1928, but few
Szssmonths before the Inauguration of Gen
eral Jackson. Uncharitable rumors were
in circulation in Washington concerning
the relations between Eaton and Mrs.
Timberlake, and the former consulted
General Jackson about the expediency
of silencing them by marriage. General
Jackson, whose Chivalrous nature in re-
& gard to women cannot be called in ques
tion, warmly advised that step and
became 30 devoted friend and admirer
of Mrs. Eaton, that he, too, was accused
by his adyersaries of maintaining i'm
proper relations with the lady. General
Eaton had rendered notable services
during the electoral campaign and was
feWaru6u WlIu d b6hJ Ill lu6 OdUlutb Us
Secretary of war; less on account of any
personal aptitude than because Jackson
"wanted to have friend about him upon
ypaWhem he could rely," as he stated to
MrsJames A Hamilton, then the chief
of his Kitchen cabinet" The other
members of Jackson's Cabinet were:
Nl8rtin Van BureD, Secretary of State;
Samuel d. Ingham, of Pennsylvania,
Secretary of the Treasury; John Branch,
of North Carolina, Secretary of the Navy;
John Mcpherson Berren, of Georgia,
Attorney General, and William 7. Barry
{ of Kentucky, Postmaster General.
In the opinion of Mr.. James A. Harri.
son, as given in his "Reminiscences"
tLis was "Che most intellectual Cabinet |
we have ever had" The entrance of |
General Eaton into the Cabinet nomi- |
naly gave his wife the social status of
which she had been long ambitious and |
the advantages of which she was in no |
wise willing to fOrego. But, as already |
mentioned, scandal had been busy with |
her name, coupling it with that of the |
President himself, and the wives of the |
other members of the Cabinet declined |
to associate with Mrs. Eaton upon equal |
terme. From them the social stigma |
was caught up by the wives of the For.
eign Ministers in Washington, The |
quarrel was doubtless famed by the un- |
questionable superiority in beauty on |
the part of Mrs. Eaton, and the ladies of |
the Cabinet, with the despotiC instincts |
of their sex, compelled their respective |
husbands to espouse their own views |
For more than year Washington was
the theatre of q social warfare, of which !
Mrs. Eaton YVES the centre and the cause, |
There were endless pickering and sever,
al angry scenes between Mrs. Eaton |
and her rivals. From the bOudoir the |
contest was transferred to the council |
chamber of the nation. The Secretaries |
OF General jackson submissively obeyed |
the behests of their better halves, and |
an open and violent feud sprung up in |
the White house.
This circumstance was coincident in
time with the celebrated rupture be-
tween Jackson and his Vice President,
John c. Calhoun. The tier was a
shrewd politician, and, whatever might
have been his own opinion about the
matter, was certainly quite alive to the
political capitalize be made from the Ea on
scandal. 1t is alleged that he took an
active part in promoting this crisis, and
there is no doubt that his agency was
believed by Jackson. As Conse qnence
"0ld Hickory" peremptorily demanded
Of his Secretaries the recognition of tne
social status of MRS. Eaton, and was re
fused by all of them except Mr.. Van
Buren,. As a compromise, it VAS sug.
gested that her public status be conceded,