Sharp County record., 1879-12-11
A REMARKABLE WOMAN.
The Late Mrs. Margaret Eaton-An Inter
esting Sketch of Her Early Life.


from the Boston Sunday Herald
WASHINGTON, d. c., NOV. S.-Nlrs.
Margaret Eaton, widow of Gen. John
II. Eaton, Secretary OF War under Pres
ident Jackson in the first year of his first
administration, and once Senatorfrom
Tennessee, died about Y O'Clock to-day,
at the residence of Mrs. Smith, on Ninth
Street. between E and F Streets. Mrs.
Eaton has exercised, directly and indi-
rectly, larger influence upon the pol
itics of this country than any other OF
her sex, save only, perhaps, the wife OF
the first President. Her life has been
one succession of rOmances, more IN
credible than any recorded in fiction
outside of Jules Verne's utterly incredl-
BILE feats of imagination. Until she
passed her 10th year she was continually
before the public, the central figure OF
some intricate scandal, and yet has al
most outlived the memory of scores up
on scores of statesmen who were full OF
promise when she was middle-aged
woman, and had left her deepest ma
press upon affairs Of state. She died
from the general decay of her vital pow
ers, very nearly 80 years old, although
her exact AGE it is difficult to state, She
remembered clearly the early events of
her life, and could state them with SIN
gular felicity of manner and precision,
although generally confused as to dates.
She was the daughter of an Irish no.
tel-keeper by the name OF William
O'Neal, who kept the first tavern " at
the national capital that made the slight
est pretensiOns to "style.
"PEGGY O'NEAL't
was the name she went by, and wild,
hoydenish girl, from all accounts and
her own admission, she was. She must
have been singularly beautiful as a girl,
and down to the very last retained
marked traces of it. She had fault
less face and compleXiOn which no art
could beautify. Her form was of me-
dunn height, and of the 1.-the and will,
lowy type which poets and novelists love
to present to their heroines. She was
witty, even to sauciness; piquant, not
much read in books, as, indeed, were
very few in her schoolgirl days, but
with certain air about her that defieC
a lot or title more of freedom than she
herself invited. SiXty-One years ago
when she met Gen. Eaton-then a Majo1
only-a rank which he had attained by
hard fighting with Gen. jackson in tn,
Indian wars and the War Of 1Sl2-sh'
was girl well advanced toward th'
marrying age In couple of years sh
did marry-not Maj Eaton, however
but Purser Timberlake, whom she bor
two children. The Purser did not be
.IhSnyhcR ISngh Which JM5aF FstTsah bTSs4hF 6im {;
draw his pay wnIre rusting out his day
with his interesting family. Many
voyage did he make during his marrieC
life, leaving his bright young wife a
home with her father and at her father
hotel, and at last, as such things vii
happen, in 1927 made his last trip to tn,
Mediterranean. A few months later the
news came back that
HE HAD COMMITTED SUICIDE,
and later still there came back to thu
widow bundle of his little effects, chic
of which was his beautiful wifes minia
ture set in pearls. Mrs. Eaton always
denied that the Purser died by his owr
hand, although this report had much tc
do with the scandal of her after-life
He was bathing, as she states it, and g
sudden rush of blood to the head was
the cause of his death. His razor was
on the floor, just as he had used it tc
shave with, and on the table was the
portrait, set with pearls, of the wife he
idolized. This is Mrs. Eaton's story,
but the tale that went abroad, and which
poor Mrs. Eaton's many envious rivals
never allowed to rest, was that, con-
vinced of his wife infdelity, he had de-
hberately cut his throat and given no
sign. Certain it was that he gave no
sign, for none of Mrs. Eaton's enemies
and they became legion in number
a few years later and of wonderful re-
spectability-were ever able to produce
a word which showed that the deceased
husband of her youth suspected her
fidelity or ceased to love her. Not LONG
after the Purser's death a child was
born to him. The gossips, however,
shook their heads obviously when its
paternity was mentioned, and one or
two went so far as to say that Major
Eaton could set all doubts at rest, if he
would. He was Gen. Eaton, however,
by this time, and his friend, Gen. Jack
son, was President of the United States
He had seen the vivacious Peggy grow
from girl to woman, and loved her, and
was accepted. More than that, he took
the precaution to ask Gen. Jackson 5
opinion about it, mentioning, by way Of
apology, that scandal had been busy
with both their names.
GEN. JACKSON'S REPLY,
as quoted by one of his biographers,
was worthy Of him: "Your mar.
rying her will disproye all charges and
restore her GOOD name - And So Con