The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1888-11-03
LOVES OF AMERICAN HEROES.
Houston, Crockett, Marshall, Calhoun,
Webster, Douglas and bancroft.


Each of our American heroes has
| lived the material for a novel, and the
| successes and disappointments of their
| love affairs would make a library of in
| teresting story. What can be more pa
thetic than the lifelong disappointments
| of James Buchanan, John Randolph and
Alexander H. Stephens? Bucha nan S
sweetheart died during lovers quar-
rel, and his bachelo rhood became her
| monument. Alexander H. Stephens.
disappointed in his school-boy love, re-
fers often to her IN his letters of a long
life OF single blessedness; and John Ran
dolph, the moody, unhappy, erratic
genius OF Roanoke, lingering for years
| on the verge of insanity, speaks of Maria
Ward as one whom he loved better
than his own soul or Him who created
it,"
Randolph's love affair is shrouded in
| mystery. He never married, and it
was in his early youth that he fell des-
perately III love with Miss Ward. She
| was the daughter of a friend of his
mother, and Powhatan Bou din, a rela-
| tive OF Randolph, says that he was en-
gagged to her for many years. Bouldin
does not give the reason why the en-
gagement was suddenly broken oft, but
! says the distinguished lover left the
presence of his idol very much incens-
ed, and that when he came to his horse,
which was tied to the limb of tree
| near the front gate, he cut the reins
| loose with his kni and rode off in
great haste. Randolph seldom met
| Miss Ward after this, and they were
not on speaking terms. Still he calls
| her his angel, and in his letters after
her death he uses this remarkable ex.
| preston: 81 loved, aye, and was loved
again, not wisely but too well"
Maria Ward is said to have been the
greatest belle of Virginia in her day
| She married Peyton Randolph, a son of
| Edmund Randolph, who was President
! Washington's secretary of state, and it
| is related that she so charmed Gen. La
| tayette when he visited Richmond that
| he wanted to adopt her as his daughter,
and asked her to visit him III France.
Gen. Sam Houston, the president of
the Republic OF Texas, and United
| States senator, was the youngest gov
ernor who had ever presided over the
state of Tennessee when be fell in love
with a pretty girl at the state capital.
He was tine-looking man, and the
| young lady's parents considered
him very desirable husband.
| They persuaded his sweetheart
to accept him, and he married
| her, not knowing that the match was
not love one on her part. After
| ward he found that his wife loved
another. He asked her if this was so,
and she told him it was. He replied
that she could have her freedom, and
that he would leave Tennessee and per-
nit her to get a divorce on the ground
of desertion. He did so, went to the
frontier, and joined tribe of Cherokee
Indians. Here he remained three years,
and when he visited Washington IN be-
half of the Indians in 1892 he wore the
| Indian garb. From thence he went TO
| Texas, and after making name and
| having been president of the Republic
| of Texas, he married Margaret Motfet,
an Alabama lady. His first wife bad, it
| is said, in the meantime got divorce
and had married her lover.
| Davy Crockett, another frontier states
man and a noted hunter, was not less
susceptible to the disappointment O:
| love. He first became enamored of a
relative OF his school master, but while
| he was counting her richer sutton car
| RED her away before his very eyes.
| He next met beauty at a bali, fell in
| love at first sight, and became engaged
was fixed for him to announce the en-
| gagement to her parents. He started to
90 to them, but fell in with some boon
companions, and made, as they say, "a
night of it." He arrived a day too late
and found that his ladylove was to be
married that night to another. He was
not a deep lover, however, and he made
| the best OF bad bargain. He laughed
| off his disappointment, and danced all
night at the wedding party given in
| honor of the union of his sweetheart
| and his rival He soon fell IN love
again, and this time was happily mar
ried. He lived at first with his wife's
mother. and in the Creek war of 1913
made reputation in fighting the In
dians. He W. elected to the Legisla-
ture, and during President Jackson S
term was sent to Congress. He was
killed at the very battle of the
Alamo which was the beginning of Sam
HOuston's great Texan career.
Most of our statesmen have pure do
mestic records, and most of them have
been ardent lovers and have made good
husbands. Thomas Benton was de-
voted to his wife, and he says in his
thirty Years memoirs that he never at
tended any place of testiyity or amuse
ment after her death. The wife
] Senator Allen, of Ohio, better known as
Fog Horn" Allen, died at Washington
during the winter OF 1917. 1t was be
fore the days OF railroad 10 the West
and the old Senator carried her corpse
home to Ohio over the mountains, rid
ing beside it on horseback during the
dav and watching 1t at night throughout
the cold, dreary journey, until at last
he laid it beside her father, Gov. Ar
~, baontifi1l aauatary af
Chillicothe.
Chief Justice Marshall's marriage was
happy one, and his married life COM
prised fifty years of the tenderest al
lection. His wife died but a short time
before him, and Marshall directed that
his body should be laid with hers, ami
that tie ploin stone over their grave
should have only this inscription:
John Marshall. son OF Mary and
Thomas Marshall, was born on the 24t
of September, 1915, lntermarrled with
Mary Willis Amber on the Sd of Janu-
ary, 1888, and departed this life on the
- dav of - Is"
JohnC. Calhoun's domestic life was
lovely one. He married his cousin, and
the property he got from her made his
political career free rom financial cares.
Henry CLAW married Lucretia Hart, a
relative of Thomas Benton, who had a
good dowry, and who understood how
TO keep house.
Daniel Webster's two marriages were
both marriages of love. His first wife
was Grace Fletcher, the daughter OF a
New Hampshire clergyman, and Web
ster married her when he was 70 years
Of age, and while he was yet poor
LAWYER. His popping of the question
was most delicately done. Miss Grace
had been winding skeln OF yarn while
ne held il for her on his long arms. Inc
skein had become entangled, anu
through its untwisting, the heads OF the