The Washington herald., 1911-10-15

pSElenCeS WIllle a TeSlueHI VI NoPlboh
City which cannot but be of great in
terest to descendants of the inhabitants
of Washington of those days. The aged
authoress is a daughter of the late Judge
James Campbell, surrogate Of New York
and a powerful leader of Tammany Hall,
and the widow of Samuel Gouverneur,
Jr., at one time American consul at Foo
Chow, China, his father having been the
private secretary of President Monroe,
whose daughter he married. Miss Camp
bell was born on Long Island, but when
child moved with her parents to the
city of New York. After several years
at the then very fashionable school kept
by Miss Forbes, she was sent to the in
stitution of Miss Eloise Chegaray. a
French emigre, where among others she
met John Bigelow. who Is still among
the living a nonagenarian OF rare ac-
tivity, statesman of far-reaching per-
ception and sound judgment, who later
represented this country as minister to
France.
Mrs Gouverneur describes her first
journey to this city, where eventually
she was to be married. as follows:
My first visit to Washington was in
1916. 1 started from New York in the
early morning and reached Philadelphia
late the same day. A few years
later, when the same journey could be
made in twelve hours. ii was thought
that almost a miracle had been per-
formed. :" Mrs. Winfield Scott, in
1853, chara acterized the National Capital
as an 'il-contrived. irl-arranged. ram
bling. scrambhng village and it GER
tainly was all that when | first saw
it. The contrast between the
houses in New York, built closely to-
gether in blocks, and those in Washing
ton, with abundant space around them,
was great surprise to me. Unlike many
other cities, land in Washington. then as
now, was sold and taxed by the square
foot
Miss Campbells elder sister had mar
ried Charles Eames OF the Washington
bar. and her visit was to her house. Mr..
Eames. at Harvard, had been a class
mate of Wendell Phillips and Motley.
the historian. After leaving Harvard he
studied law. but ill-health prevented him
from practicing his profession. George
Bancroft. President Polk's Secretary OF
the Navy, made him principal correspond
enCe clerk at the Navy Department.
OF her brother-in-law she says:
He remained there but few months
when he became associate editor of the
Washington Union, under the well-known
"Father' RitChic. He was subsequently
appointed by President Polk a commits
SiUner to negotiate a treaty with the
Hawaiian Islands. whittier he went on
board the United States friGate Savan-
nah, by way of Cape Horn and San
Francisco. After the treaty had
been made he returned East and for six
months edited the Nashville Union, when
he again resumed charge OF the Wash
inEton Union. President Pierce
later appointed him minister to Vene-
zurla. where hr remained until 1883 He
then came back TO Washington and prac-
ticed law until stricken while arguing an
imuortInt cas- before III" Supreme Court.
He died March l6. Ne.
Mrs. Eames lived in a house in G
street. near Twenty-first. in what was
then known as the First ward. This
general section, together with a part Of
Indiana avenue. some portions of Capitol
Ill., Sixth and Seventh streets, and all
Of that part Of the city bounded on the
north by X street. on the south by
Pennsylvania avenue. and westward Of
Fourteenth street to Georgetown. at that
time was the fashionable section Of the
OF the aspect Of our Capital in those
days. as follows:
Like many other places in the forma-
tive Period, Washington then presented
the picture OF fine dwelling houses and
Shanties standing side by side. l re-
member. for example, that as late as
1870 a tin" residence on the corner of
Fifteenth and | streets was located next
I" a small frame house occupied by a
C"lOred undertaken. The latter's bust
ness was prosperous. but his rich neigh
hor objected to the constant reminder
Of death caused by seeing from his fine
hay window tine numerous collins carried
in and out. He asked the Colored man
to name a price for the property. but
the latter declined. and all subsequent
offers were also ignored. Finally after
years Of waiting. the owner sold the
place for almost princely sum.
This is simply a fair example OF Wash
ington conditions when | first knew it,
Architects, according to Mrs Gouver-
neur, were almost unknown in the city
in those days, and those desiring to have
home of their own had to depend upon
the sagacity of the builder. Speculative
building was entirely unknown.
Mrs. c. r. Latimer kept a fashionable
bOardng-h house in a large brick dwell
ing on Lafayette square, where the Be
ldsCO Theater new stands. Mr.. and Mrs
Hamilton Fish boarded with her while
the former was in Congress. So did Mr..
and Mrs Sanders Irving, so we'll known
to all old Washingtonians. For many
years it was the residence of William
II. Seward, and he was living there when
the attempt was made in 1865 to assas-
sinatr him. AS is well known, it sub
sequently became the home of James G.
Blaine. When Hamilton Fish was elected
to the Senate. he purchased a house in
II street. between Seventeenth and
Eighteenth streets. which later became
known as the Porter House" Before
that it had been occupied by Gen. Phil"
kearny.
Very interesting is what the authoress
has to say about the stores of Washing
ton in those days. especially in view of
our present-day big department houses:
The Shops in lS45. were not numerous.
and were located chiefly in Pennsylvania
avenue. Seventh street then being a resi-
Dental section. The most prominent dry
goods store was kept by Darius Clagett
at the corner of Ninth street and Penn
sylvania avenue. Mr. Clagett, invariably
courteous and cordial. always stood be-
hind his counter, / have had many
pleasant chat with him while making
purchases. Although he kept an ex-
Cellent selection of goods, it was the
custom for prominent Washington folk
= Dali