Rensselaer Standard, Volume 1, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 December 1879 — PEGGY EATON. [ARTICLE]

PEGGY EATON.

The Woman who Broke Up Old Hickory’s Cabinet. New York Herald. Mrs. Eaton’s maiden name was Margaret L. O’Neil. She was endowed with high personal beauty, and had a singular fascination of manner, which, combined with great strength of will, ambition and perseverance, enabled her to become a reigning belle and at a later period the real queen of society at the federal court. She married Purser Timberlake, of the navy. Mr- Timberlake "was an intimate personal friend bt Major John £Henry Eaton, Senator from Tennessee, from 1816 to to 1829, known as the most trusted companion of General Jackson. Timherlake died young, and, it is said, had expressed the hope that his young widow might become the wife of his frieud, Major, afterward Gen. Eaton. Be this as it may.the second marriage took place in 1828, but a few months before the inauguration of Gen. Jackson. Uncharitable rumors were in circulation in Washington concerning the relations between Eaton and Timberlake. and the former consulted Gen. Jackson about the expediency of silencing them by marriage. General Jackson, whose chivalrous nature in respect to women can not be called in question, warmly advised that step, and because so devoted a friend and admirer of Mrs. Eaton that he, too, was accused by his adversaries of maintaining improper relations with the lady. Gen. Eaton had rendered notable services during the electoral campaign, and was rewarded with a seat In the Cabinet as Secretary of War. The wives of the other members of the Cabinet declined to associate with Mrs. Eaton upon equal terms. From them the social stigma was caught up by the wives of the foreign ministers In Washington. For more than a year Washington was the theatre of a social warfare, of which Mrs. Eaton was the center„and the cause. Thero was endless bickerings and several angry scenes between Mrs. Eaton and her rivals. From the bondoir the content 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.

“Old Hickory” peremptorily demanded of bis Secretaries their recognition of the social status of Mrs Eaton, and was refused by all of them except Mr. Van Buren. “Old Hickory” determined to act at once. - He sent for Mr. Van Buren, the head of his Cabinet and the only one who had been comKlaisant to his views. He requested lr. Van Buren as a personal favor to send in his resignation, a step which would necessarily entail that of the other members of the Cabinet. Mr. Van Buren complied April 7,1831, and was soon recompensed with the appointment of Minister to England, and proceeded to bis post, but in the following winter was rejected by the Senate. Returning home with a capital grievance, he was by the desire of Jackson chosen Vioe President the following year in place of theobnOxious Calhoum, and thus this ‘‘ladies’ quarrel” plaoed him upon the high road to the attainment of the Presidency. General Eaton was appointed two or three years later Governor of Florida territory, and in 1836 Minister to Spain. In the Spanish capital Mrs. Eaton is said to have become a social favorite,

and to have shone with great brilliancy at the court of the youthful Isabella. She also became a noted belle in London and Paris. Returning to Washington In 1840, she resided there very quietly until the death of her husband in Noyember, 1866. She was left with a large estate and the custody of five grandchildren, two of them being the offspring of a daughter who married a Mr. Randolph, of the celebrated Virginian family of that name. A year later she made the acquaintance of an Italian dancing master named Antonio Buchinani (or Bourganini), who was then a partner of the well known Professor Marini, at Washington, and was giving lessons to the two Randolph children. He Is said to have come to this country as a pedler of images, and not much above twenty years of age. Notwithstanding the disparity of age and social position, the Italian adventurer soon married Mrs. General Eaton a step which was followed by social ostracism. For a year the happy

inis position lie held for two years. Subsequently Mr. and Mrs, Buchig■“■J. »£ ed in New York until 1806. In the meantime he was assiduously plotting to obtain control of his wife's estate, and by means of a genera! power of attorney, succeeded in getting possession of $73,000. Meanwhile he nad gained the affections of his wife’s grand-daughter. Miss Emily Randolph, then aged seventeen years, and one fine dayln May, 1866, he sailed for Europe with his youthfril paramour and the money, leaving for the deserted wife a cynical letter of explanation. Buchiguaui and Miss Randolph proceeded to Lucca, Italy, and for several years lived there in groat style. But hw illgotten money was ultimately lost in speculation and he decamped with he paramour to Montreal, where they es tabllshed a small business. Meanwhil the aged and despoiled wife was sup ported by a son who held a post in the Custom House in this city. In September, 1868, Buchignani Z had the hardihood to come to New York, ostensibly to ooHect a sum of $15,000. Buchignani was shortly afterwards arrested for the abduction of Miss Emily Randolph, and was prosecuted before Justice Dodge. Hie suit, however, was compromised, and the defendant returned to Montreal, where he probably still resides. He has had two children by his paramour. For several years past the former Mrs. Eaton has resided at Washington in the most complete retirement. Few of the multitude of persons to whom her name and fame in olden time is a house-hold word were aware that the heroine of the cabinet- crisis of 1831 was still living, and tlie announcement of her death will awoken strange memories on the part of those who knew her in other days.