A Franklin Marriage Brought Down a President

The Scandalous Eatons

Marriage, of course, is a personal compact between two people, where they vow to forsake all others and join as one flesh. Forsaking others does not mean excluding others from the couple’s life, as family and friends join in the joy of the wedding ceremony, welcoming the new spouse to the family and circle of friends.

So, marriage is both personal and communal. Every marriage affects others beyond the couple itself. One hopes it’s a positive effect. But, few marriages rock nations (the practice of shoring up allegiances between European countries by marriage has ended).

The second marriage of Franklin man John M. Eaton did just that. Born in North Carolina, John Eaton moved westward to Franklin as a young man. A lawyer, he became part of Andrew Jackson’s inner circle, serving with him in the War of 1812. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1818.

In Washington, Eaton boarded at an inn owned by a man whose daughter who was “beautiful, vivacious and possessed of a form of perfect proportions.” Peggy O’Neale Timberlake was also, unfortunately for John who was clearly attracted to her, married…

Time passed. John married but soon lost his wife to an early grave.

In 1828, newly-elected President Jackson (and Eaton’s BFF) appointed John Eaton Secretary of War (now Defense). As it happened, the two men, both widowers, boarded at the same inn where John had lodged ten years earlier (Jackson of course moved into the White House after his inauguration).

And what did John Eaton discover? Peggy had also lost her spouse. John Timberlake, a naval purser, had died off the coast of Spain four months earlier. She was now free to remarry, but there was that pesky little societal rule of mourning. In those days, a widow was expected to mourn her husband for one solid year. No parties, no dating, all-black clothing (black was not a trendy color back then). Don’t smile, don’t laugh. Be sad. Act sad. Doing otherwise was disrespectful to one’s late husband.

Well, they weren’t having any of that. Peggy hadn’t seen her husband for four years, and had apparently emotionally moved on. John Eaton and Peggy Timberlake began publicly to “keep company.” It did not go well. Washington society disapproved of this liaison. Tongues wagged.

Jackson was outraged. The only thing to do, he thundered, was to get married. That would shut their mouths. The astute politician miscalculated. It did not help. It made things worse, because now, the union was permanent. The other cabinet secretaries’ wives rebuffed the now Mrs. Eaton socially, crossing the street to avoid speaking to her, as well as turning down dinner invitations. Even Jackson’s niece Emily Donelson, who served as his first lady, turned her back, saying “His (Eaton’s) wife is held in too much abhorrence here ever to be noticed or taken into society.”

The sides hardened. The cabinet split in two, with the pro and con factions and their followers battling it out in the newspapers, which began to call it “The Petticoat Affair.”

The scandal lasted for two years. Jackson could not ease this breach of etiquette; in fact, it intensified over time, so much that Vice-President John Calhoun left Washington and refused to return until Jackson took care of “that Eaton woman.”

Now Jackson began to think about reelection, and this nagging controversy needed to end. But how? Jackson was completely loyal to the Eatons; the other side was equally unyielding. Finally, Secretary of State Martin Van Buren suggested to Jackson that the entire cabinet resign (or be fired). In this way, Jackson could ease out Eaton without making it appear he’d been targeted. That’s what happened. Jackson, ever loyal, named Eaton the territorial governor of Florida and later ambassador to Spain. After Jackson left office, the Eatons returned to Washington where they lived happily ever after.

Well, John did.

After John died, Peggy, 59, married her granddaughter’s 19-year-old dance instructor, who left her after five years, after taking all of her money and the granddaughter.