General Edward Fitzgerald Beale bought Decatur House, an historic home in Washington, D.C. near the White House, just after the Civil War. He and his family entertained people there for years, just as his daughter-in-law Marie would for many years after. A favorite time of year was Christmas.

Gerald Eugene Thompson in his dissertation titled The public career of Edward Fitzgerald Beale, 1845-1893 wrote about one such occasion in 1884:

The parties at the Decatur House continued as usual. One Christmas entertainment stood out from all the rest. This was a children’s masquerade party, with, the children and parents of prominent Washingtonians being invited. The list of adults who attended read like a Presidential reception: Blaine, Sheridan, Logan, Donald Cameron, General William B. Hazen, George Bancroft, W. W, Corcoran, Senator Shelby Cullom, Jay Cooke, Charles Nordhoff, Jerome Bonaparte, Admiral C. R. P. Rodgers, and many other notables. The children and their costumes included: Walter Meyer, Hamlet; Nellie Arthur, Gypsy Maid; Hattie Blaine, Red Riding Hood; Miss Nordhoff, Spanish Lady; Porter Heap, a Turk; Master Bonaparte, a clown; and Miss Bonaparte, a Roman lady. Emily Beale McLean presented all of the children with boxes of French candy. The evening’s high point arrived when General Beale, disguised as Father Christmas, entered the room wearing an enormous white bearskin. The children ran and clustered about Beale, who was garbed with snowy white beard and mustache, and crackling icicles.

Thompson, Gerald Eugene. The Public Career of Edward Fitzgerald Beale, 1845 – 1893. The University of Arizona. p. 462 – 463. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/565401 .

Hattie Blaine, who dressed as Red Riding Hood, was Harriet Blaine, the daughter of James G. Blaine, the Republican nominee for president that year, who had just lost to Grover Cleveland in what was called the dirtiest election in American history. The party must have been a welcome diversion from the nastiness of that campaign. Although, who knows how much then 13-year-old Harriet followed the election?

I don’t know if Truxtun Beale was present for this party. Then 28 years old, he may have been busy managing his father’s ranch in California or on other business. He never was much into parties himself. He would later take an interest in Harriet. At some point, he bought her a large mastiff named Jose, who became a much loved member of the Blaine family.

Later Harriet and Truxtun married in 1894, but it didn’t last long. In 1896, after the birth of their son Walker, Harriet filed for divorce on the grounds of neglect and abandonment. It was granted later that year. Truxtun had taken off to explore Russia and parts of Asia.

Christmas the next year was not a happy one for Truxtun or Harriet. He sent his young son a package full of gifts including wool from Tibet and “a costly array of infantile silver”. When Harriet realized that the items were from Truxtun, she promptly sent the package back to him. However, they later reconciled and remained on friendly terms.

Christmas would continue to be celebrated at Decatur House over the years, mainly by Marie Beale, Truxtun’s second wife, who enjoyed hosting parties. In 1921, she kept a diary as she followed the Washington Naval Conference and the social scene that went along with it. On Christmas Eve of that year she reported that she “did nothing” that day, but did turn Decatur House over to “Olga, the pretty, little daughter” of her cook. “She had a children’s party in the drawing-room with a man at the piano for dancing; and all sorts of goodies to eat.”

On Christmas, she had lunch at Decatur House. She received flowers from one of the Italian delegates to the conference and from the American Ambassador to Columbia. She and Truxtun had been invited to Bourke Cockran’s house for lunch, but Truxtun did not want to go. After lunch, Marie went out by herself to see Cockran and the other guests at his home. Cockran was a Democratic Congressman from New York.

Although her Christmas Eve and Christmas were fairly quiet, Marie continued to host small events at Decatur House and to attend other parties. On New Year’s Eve, she went to various social events, including a children’s party hosted by the Romanian minister to the United States. She was having a good time until she saw lighted candles on a Christmas tree. “I was in terror,” she wrote as she “had seen, as a child, some one horribly burnt on just such an occasion.” Despite this, she still managed to enjoy the rest of the party and the season.

Today, Decatur House is preserved by the Federal government and it is possible to book events there (or at least we hope it will be again!). Perhaps, someone will reserve it over Christmas and continue the tradition of having parties there.