USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > Historic homes in Washington : its noted men and women and a century in the White House > Part 22
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Mr. Franzoni soon tired of walking through such a wilderness. Silk stockings and knee breeches were not in keeping with a tramp like this to the Capitol; therefore, he made a purchase of the house mentioned, the best to be had at that time.
The President, Thomas Jefferson, was a warm friend
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of Franzoni, and the sculptor was his regular Sunday guest at dinner.
Mr. Franzoni lived only 10 years after coming to this country. The severity of the climate was too great. He never saw again his beautiful home, Florence. He died, leaving a widow and six children. The children were all , born in this country, and after their father's death had no · desire to return to Italy.
When the Capitol was burned by the British in 1814, all of the beautiful works executed by his hand were de- stroved.
After Guiseppe's death, effort was made again to secure another Italian sculptor. The Government was success- ful in getting Carlos Franzoni and his friend, Jardella, to come to this country. Jardella married the widow of Guiseppe. They came here in 1816. Carlos lived only four years, and was but 33 when he died. He has left some examples of true art that surpass anything in the possession of the Government. One of these is the beauti- ful clock over the entrance to the old House of Repre- sentatives, now Statuary Hall.
It represents History riding on the car of time, making a record as she goes. The dial of the clock is the wheel of the car. This fine work of art has received the admira- tion of Webster, Clay, Preston, and all the brilliant minds that have adorned this Nation. This, like true history, is entering upon her record the names of great men as she passes in her car of time.
John Quincy Adams, just before his sudden death, in this hall, wrote his name to a poetical address to this muse of history, commencing:
"Come down, thou marble figure, upon the floor,
And take down the name of cach candidate for fame."
Credit has been given to Guiseppe Franzoni for this as the only specimen of his work remaining after the fire; but he died before any of his children were 10 years old, and his daughter, Lavinia, then a young lady, sat as a · model for her uncle, for the face and arm in this figure; besides, the name of Carlos appears on the clock.
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Carlos built him a house on Four-and-a-half street, opposite the Presbyterian Church. Over the door and windows, until a few years ago, could be seen mythologic figures of Mercury, Bacchus, and others which he exe- cuted at his leisure.
He also imported two Carrara marble mantels from Italy for his house, but Commodore Blasdon persuaded him to sell them to the Government for the Senate Chamber of the Capitol, and they are still in the Supreme Court room.
Dr. Franzoni has a magnificent portrait of his grand- father, Carlos Franzoni, painted by the great Bonani. The family have been offered a fabulous price for it by the New York Historical Society.
In the old Supreme Court room, near the Law Library, is a bas-relief, a part of which is from the same master hand, the Goddess of Justice holding the scales. On the left is a youth, Fame, bearing in his hand a scroll upon which is inscribed the Constitution. The inferiority of this figure in comparison with the figure of Justice, at once sets one to studying the cause of the discrepancy in the workmanship.
We are informed by his grandson, now living, that the Franzoni heirs never came into possession of any of the drawings or models left at the death of Carlos. One solution of the difficulty may be that an inferior artist was put on the work to finish the bas-relief. It is certainly a libel on the name of Franzoni to attribute the whole work to him.
There is yet another bit of work from the great master's hand in the National architecture found in the pillars at the foot of the stairway of the old Senate Chamber, now used by the Supreme Court.
These were executed by Franzoni from a suggestion of Thomas Jefferson that some design should be made that would be entirely American. The columns of cornstalks, the capitals of the full corn in the ear were the result. No Corinthian or Doric columns are more exquisitely beauti- ful,
What use was made of the drawings and models left, only the architect of the Capitol knows.
CHAPTER XXVI.
HOMES OF LITERARY WOMEN-LITERARY CLUBS.
THE "SEVEN BUILDINGS," THE FORMER RESIDENCES OF PROMINENT MEN-WHEN THE BRITISH BURNED THE CAPITOL-GIFTED MARY CLEMMER-HOME OF "OLIVIA"-THE HOME OF MRS. SOUTHWORTH-A CHECKERED LIFE-THE AUTHOR OF "LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY"-WASHINGTON CLUBS AND SOCIETIES.
Among the earlier houses erected in the District was the row built on the north side of Pennsylvania avenue between 19th and 20th streets, known as the "Seven Buildings."
The house on the corner of Pennsylvania avenue and 19th street was occupied by Elbridge Gerry while he was Vice-President and James Monroe President. He was elected in 1812, and died suddenly, in the second year of his term.
The venerable Mrs. Townsend, who died in Boston some years ago, at the age of 92, was his daughter and the mother of Gen. E. D. Townsend, the late able and en- ergetic Adjutant-General of the Army.
After the White House was destroyed by the British, this was the house into which President and Mrs. Monroe moved after leaving the "Octagon House." They re- mained until the White House was rebuilt. It had also been used, in the interim, for the United States Treasury. Mr. Fry, a Chief Clerk of the Paymaster-General's Office, occupied the house next door. John Quincy Adams and Mr. Fry had married the daughters of Gov. Thomas Johnson, of Maryland.
Gov. Johnson was born in Calvert County, Maryland. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress from that State, but resigned from that body for the purpose of raising troops, of which he was to take command, to go to the rescue of his warm friend, Gen. George Washington.
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It was he who proposed the name of Washington as Commander-in-Chief of the Army. He was Mary- land's first Republican Governor and was also one of the Commissioners for laying out the City of Washington.
It is said that John Adams, second President of the United States, was once asked how it was that so many Southern men were in the war. He replied:
"If it had not been for such men as Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Chase and Thomas Johnson, there would never have been any Revolution," -- in other words, there would have been no United States.
After Mr. Fry removed from this house, it was pur- chased by Brook Mackall, esq. His wife was Miss Gun- nell, an aunt of the accomplished and genial Medical Director, F. M. Gunnell, of the United States Navy.
The third and fourth houses were owned by Joseph Forrest. He married a Miss Dulaney, of Suter's Hill, near Alexandria. He occupied one of the houses, and his brother-in-law,. Commodore Bladen Dulaney, of the. Navy, the other.
After his death, in the distribution of the estate, these houses came into the hands of the late Commodore French Forrest, who lived in the third house from the corner, until about three years before the war broke out. He then removed to his country seat, "Claremont."
Commodore Forrest, at the breaking out of the war, resigned his commission in the Navy of the United States, which he had held 52 years. He was a gallant officer in the War of 1812. He was in the naval engagement with Commodore Perry on Lake Erie, and also fought valiantly in the Mexican War.
When Virginia seceded he joined her fortunes and was made an Admiral in the Southern Confederacy. . At the close of the war he returned to the District, to find his property confiscated by the Government. It was purchased by Hon. Alfred Ely, formerly a member of Congress from New York, who was captured and carried to Richmond, where he remained prisoner until he was exchanged, by special arrangement, for the Hon. Charles Faulkner, our former Minister to France, who
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had been arrested in New York upon his arrival from Europe, for being a rebel.
The Commodore died in Georgetown in 1866. After his death his son, Rev. Douglas Forrest, D. D., brought action in the United States Court for the possession of the property, which he recovered after a long and tedious suit.
In 1834 the Vice-President, Martin Van Buren, the Charge d'Affairs of the Netherlands, and the First Auditor of the Treasury, lived in the "Seven Buildings." The Secretary of War, at the same time, lived directly oppo- site.
These are some of the past glories of the."Seven Build- ings," built in the morning of the city's growth, when the West End was a swamp, when horses were stalled on Pennsylvania avenue and pedestrians sank in the "slough of despond." In those days Washington was a provincial town, and yet heroic men and women walked its streets and gathered around the home fireside, whose lives are the history of the City and Nation as well. * *
When Gen. Cockburn made his raid upon Washington, Aug. 4, 1814, only two wings of the Capitol were finished. Here Congress had held its sessions since Feb. 27, 1801.
It may not be generally known that the flight of Mahomet, John Gilpin and the fight at Bladensburg all occurred Aug. 24. It is a well-known fact that after the battle of Bladensburg Congress was without a home.
The wings of the Capitol, the President's Mansion, a few public buildings scattered here and there, a score or so of private dwellings stranded among the marshes, spreading from Greenleaf's Point to Georgetown, over several miles and along the river banks, constituted the main attractions of the infant metropolis that drew the British firebrand.
After the destruction of both Houses of Congress, William Law, Daniel Carroll and others began the build- ing of a new edifice for the temporary accommodation of Congress, which was completed Dec. 4, 1815.
The building cost $30,000, $5,000 of which had been
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expended on furniture. Congress paid the builders $5,000 in money and a rental of $1,650 per annum, with cost of insurance.
The Niles Register said: "The spot where this large, commodious building was erected was a garden on the 4th of July last. The bricks of which it is built were clay, and the timber used in its construction was grow- ing in the woods that day."
Mrs. Seaton, in a letter to her mother, written Novem- ber, 1815, says: "About fifty members have arrived and marked their seats in the new building on Capitol Hill, erected by Law, Carroll and others, who wished to advance the price of their property."
It was in front of this building James Monroe was inaugurated President, March 4, 1817, with brilliant ceremonies.
After the Capitol was in condition to receive Congress, this house emerged into a fashionable boarding house. It was in this house that John C. Calhoun died, while representing South Carolina as a Senator. Here . the sculptor Luigi Persico occupied a room for a studio. Here, in plaster, was the group which now occupies a place in the main entrance to the rotunda, that of Colum- bus holding in his hand the new world. Some wag has described Columbus in this piece as playing ten- pins with George Washington, whose seated statue occupies a place in the ground in front. This building was afterwards Old Capitol Prison.
THE HOME OF DR. WM. THORNTON-THE HOME OF DR. THOMAS MILLER.
An historic home that is well remembered, and one. that has been the rallying point of many dignitaries - and of some of the aristocracy of the old regime, is the house that was originally 246, old number, or. 1331, new number, F street. This year the house has been razed and another building has been placed upon the site.
The original house was built by Samuel Blodgett,
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and occupied by Dr. William Thornton, first Commissioner of Patents. After his death the house was purchased by Dr. Thomas Miller, who leased it to Secretary Charles Conrad, who married Miss Lewis, daughter of Nellie Custis. Mr. and Mrs. Conrad lie buried at Mount Ver- non. It was next occupied by Hon. John M. Clayton, of Delaware; then Hon. James Buchanan lived here, and was followed by the Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, and James Guthrie when Secretary of the Treasury lived under this historic roof.
There was a large flower garden at the rear and sides of the house, which was kept under high cultivation.
Dr. Miller built an addition to the house on the east lot, which made it one of the most attractive houses in the city for entertaining. This addition contained a large ball room, reception rooms and accessories.
When James Guthrie was retired, Dr. Miller, who could well be termed the Court Physician of Washington, moved in, closed the doors, and rented the addition to Robert Toombs. Miss Sallie Toombs was married from this house, and it was also the headquarters for the con- genial, big-brained Alexander H. Stevens.
But few houses in this city have been immortalized by so many noted men and women, and more's the pity that these landmarks must give way to the march of improve- ments and so-called civilization.
It is only arresting history by photographing the memories of those left, and through the mind's eye walk the stately corridors of these homes and people them for the time with those who lived in them for their day and have passed over, leaving their story for lov- ing hearts to record.
. Dr. Miller, though not an original secessionist, was a Virginian by birth and association, and when war was finally declared his whole heart and sympathy went out for his people. Dr. Miller closed his eyes on the world in this home, and was carried from it and was buried in the old church-yard at Rock Creek.
The father of Mrs. Doctor Miller was Gen. Walter Jones. He was Major-General of the District Militia,
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and one of the most prominent lawyers of that day. He was retained in all the great cases of the time, such as the Girard case, the Gaines case, the Dermott case, the Baltimore and Ohio, etc. His wife was the daughter of Judge Charles Lee, brother of "Light Horse Harry," and through her mother granddaughter of Richard Henry Lee.
Gen. Jones headed the command that received Gen. Lafayette in 1825, and was his escort to Mount Vernon. His home was on Pennsylvania avenue between IIth and 12th streets, north side. He occupied the whole square from the Star Building to the Raleigh. The house proper was situated in the middle of the square.
Above the Star Building, on IIth street, was a small house he owned, which was given to an English woman, Mrs. Brush, for services she rendered when the British burned Washington in 1814. By her efforts and inter- position the Intelligencer office was saved, and during her life this office furnished her in bread.
It is one generation touching hands with another that holds the chain of evidence unbroken of the men and wo- men who peopled these homes and have left the im- print of their noble lives upon their children and upon a higher civilization.
The last days of Gen. Walter Jones were spent with his daughter and son in the F street house, and his funeral was from this home. Gen. Scott, Judges Mor- sell and Dunlap and Mr. Corcoran were among the pall- bearers.
His daughters, Mrs. Stirling Murray, who lives in Vir- ginia, Miss Virginia Miller, and Mrs. Arthur Fendall, are well known and are keeping up the traditions of this family and the old Washington regime in deeds of patriotism, works of charity and the higher welfare of the community in which they live
THE FORREST AND KEARNEY HOMES.
Among the first houses built in the new District of Columbia was the residence of Richard Forrest, on the southeast corner of F and 14th streets, now covered by the Ebbitt House.
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HOMES OF LITERARY WOMEN.
- Mr. Forrest came of one of the oldest families in this country. His ancestor and Capt. John Smith sailed up the James River and landed together at Jamestown. The family afterwards settled in St. Mary's County, Maryland, and three brothers were in the Revolutionary War. Uriah, as we have told elsewhere, was Colonel in the Maryland Line. Richard's father, Zachariah Forrest, was Captain of the lower battalion of Maryland.
Richard Forrest married a daughter of David-Cran- ford, of Prince George's County. This gentleman built the house on F and I4th street for his daughter.
Richard Forrest occupied a position in the State De- partment for 30 years, and died in this house.
A friend and fellow-countryman of David Burns was George Walker, a Scotchman, who settled in Philadelphia, and was one of the merchant princes after the Revolu- tion. It was probably at the solicitation of David Burns that out of his ample means he bought large tracts of land on the Potomac, and thus became one of the original proprietors of the District. Here he met his wife, Martha Cranford, the daughter of David Cranford, of Scotch descent also.
They settled in a house in Carrollsburg (now Capitol Hill). Mrs. Walker lived but one year after her marriage, and Mr. Walker became involved in controversies with the District Commissioners. Feeling great injustice was · done him in the division of his lots, by the Federal Govern- ment, he returned to his native land and soon died.
Until very recently many valuable lots were assessed in the name of George Walker, and not until a com- missioner was sent to Scotland and his heirs found were the titles perfected.
The great niece of Mrs. George Walker, and the grand- daughter of Mrs. Richard Forrest, Mrs. Kate Kearney Henry, of Washington, has in her possession very beauti- ful jewelry which George Walker presented to his bride.
Another prominent residence, built in ISoo, which stood on the corner of Fand 14th streets northwest, was that of the Kearney family.
The father of the Kearney brothers was an Irishman,
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and came to this country the latter part of the last century, bringing his wife and three sons. He was an architect, and died in South Carolina, where he had gone to de- sign a public building. His family moved to Washington, and the three sons entered the U. S. service.
James Kearney died in 1860, a Colonel of Engineers, U. S. A .; Robert lost his life at sea, a Surgeon in the U. S. N., and John P. Kearney, also a Surgeon in the U. S. N., after serving his country for nearly forty years and participating in three wars, died in Mexico in 1847.
This house and grounds was purchased by the Willards when they extended the hotel to F street.
These records of the founders of this city, the part they bore through the century in defence of their country and in its history making, while the landmarks of their homes may be swept away, their memories will live as long as descendants carry them in their hearts, and then they will be perpetuated in history by a grateful people. $
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Capitol Hill, since the rough career of Annie Royal, has not been without its representative literary women. Annie "Royal's newspapers, The Washington Paul Pry and the Huntress, were badly printed and the matter badly written, and were noted for vile vituperation and for more of bitterness than wit.
That the press is surely and permanently improving needs no better evidence than the difference between . the women writers of to-day and this notorious person. Women correspondents are honored and welcomed every- where. Energy and perseverance are making journalism and correspondence a permanent vocation for the sister- hood.
Almost beside the Capitol door was the home of Mary Clemmer, the gifted correspondent and poetess. With the earnings of her pen she purchased this house, which was for many years a literary and social center. This is not the place for any extended biography, but in grate- ful memory of a life consecrated to conscientious and earnest work, a life of brave purpose and high endeavor, fitly representative of American womanhood in its truest,
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highest, loftiest sense, we accord to Mary Clemmer a niche in our historic memories of Washington.
This accomplished woman when very young began writing for the newspapers, her first effusions appearing in the Springfield Republican. She afterwards became a correspondent for the New York Independent, to which journal, under the title of "A Woman's Letters from Wash- ington," she regularly contributed for many years.
Through these letters she became best known to the literary world. Her first letter to the Independent was written March, 1866. She soon found that she was the possessor of a National reputation as a racy writer on political events and concerning people prominent in public affairs in Washington.
The vivid yet sympathetic tone in which she photo- graphed notable personages connected with the brilliant social and personal life of the city made her sure of her audience. It was her talent for describing personal appearance, her skill in picturing faces and delineating soul power that gave these letters a special value to many, who came to look upon them for correct impressions of men at the head of National affairs at the Capital.
She was a poet by nature; she had trodden the wine press of life, meeting its disappointments and its sorrows with a brave courage; but her soul must needs sing as the crushed flower sends forth perfume, and so in every line we find a graceful touch from an overflowing human nature.
Aug. 18, 1884, she breathed her last. If reconciled the world must be that the future should unfold its scroll to one so soon, thankful must it also be that success was her crown and peace of heart her inheritance, ere the shadows of the night fell upon her for the last time and her spirit floated over into the golden sunset.
It is not our purpose to lay bare the sorrows and the hardships entailed upon her, or to indicate who or what was responsible for that which she suffered or that which she missed; we can only note that she took up the heavy burdens which Fate had decreed should be hers to bear, and with noble courage and womanly power grew strong
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through suffering, and happiness at length was hers. Her story, here vaguely recorded, may be a message of encouragement and a stimulus to other weary and heavy-laden human hearts.
She sleeps in Rock Creek Cemetery. A beloved friend wrote of her; "The grass is growing on Mary Clemmer's grave; but all the way to it and beyond, so far as human love can reach, is covered with flowers."
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But a few steps from the Old Capitol Prison, which was at one time used as the publishing house of Annie Royal, across the beautiful park, you come to the house on New Jersey avenue in which Grace Greenwood (Mrs. Lippincott) lived. Her facile pen, has won for her the honored crown of woman's admiration.
Lady Wilde has said: "How often a great genius has given a soul to a locality." We cannot say that here Grace Greenwood found aught that was special or personal in her eyrie that overlooked the fair city, but we do know that in her inmost heart she found the uni- versality of human sisterhood.
Since then she has been a wanderer. By her letters we trace her over America, England and the Continent. Through English meadows, in Italian gardens, wintering on the Continent, or summering in old England, drinking inspiration from the Old World fountains; and yet no loadstone has been strong enough to attract and hold her from her motherhood.
A little farther to the east, between Fifth and Sixth streets, you come to "Maple Square," the home of Emily Edson Briggs ("Olivia").
Farther back than memory runneth, the house, with massive foundation, gable ends, Queen Anne architecture, solid masonry of brick brought from England, was built, and has stood the shock of wind and rain, Summer's heat and Winter's frost. Situated in the middle of the square, shaded by grand old forest trees, vine-clad and venerable, with meadow lawns, fruit trees, shrubbery and flowers, what a history its closed pages could give
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of the century gone! We know the wounded and dying after the battle of Bladensburg were cared for under its roof. It has been the silent witness of every Adminis- tration, its entree and its exit. It has been the home of foreign Ministers, members of Congress, and gentlemen of leisure.
Mr. Clayton, while a member of the Senate, owned the place and made extensive improvements. He built the right wing, which is a music room of imposing dimensions. In 1871 it came into the possession of Mrs. Briggs, who at the time was a special correspondent. Here many of her trenchant, spicy, vigorous letters were written. During the war the name of Olivia became a power that gave her precedence over many male correspondents; so mu h so that she could name her own salary to the newspaper editor. She has decided to leave this estate to a woman's university, for which her will has long been made, provided the City or Government will endow it with sufficient funds tocarry it successfully on.
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