Owners and Tenants, 1819-1956

• Decatur
• Hyde de Neuville
• de Tuyll
• Clay
• Van Buren
• Livingston
• Vaughn
• Gadsby
• Dallas
• Gales
• John & James King
• Appleton
• Orr
• Benjamin
• McBlair
• United States Army
• Edward Beale &
  Mary Beale
• Truxtun Beale
• Marie Beale

TIMELINE OF OWNERS AND TENANTS
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Edward Fitzgerald Beale (owner, 1872-1893)
Mary Edwards Beale (owner, 1893-1903)

Edward Fitzgerald Beale was born in Washington, D.C in 1822 to a family with close ties to the Navy – his grandfather was War of 1812 hero Thomas Truxtun. After enrolling at Georgetown College in Washington, Beale was transferred to the Navy School in Annapolis following his mother’s successful request for an appointment from President Jackson. Beale began his naval career on the ship Independence and made a name for himself during the United State’s war with Mexico, when he served with John C. Fremont. In 1846, he took part in the disastrous battle of San Pasquale, during which Beale joined famous scout Kit Carson to break through enemy lines to raise relief troops from San Diego for the besieged General Kearny – an act which saved Kearny’s soldiers. Their bravery gained Beale and Carson the privilege of bringing east the news
of the annexation of California in May 1847.

In 1848 Beale was again chosen to return to Washington with great news from the west – this time of the discovery of gold. In order to bring this news as quickly as possible, Beale made the unusual choice of traveling the arduous route through hostile Mexican territory. A fluent speaker of Spanish, Beale undertook the journey disguised as a Mexican. Setting out August 1st, Beale traveled through Mexico to Vera Cruz, where he boarded a ship which spirited him to Mobile. He completed the 4,000 mile journey in just over a month and a half, arriving in Washington on September 16th to newfound fame for his brave and lightening-speed journey. In total, between 1846 and 1849, Beale made seven cross-country trips from California to the east coast.

In 1849, on one of his visits east, Beale married Mary Edwards, daughter of Pennsylvania Congressman Samuel Edwards. The couple settled in California, where Beale purchased various tracts of land that would eventually become the 270,000-acre Tejon Ranch, and had three children: Mary (b. 1850), Emily (b. 1854), and Truxtun (b. 1856). While in California, Beale made a fortune running a transport service for the gold rush, was appointed Surveyor General of California and Nevada and California’s Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and, perhaps most notably, the leader of the ill-fated Camel Corps experiment. His increasing involvement in the burgeoning Republican Party
in particular brought Beale frequently to Washington, where eventually he decided to relocate at the request of President Ulysses S. Grant, his close friend since their first meeting in San Francisco twenty years earlier. Beale purchased Decatur House in 1872 and remodeled the building in the grand Victorian style and returned the home to its pre-war tradition of entertaining.

The Beales quickly became among the most high-profile families in Washington, and were sought after as both hosts and party guests. Their close association with the Grants undoubtedly helped – President Grant often came to Decatur House for a reprieve from the pressures of the White House, and frequently invited the Beales across Lafayette Park for both formal events and informal gatherings. Many years later, Beale’s son Truxtun would speak of his duty to sit up with President Grant while his father retired for the evening.
Beale and Grant also shared an interest in breeding and riding horses and
the President often joined his friend on vacations to his country estate in Chester, Pennsylvania, where he raised thoroughbreds. Grant further showed his favor by giving Beale “Leopard”, one of two Arabian stallions presented to the President by the Sultan of Turkey, and by appointing him Envoy Extraordinary to Austria-Hungary in 1876.

Edward Beale passed away at Decatur House on April 22, 1893. Following
her husband’s death, Mary Beale and her daughter Emily remained in Washington while Truxtun resided at the family ranch in California. The eldest daughter Mary had married to the future Russian imperial ambassador,
George Bakhmeteff at Decatur House in 1877 and Emily eventually married Washington Post and Cincinatti Inquirerer owner John R. McLean. Mrs. Beale remained at Decatur House for ten years. After her death in 1903, Decatur House was inherited by Truxtun.

next > Truxtun Beale