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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Truxtun Beale (owner, 1903-1936)

Truxtun Beale was born to Edward and Mary Beale in California on March 6, 1856. Educated at Chester Military College and Harvard and Columbia law schools, Beale began his diplomatic career as his father’s secretary in Vienna. After completing law school, Beale was put in charge of Tejon Ranch in California, where he remained until his appointment by President Harrison as Minister to Persia. In Tehran, Beale, developed a deep interest in the art and archaeology of the ancient world and toured extensively throughout Central Asia, including Turkestan and parts of Siberia.

Beale’s diplomatic career continued with his appointment as Minister to Greece. Shortly afterwards, Beale was appointed minister to Serbia and Romania as well, making him ambassador to three countries at once. While
in Greece he pursued his interest in archaeology, convincing the Greek government to contribute a number of their archaeological treasures to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, as well as successfully persuading the widow of the famous German archaeologist Heinrich
Scliemann to donate a number of her Trojan artifacts to the Smithsonian Institution. His ministries in Southeastern Europe came to an end in 1893
when he resigned upon hearing of the imminent death of his father.

Upon the death of Edward Beale, Truxtun Beale inherited the Tejon Ranch,
and he alternated between Californian and his now-widowed mother’s home
in Washington. A year later, Beale married Harriet S. Blaine in 1894,
daughter of the failed 1884 Republican candidate for President, James
Blaine. In 1896, the young couple had a son, Walter Blaine Beale. However,
the marriage was not a happy one, and they eventually divorced. Years later Beale and his former wife suffered the loss of their son, who, at the age of 22, was killed in action in France in 1918, during the closing days of World War I. Beale established a series of university scholarships totaling $10,000 in memory of his son.

Upon the 1903 death of his mother, Beale inherited Decatur House. That
year he also married a young California socialite named Marie Oge Beale.
The couple initially divided their time between Washington and California, but settled permanently at Decatur House following Beale’s decision to sell Tejon Ranch in 1912. Back in Washington, the Beales found a prominent place in elite society – and Beale continued to publish articles on international and domestic politics. In 1915, Beale edited The State versus the Man, a book examining the perceived progressive encroachment the government on the freedoms of both businesses and the individual. The book included essays
by former President William Howard Taft as well as Henry Cabot Lodge and Elihu Root, and at the time significantly impacted conservative thought in America.

Truxtun Beale died at his country home near Annapolis on June 2, 1936, leaving Decatur House to his widow Marie.

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