Margaret Eaton ( O'Neill, formerly Timberlake, later Buchignani; December 3, 1799 – November 8, 1879), was the wife of John Henry Eaton, a United States senator from Tennessee and United States Secretary of War, and a confidant of Andrew Jackson. Their marriage was the cause of a national controversy known as the Petticoat affair. While better known in history as Peggy, Margaret stated in her autobiography, "I never was called Peggy in all my life. . . . I was ordinarily called by my proper name of Margaret." Early life Margaret O'Neill was the daughter of Rhoda Howell and William O'Neill, the owner of Franklin House, a popular Washington, D.C. hotel. She had five siblings: William, Robert, John, Mary, and Georgianna. As a girl, she was noted for her beauty, wit and vivacity. Well-educated for her time and sex, she studied French and was known for her ability to play the piano. William T. Barry, who later served as Postmaster General, wrote "of a charming little girl ... who very frequently plays the piano, and entertains us with agreeable songs." As a young girl, her reputation was already under scrutiny because she worked in a bar frequented by men and casually bantered with the boardinghouse clientele. An elderly Margaret reminisced that, "While I was still in pantalets and rolling hoops with other girls I had the attention of men, young and old, enough to turn a girl's head." First marriage About 1816, at age 17, Margaret O'Neill married John B. Timberlake, a 39-year-old purser in the Navy. Her parents gave them a house across from the hotel, and they met many politicians who stayed there. In 1818 they met and befriended John Henry Eaton, a 28-year-old widower and newly elected senator from Tennessee. Margaret and John Timberlake had three children: William (b. 1817; d. 1818); Mary Virginia (b. 1819); and Margaret Rose (1825–1855). Second marriage and scandal John Timberlake died in 1828 while at sea in the Mediterranean, in service on a four-year voyage. Though the conventions of society required an extended mourning period, the widow Margaret Timberlake married Senator Eaton on January 1, 1829, just nine months after Timberlake's death. As a result, rumors circulated that Timberlake had committed suicide because of despair at an alleged affair between his wife and Eaton. An autopsy concluded that Timberlake died of pneumonia brought on by pulmonary disease. After John Eaton was