Her very first triumph took place in Georgetown, when, at a school exhibition at the Union Hotel, the little girl with dark brown curly hair and pert red lips was crowned the "Queen of Beauty" by Mrs. Dolly Madison. Peggy was the daughter of the Irish landlord of a hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, and was married at sixteen to Mr. Timberlake, an officer in the United States Navy. He committed suicide in 1828. After that began her career, when she was defended and supported in all that she did by Andrew Jackson, who had suffered bitterly from criticism of his own wife. But the most famous person who lies buried in Oak Hill is the man whose song is known in every hamlet of this broad land: John Howard Payne, the author of "Home, Sweet Home." He had been in Georgetown in his youth, you remember, for he accompanied General Lingan on that trip to Baltimore from which the General never returned but to his funeral. Mr. Payne was then a young man of twenty-one and excited over the adventure, I suppose, like any one of that age. He was sent in later life as a consul to one of those little states on the northern coast of Africa which in those days made so much trouble for the United States. There he died and was buried. Years later his body was brought back by Mr. Corcoran, and there was quite a ceremony for his re-interment. The stone placed over him in that distant land and brought back with his body has the seal of the United States carved at the top and reads: IN MEMORY OF COL. JOHN HOWARD PAYNE TWICE CONSUL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FOR THE CITY AND KINGDOM OF TUNIS THIS STONE IS PLACED BY A GRATEFUL COUNTRY HE DIED AT THE AMERICAN CONSULATE IN THIS CITY AFTER A TEDIOUS ILLNESS APRIL 1, 1852 HE WAS BORN AT THE CITY OF BOSTON STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS JUNE 8, 1792 HIS FAME AS A POET AND DRAMATIST IS WELL KNOWN WHEREVER THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS SPOKEN THROUGH HIS CELEBRATED BALLAD OF HOME, SWEET HOME AND HIS POPULAR TRAGEDY OF BRUTUS AND OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTIONS This slab lies flat upon the ground. Adjoining it is a circle in the center of which is a monument bearing a bust of Colonel Payne, and on it is the following inscription: IN MEMORY OF JOHN HOWARD PAYNE AUTHOR OF HOME, SWEET HOME BORN JUNE 9, 1791 DIED APRIL 9, 1852 ERECTED ANNO DOMINI 1883 "Sure when thy gentle spirit fled To realms beyond the azure dome With arms outstretched, God's angel said 'Welcome to Heaven's Home, Sweet Home.'" BIBLIOGRAPHY BALCH, THOMAS BLOOMER: _Reminiscences of Georgetown_. BRYAN, W. B.: _A History of the National Capital_. BUSEY, SAMUEL C.: _Pictures of the City of Washington in the Past_. CAEMMERER, H. PAUL, Ph.D.: _The Life of Pierre Charles L'Enfant_. CLARK, ALLEN C.: _Life and Letters of Dolly Madison_. CORCORAN, W. W.: _A Grandfather's Legacy_.