Memoir of John Howe Peyton / in sketches by his contemporaries, together with some of his public and private letters, etc., also a sketch of Ann M. Peyton

by Unknown

MRS. SUSAN M. BALDWIN.

Susan, the eldest daughter of this marriage is so remarkable for the vigor of her intellect, her literary tastes and acquirements, for her unselfish generosity of heart, her noble charities and lovely Christian character, that we insert with much pleasure from the Spectator of 1891, the following tribute.

a venerable and respected lady.

Mr. Wm. P. Johnson, now (1891) in the his 58th year, recently read to the Superintendent, teachers and scholars of the Staunton Baptist church, an interesting account of his connection with Staunton Sunday Schools. In his narrative he says, "I can remember the old school-room in the basement of the old (Episcopal) church, which stood where the new (present) church stands, and the first teacher who taught me, I will give the name of, and it will be the only teacher whose name I shall mention. It was then Miss Susan M. Peyton, who was after several years teaching, married and became the beloved wife of one of Augusta's most brilliant and gifted lawyers, the Hon. John B. Baldwin. I shall never, no never forget the kind Christian teachings of that grand and noble Christian lady. It was in this school, through her teachings, that I first learned of that dear Saviour, who came into the world to suffer and die that I might live:"

The publication of the above affords us the pleasing opportunity to say that Mrs. John B. Baldwin still survives in our midst near seventy years of age, but so impaired in health by a severe illness some years since, that she rarely leaves her house, and then only in a carriage. She is an object of universal love and respect: all venerate her for her piety, accomplishments and charities. None know her but to "love her, nor name her but to praise." A woman of gifted intellect, under the eye of her good amiable mother, she enjoyed every advantage which precept and example could afford, and no daughter was ever more sensible of the obligations which she owed to maternal care.

To a liberal and munificent spirit she joins charity, philanthropy and beneficence and an uncommon share of dignity and firmness of spirit, for while she converses with the lowly, even with her servants as her humble friends, no one knows better how, in the highest society, to support their due consequence and state. She is a great reader and full of general information and can discourse on easy and equal terms alike with scholars, statesmen or divines. Few indeed excel her in wit and judgment. At Montgomery Hall, the charming home of her eminent father, Hon. John H. Peyton, she met nearly all of the distinguished men and women of Virginia, of his day, and has since mingled much in the society of Richmond, Washington and New York, making the acquaintance of the Websters, Clays, Fillmores, Tylers, Tuckers, Randolphs, Lees, Davises, and in fact all the leading public men of the country before and after 1861. Such were her personal charms and the vivacity of her conversation and manners that she was the life and ornament of every circle graced by her presence. The late Judge H. St. George Tucker, father of Hon. J. Randolph Tucker, who was, like Blackstone, a poet as well as a jurist, wrote some beautiful lines addressed to her on her entrance into Richmond Society in 1839, which we hope some of these days to give in our columns.—Staunton Spectator, March 11th, 1891.

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