Margaret Rose Anthony Julia Josephine Catherine Cornelia Donovan O’Donovan, also known as Daisy, was born on 12 May 1863 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Cornelius McCarthy Moore Donovan O’Donovan and Josephine Marr. At the age of three, her father died, and her mother moved the two of them to New Orleans and remarried, to French aristocrat Gustave Breaux. It is likely that she was adopted by Gustave, or her mother had her name changed to add Breaux to Daisy’s full name, as Breaux appears on her name after her christening.
Photo of Daisy Calhoun. Date unknown. Photo credit: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50200212/daisy-breaux-calhoun
Early on, Daisy was teased for having a French surname while looking very Irish. The teasing wouldn’t last long, however, as she soon began to turn the head of local boys. Along with boys showing interest in young Daisy, she also became quite popular, because of this her mother sent her to finish her schooling at Georgetown Visitation, a convent school in Washington D.C.
Georgetown Visitation Convent School, photo credits: left, https://picryl.com/media/georgetown-visitation-convent-1500-thirty-fifth-street-northwest-washington. Top right, Georgetown Visitation laboratory, New York Public Library https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/394698354817120571/. Bottom right, Georgetown Visitation library, https://picryl.com/media/students-reading-in-library-at-georgetown-visitation-preparatory-school-washington
Once Daisy was finished with her education, she returned to New Orleans, and almost immediately upon her return, she had to fend off constant marriage proposals. In 1885, at the age of 22, she accepted the offer of marriage from a wealthy banker and vice president of the National Bank of South Carolina, Andrew Simonds. Simonds showered her in lavish gifts, such as a diamond necklace with a diamond pendant that she wore on her wedding day.
Photograph of Andrew Simonds. Photo credit: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/22686312/andrew-simonds
The couple moved to Charleston, South Carolina, and moved into a house that had been gifted to them for their wedding by the groom’s father, the president of National Bank of South Carolina. Shortly after they moved in, Daisy began to decorate the interior, including painting clouds with roses on the ceiling of the drawing-room. Daisy was also known to be a catty woman, as she often gave guests and acquaintances unflattering nicknames, which she would then use in public.
Always turning heads, Daisy may have offended a few people, including her father-in-law who had gifted her the home in Charleston, as she ordered the house to be destroyed and a grand mansion built in its place. The mansion was designed by Frederick P. Dinkelberg. Dinkelberg would later become famous for his design of the Flatiron building in New York. The new home would be a combination of emerging Beaux-Arts style with the popular Renaissance Revival style and would include an indoor swimming pool, which has incorrectly been labeled the first indoor swimming pool in South Carolina. It also had a grand ballroom; soaring 17-foot ceilings with dazzling crown moulding.
Daisy and Andrew had one child together.
- Margaret Simonds, born 31 May 1900
Villa Margherita as it is today, pictured on the left. Photo credit: https://charleston.com/charleston-insider/diary-of-a-charleston-tour-guide/4-south-battery-villa-margherita. Villa Margherita indoor swimming pool. Photo Credit: Charleston Historical Society.
In 1905, when their daughter was just 5-years-old, Andrew Simonds died in a Baltimore sanitarium. This left Daisy a single mother and in a difficult situation. Ever the ingenious woman, Daisy transformed her home into a luxury hotel, and gave it the name Villa Margherita, after herself; Margherita is Italian for daisy. She then leased the home to Ina Liese Dawson who operated the hotel and served mainly wealthy northerners who had come south to winter and for hunting trips. The hotel also served such prominent figures as Alexander Graham Bell and Henry Ford. The villa remained a hotel from 1905 to 1953.
In 1907 Daisy would marry her second husband, Barker Gummere Jr., after having met on a yacht during a congressional junket to the Panama Canal. Their wedding took place in Charleston at Villa Margherita.
Photograph of Barker Gummere Jr. Photo credit: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60231145/barker-gummere
After her marriage to Gummere, Daisy designed a second house that was built near Princeton, New Jersey. This grand stone mansion sat upon 57 acres of land. Unfortunately for the couple, they would only be married for seven years, as Gummere died of pneumonia in 1914. This tragedy didn’t slow Daisy down, she still had a daughter, now 14 years old to take care of. It was this that likely gave Daisy the idea to transform yet another house. She hired 90 teachers and turned Rosedale into an all-girls academy enrolling her daughter, Margaret, as the first student.
Rosedale Mansion, left – front of house from the right. Top right – back of house, bottm right – front of house from the left. Photo Credit: Historical Society of Princton, https://princeton.pastperfectonline.com/byperson?keyword=Gummere%2C+Barker%2C+Jr.
Daisy’s third marriage, in 1918, would be to Cpt. Clarence Crittenden Calhoun, who was a veteran of the Spanish-American War and an attorney from Kentucky with a successful practice in Washinton D.C. Through this marriage, Daisy would go on to become a renowned hostess in Washington D.C. and entertained more prominent figures like Edward VIII, Prince of Wales and future King of England.
During this same year, Daisy’s daughter Margaret would elope at 18 years old. The suiter was the wealthy but young Arthur Drury. Margaret’s mother instantly disliked him, calling him feckless. The marriage didn’t last long and Margaret would go on to marry attorney Charles Waring.
Children of Arthur Drury and Margaret Simonds:
- Peter Arthur Drury, born 27 July 1921
- Andrew Simonds Drury, born 30 April 1923
Children of Charles Waring and Margaret Simonds:
- Charles Witt Waring, born 21 October 1929
After visiting the Democratic National Convention in 1920 with her husband, Daisy would return to Washington D.C and started the Women’s National Foundation. Raising funds from donors, Daisy purchased 10 acres in 1921, known as the Dean estate for the headquarters of the Women’s National Foundation.
Photograph on left: of Daisy’s 3rd house and castle. Photo credit: https://www.townofchevychase.org/DocumentCenter/View/151/Rossadhu-Castle?bidId=. Photograph on right: the castle gatehouse as it looks today. Photo credit: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/where-we-live/wp/2013/12/06/house-of-the-week-chevy-chase-castle-gatehouse-for-1-5m/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.e03a2c2d7ece
Six years later Daisy and her third husband Clarence would begin construction of a house in Chevy Chase, Maryland. The castle was completed one year later in 1927. The family would only live in the castle for a few years before the financial fall out of the Great Depression would cause them to move into the gatehouse. By the 1930s the castle would be a night club and then a 30-unit apartment building. After World War II the area was rezoned for single-family homes, an action that lead to the demolition of the castle in 1957 and most of the property being subdivided. Today all that remains of the grand castle is the lovely gatehouse.
In an article published in 1975, The Washington Post, reported that it was a replica of the 12th-century Scottish castle and ancestral castle of Clan Colquhoun on Loch Lomond, and studded with stones shipped over Scotland.
Daisy would outlive all her husbands, with Clarence passing away in 1938. Ten years later she would move back to Charleston, South Carolina, and would pass away the next year in 1949. She is buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston.
Bibliography
“Villa Margherita — Charleston, South Carolina.” SC Picture Project. Accessed July 28, 2019. https://www.scpictureproject.org/charleston-county/villa-margherita.html.
Saratoga. “Daisy Breaux O’Donovan Calhoun.” Find A Grave. March 25, 2010. Accessed July 29, 2019. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50200212/daisy-breaux-calhoun.
Hunt, Stephanie. “Viva La Villa.” Charleston Magazine. September 2015. Accessed July 29, 2019. https://charlestonmag.com/features/viva_la_villa.
Jones, Mark. “The Irrepressible Daisy Breaux.” Mark Jones Books. January 14, 2016. Accessed July 29, 2019. https://markjonesbooks.com/2016/01/14/the-irrepressible-daisy-breaux/.
Saratoga. “Margaret Calhoun Simonds Waring.” Find A Grave. December 15, 2009. Accessed July 29, 2019. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/45488672/margaret-calhoun-waring.
Duvall, William. “Rossadhu Castle.” Town of Chevy Case. Accessed July 29, 2019. https://www.townofchevychase.org/DocumentCenter/View/151/Rossadhu-Castle?bidId=.
Orton, Kathy. “House of the Week | Chevy Chase Castle Gatehouse for $1.5M.” The Washington Post. December 6, 2013. Accessed July 29, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/where-we-live/wp/2013/12/06/house-of-the-week-chevy-chase-castle-gatehouse-for-1-5m/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.e03a2c2d7ece.
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