@Willie Oleson I just realized I never shared with you the background story for Samuel Peyton. I mostly took what was said in the book (though its told by one of the characters, who kept reiterating that a lot of it was based on "what people said"), though I changed a few details towards the end - such as changing the fact that, originally, Samuel Peyton had no descendants. But as this is all about combining the book with the TV series, well...
So, without further ado:
Long before the Civil War, before anybody heard of a man called Abraham Lincoln, down in the South lived a black slave owned by a planation owner by the name of Peyton. The slave's name was Samuel, "a big, strapping young buck." He lived before his time, for he wanted to be free. So Samuel decided to run away. Some say he stole gold from Peyton to do it.
Samuel succeeded in his escape and got on a boat to France. Some say the captain of that boat was mulatto, so perhaps he assisted Samuel, who was "black as the ace of spades" and therefore wouldn't have had an easy time in his journey.
Samuel reached Marseilles, France, and in a few years made a fortune out of the shipping business. Nobody knows how he got started, though there was the gold he supposedly stole from Peyton.
All of this suggests that Samuel was a house-worker rather than a field-hand, for he would have had to had some education (knowing how to speak enough French) as well as access to the main house in order to steal any gold.
Either way, Samuel made money, and plenty of it. He then decided, since he was free and wealthy, that he was as good as any white man, and married a white French girl named Violette (she was pretty and frail-looking, like a piece of china; some say Catherine Peyton inherited her beauty).
Samuel decided to come back to America. It was during the Civil War (1861 - 1865) when he came back. According to the original book, "plenty of people had started loving black people overnight - or at least, loved them with their mouths." Samuel and Violette went to Boston, Samuel figuring with all his money and everybody loving black people, he could move right onto Beacon Hill and start entertaining the Lowells and the Cabots. Except Samuel couldn't find any kind of a house anyplace in Boston.
If he had been in rags with welts all over his back, and if Violette had been black as well and looked like she'd been chased by bloodhounds, maybe they would have had an easier time. Boston wasn't used to seeing a black man wearing starched frill and a hand-embroidered waistcoat, and boots that cost forty dollars a pair ("forty dollars was a heap of money in those days").
Some say Samuel went into a rage, and came to the deserted place that would one day become Peyton Place. He wanted to get far enough away from Boston that he'd never set eyes on a white man again as long as he lived. Samuel picked the highest hill of all and decided to build himself a castle for himself and Violette. They lived in a cabin at first, because it took a long time for the castle to be built.
Every stick, stone, doorknob and pane of glass was imported from England. As soon as it was done, Samuel and Violette moved in and neither set foot outside ever again.
[It should be noted that towards the end of The Civil War, Samuel Peyton ran boats out of Portsmouth carrying arms to the South. I have no idea why he would do that, but that seems to be the main reason why the town is ashamed to be named after him: "If that ain't the act of a sonofabitch, I never hope to hear of one."]
It wasn't too long before a man by the name of Harrington came along and built the mills alongside the river, and after that, there started to be a town. Pretty soon, the B&M put in the railroad line to White River through there. Folks riding on the train would look up at the castle and ask, "What's that?" and the conductors would say, "Why, that's the Peyton place." And that's how the town got its name.
[And here's where I start to adapt Samuel's story into the TV version.]
Samuel owned the land that Harrington was building on, and decided, as revenge against "the white man," to severely tax the whole town. This led to what is known as "The Peyton-Harrington War," for while Samuel Peyton owned the land and became the town's namesake, it was the man called Harrington who built the town's main source of income. For the next several generations, the two families would wage war for control over the town. It was thought that the war would end with the marriage of Leslie Harrington and Catherine Harrington, but... well, more on that later.
Sometime during this, Violette gave birth to her and Samuel's one and only child, a son... who was born with skin almost as white as hers'. Fearful that her husband would hate her son, whom she christened Philippe, Violette begged Samuel to love their child, no matter what. Samuel, realizing that his frail wife was dying, gave his word.
After Violette died, Samuel buried her out in the back of the castle. A tall, white stone marked her grave, made out of Vermont marble.
Samuel honored his promise to love his white-skinned son, and when Philippe was a young man, he ventured forth from the castle, and fell in love with a girl from the town named Margaret. She had no idea that Philippe was half-black; only that he was rich and handsome, and lived in a fancy castle, and willing to marry her quickly.
Samuel kept himself hidden from Margaret when Philippe brought her to live in the castle. It wasn't until several years later, after Margaret gave birth to their son, Martin, that Samuel finally made his appearance known.
How Margaret reacted to the knowledge that her father-in-law, husband and son were "all black" is best left up to the imagination.
When Samuel died, not long after Martin's birth, he was buried right next to Violette, but the stone over his grave was short and squat, made out of black marble imported from Italy. Phillipe and Margaret were buried there too when they died as well.
And that's the story of Samuel Peyton.
Here's a rough timeline for the events:
1830 - Samuel Peyton born
1861-1865 - The Civil War; Samuel Peyton starts building his castle
1871 - The Peyton Castle is completed
1872 - Phillipe Peyton born; Violette Peyton dies
1873-1874 - The Harrington Mills are built, followed by a town
1891 - Phillipe marries Margaret
1892 - Martin Peyton born
1893 - Samuel Peyton dies
1916 - Martin Peyton marries a woman named Grace (as a tribute to Grace Metalious, the book's author)
1918 - Catherine Peyton born
1937-1944 - Phillipe and Margaret Peyton die (they pass during the years the original book took place in)
1962 - series starts
