[1][4][8] Heaton lived in various locations: New York City in the late 1870s; Paris, France in the early 1880s; Philadelphia (1884); Washington, D.C. (1885); and then West Palm Beach, Florida.

Heaton married Adelaide Griswold in New York City on December 24, 1874, and had three children; Augustus (1875), Henry (1877) and Perry (1884),[1] before divorcing in 1898.

The painting was sent to the U.S. Capitol in 1884 to be reviewed by the Joint Committee on the Library, purchased later that year for $3,000 and remains part of the United States Senate Art and History Collection.

[12] Other works of note are The First Mission of Washington (1862), Columbia's Night Watch (1866), Bathing Hour at Trouville (1880) and The Promoters of the New Congressional Library (1888), which is a life sized group portrait composed of eighteen prominent statesmen.

[4] He died of heart disease at Sibley Hospital in Washington, D.C., on October 11, 1930,[2][7] and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.