Stalked by Tragedy

Lincoln's death seemed to bring tragedy to other people.

Henry and Clara Rathbone attended the play at Ford's Theatre. They were startled by Lincoln's assassination. Sometime later, they decided to move to Germany. There, Henry killed his wife and ended up in an insane asylum.

The soldier who shot John Wilkes Booth was Boston Corbett. In 1887, he was arrested for brandishing a gun at the Kansas State Legislature. He was sent to the Topeka Asylum for the Insane. He escaped and was never seen again. In his civilian life, he was a hatter, and scientists now think he had mercury poisoning because of his work.

Ann Suratt was the daughter of Mary Suratt. Mary conspired with Booth to kill President Lincoln and was sentenced to be executed. Ann Suratt wanted President Johnson to grant her mother clemency. Ex-Senator Preston King and Senator James H. Lane prevented her from seeing Johnson. Her mother, Mary, was executed. 

The ex-senator Preston King committed suicide by jumping off a ferryboat on the Hudson River with a bag of bullets tied around his neck

The next year, Senator Lane killed himself in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Dr. Anson G. Henry, who helped Mrs. Mary Todd Lincoln get back to Illinois. He died on July 30, 1865, drowned when the steamer in which he was a passenger sank off the coast of California.

In 1875, Mary Todd Lincoln was sent to the state hospital for the insane. Scientists now think she had migraines, Pernicious Anemia (vitamin B12 deficiency), and bipolar disorder. 

Abraham Lincoln wrote a Murder mystery when he was a lawyer in Illinois. It is now in the public domain. I am working on a book of six short stories, and I am including his as he wrote it. I am also including in the book, as one of the short stories, my telling of the same story. 

                       Abraham Lincoln's Children

                              Tragedy followed Lincoln's children.

Willie and Tad with their mother. The picture is courtesy of Edward Anthony.

Mr. Lincoln and his wife Mary Todd Lincoln had four children: Robert, Edward, Willie, and Tad.

Edward died before his father became president. His passing was on February 1, 1850, at 3 years and 11 months from chronic consumption, which we now call tuberculosis.

Tad died July 15, 1871. Scientists are not sure if it was from tuberculosis, pleurisy, pneumonia, or congestive heart failure. He was 18.

Willie died from typhoid fever on February 20, 1862, at the age of eleven years.

Robert, ironically, was rescued from a moving train by Edwin Booth, the elder brother of John Wilkes Booth.

When he heard his father was shot, he rushed to his bedside and stayed with him throughout the night.

Robert graduated from Harvard University, joined the army, and served on General Ulysses S. Grant's staff. He later became the minister to Great Britain. He traveled with President Garfield as Secretary of War when the president was shot at the Washington, D.C., railroad station and was with him when the president died.

Then he became the president of the Pullman Company of Chicago. He attended the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, with President William McKinley. He witnessed the president being assassinated.

Enough was enough. He had witnessed three presidential assassinations. He retired to his summer retreat in Manchester, Vermont, where he became a recluse. 

He died at the age of 83 of a cerebral hemorrhage. He is the only one not buried in the Lincoln family plot in Springfield, Illinois.

Information from Shocking Secrets of American history by bill Coate

The next blog will be about what happened after Lincoln was shot. 

What you may not have known about Thomas Jefferson

                                 Thomas Jefferson

         What you may not have known about Thomas Jefferson

Martha Wayles was born on her father's plantation near Williamsburg, Virginia. She married Mr. Skeleton but was widowed by the age of 22. She married Thomas Jefferson in 1771 and moved to his home, Monticello.

Martha's father was a large slaveholder, and Martha inherited 135 slaves when her father died. They came to Monticello, including the slave girl Sally Hemings.

Thomas and Martha became the parents of six children. Three died in infancy. Sally became responsible for the children's care after Martha died in 1782.

In 1785, Thomas Jefferson became the minister to France, bringing his daughter Mary and the slave Sally with him. Sally was now 15. While in France, Thomas became intimate with Sally.

After he moved back to Monticello in Virginia, he had five children with the teenage slave. He became president, and the rumors started. He did not confirm or deny the allegations.

Before his wife Martha died, he promised he would give Sally her freedom when he died. He did. 

Why did Martha want Sally to have her freedom? Because Sally was Martha's half-sister. Martha's father, John Wayles, was Sally's father, and her mother was a slave named Elizabeth Hemings.

Thomas Jefferson's concubine was his sister-in-law.

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Thomas Jefferson chose Monticello, his home, to be his burial place. He designed his grave marker, a simple stone obelisk. The inscription was to be chiseled into the granite.

People wondered whether it would show that he was the 3rd president of the United States and that he had been vice president from 1797 to 1801. He had many disagreements with President John Adams. As Jefferson was from the South, he helped Adams win, as he was from the North. 

Jefferson was the first Secretary of State under George Washington. He was the minister to France and the governor of Virginia.

Jefferson died on July 4th, 1826, and when the marker was revealed, it read:

"Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Liberty, and Father of the University of Virginia."

He wanted to be remembered for independence, religious liberty, and education.

From Shocking Secrets of American History By Bill Coate

 

A Dinner Party on July 20, 1790, made History.

 

The Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, wanted to see President Washington settle the issue. He was not able to see the president, but Thomas Jefferson rose to the occasion.

James Madison, a member of the House of Representatives, wanted the federal government to settle all state debts incurred during the Revolutionary War.

Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton said his state, Virginia, had paid its debt and did not want to pay the debts of the northern states.

On July 20, 1790, Thomas Jefferson, the Secretary of State, invited Hamilton and James Madison to dinner. During the meal, Jefferson proposed that the South would accept Madison's proposal if our nation's capital were located in Virginia. Madison believed the Southern states would back it.
The Residency Bill was passed by Congress. So, the capital of our country is Washington, D.C.

History at a dinner party.

 

                        His Beginning

This is self-promoting, so if you don't like it, ignore.

 His Beginning, my newest book, is available at https://author.amazon.com/books. It is about a child born to poor parents, who lived under foreign rule, became a refugee, and was hunted by a cruel man. 

If you read the book, please read a review, positive or negative. Be honest. It helps me to learn what works and what doesn't. Thank you. Self-promoting Pat

                 Curse of the Presidency 

A Shawnee, who changed his name from Lalawethika to Tenskwatawa, became known as the Prophet. He and his twin brother, Tecumseh, were leaders and wanted to unite other tribes with theirs and established a village that the Americans called Prophetstown. It was north of present-day Lafayette, Indiana.

They wanted to establish a nation with its own borders, government, and culture. Many Shawnees, Potawatomi, Kickapoos, Winnebagoes, Sauks, Ottawas, Wyandots, and Iowas joined them. They wanted a city-state separate from the white settlers.

The governor of the Indiana Territory, William Henry Harrison, negotiated the Treaty of Fort Wayne, which was signed by some Native Americans. The treaty was for 2.5 to 3 million acres for the Americans. This ended Tecumseh's and Tenskwatawa's plans.

Now, General William Henry Harrison settled the issues with the twin brothers and their followers at the Battle of Tippecanoe.

Before he died, Tenskwatawa, the Prophet, pronounced a curse on Harrison. No one thought much of it. Harrison was elected President of the United States in 1840. In March 1841, Harrison, known as the Indian fighter, was 69 when he gave his inaugural speech in the pouring rain. He caught pneumonia and died after one month in office. People remembered the curse.

Harrison was elected in 1840 and died in office. Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860 and died in office. James A. Garfield was elected in 1880 and was assassinated while in office. William McKinley, elected in 1900, died in office. Warren Harding, elected in 1920, died in office. Franklin Roosevelt, elected in 1940, died in office. John F. Kennedy, elected in 1960, died in office.

Every twenty years, in an election year ending in zero, the president died in office.

Ronald Reagan, elected in 1980, was shot but lived. He put an end to the curse.

Information from Shocking Secrets of American History by Bill Coate

My website is https://www.wrintwater, and the drop-down menu "Writing Water Home" has my blog. 

 

                    Freedom of the Press

We all have heard stories about Benjamin Franklin. We know about his inventions, his diplomacy, and his common sense.

Near the end of his life, he wrote his last will and testament. He passed over his illegitimate son William, who was on the opposite side during the War for Independence, and they became bitter enemies.

So Ben left almost his entire estate to his daughter Sarah Bache and to her son, Benjamin Bache. He left his printing press.

 By the late 1790s, Benjamin Bache started his own newspaper, and he did not like President John Adams's administration. His comments on Adams' government were not well received.

 In 1798, Congress passed a law called the Alien and Sedition Acts. The law made it a crime to criticize the government in print.

Benjamin Franklin Bache was true to his grandfather and was not deterred. He publicly attacked the foreign and domestic policies, so Mr. Bache was thrown into prison.

When Thomas Jefferson became President, two years later, he pardoned all those convicted under the Sedition Act. It was too late for Benjamin Franklin Bache. He died in prison a few months before.
He stood by his ideas to his death.

Information from Shocking Secrets of American History by Bill Coate.

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I have a new website. It has information about my writing, my books, testimonials, and my blog. If you are interested, it is https://www.writingwater.com. On the drop-down menu, choose Writing Water Home. Let me know what you think about it.