Index

17 thoughts on “Index”

1. Pingback: Getting Organized | BoothieBarn

2. 

   January 9, 2015
   william Q Steinmetz (stinemetz)

   thanks VERY MUCH for your research into H.Polkinghorn, a great, great uncle of mine. So much I didn’t know. William Steinmetz

   Reply
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  January 20, 2015
  BoothieBarn

  Happy to help, William. Mr. Polkinhorn was an interesting man.

  Reply
3. 

   March 12, 2015
   Gary

   Booties Barn was a great find! I am a new comer to the Lincoln/Booth story and find all the information on this site to be inspiring and informative. Does anyone know of an escape map that shows Booths escape route overlayed onto a current street map. This would be helpful in getting a current perspective.

   Reply
4. 

   May 2, 2015
   Bill Albro

   I just did the tour with the So MD Civil War round table – David was GREAT and chick full of information. truly an expert on the subject – well done!!
   Bill Albro – Waldorf

   Reply
5. 

   April 11, 2016
   Grace

   Hi!
   I’m doing a report on the Booth family, and I’m wondering what role Edwin played in the advancement of theatre in america… I could really use some suggestions! Your blog has been very helpful, and my prime source of information, but I’m having trouble with this question!

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  April 12, 2016
  BoothieBarn

  Grace,

  Your question certainly is a complex one. A person could easily write a whole book on the topic of Edwin’s role in American theater. My suggestion would be for you to consult the big Edwin Booth biographies that have been published recently. They are American Tragedian: The Life of Edwin Booth by Daniel Watermeier; and Edwin Booth: A Biography and Performance Hisyory by Arthur Bloom. You may also want to try My Thoughts Be Bloody by Nora Titone. Good luck!

  Dave

  Reply
6. 

   August 7, 2017
   Judi Breitstein

   Hi Dave, happy to see I’ve heard you talk several times now and enjoyed each presentation more than the one before.I write a Grave of the Month article for my civil war round table. Right now I’m working on Lafayette Baker. I found that his great grandfather was Remember Baker, first cousin of Ethan Allen and one of the Green Mountain boys. Some sites says Lafayette was grandfather to Newton Diehl Baker Jr , secretary of war, under Woodrow Wildon. I find the dates of birth don’t make sense. Have you ever come across this is your varied pursuits?
   Thanks much

   Reply
7. 

   May 26, 2018
   Art Klein

   Sleeping in John Wilkes Booth’s bedroom at Tudor Hall. I thought it might be of some interest to relate the unusual tale of how my wife and I had the rare opportunity to do just that. Through a mutual colleague who knew the owners at that time in 1991, who were Mr. and Mrs. Fox, (at the time, the house was private, but they were thinking of turning it into a bed and breakfast, plans that fell through), we were taken up the old staircase to his small room, just at the top of the stairs to the left. A small room, decorated with small antlers hung on the wall, and opposite of the door, an opening to that small outside balcony familiar to every Booth student, built by Junius so his small boys could pretend to play-act. After settling in and checking out a rope-bed for us in the room, Mrs. Fox said she would bring up some cocktails and we could chat in the old upstairs parlor right next to the room. She told us 3 eerie things that happened to them right after they bought the house in the early 60’s, all within 3 weeks. First, a neighbor came by to tell her that she thought the Fox’s did a clever thing. Mrs. Fox said “what are you talking about ?”. The lady said she saw a figure costumed in 19th century garb at the entrance path beckoning people to come on in. A week later, Mrs. Fox was having some friends over for supper. (At this point, I must tell you that Mrs. Fox was not the kind prone to exaggerate. She was a former member of the FBI, had published articles, and so on. Intelligent gal.) During dinner, a saucer rose from the table and was suspended for a brief period. Everyone saw it. Finally, her husband was in a hallway upstairs and she heard him scream. She asked what happened. He said a guy in 19th century clothes ran ahead of him down the hall, Mr. Fox following, and disappeared. That was it. Nothing else ever. That night we were there, I got up at 3am with my video camera hoping to catch something, a silly idea, but of course nothing happened. We left after a nice breakfast with them next morning. Some years later, Mrs. Fox died, and soon after so did her husband. They left no will, and at the time the town officials in Bel Air tried to come up with money to buy the place, but a couple with a young daughter were negotiating for it. They stated that they would try to retain the historic look, and that their daughter would use the Booth bedroom. The plans fell through, and I was delighted to see, through your site, that indeed the finances were obtained to retain the historic place, and it’s now open for tours. That’s great . A happy ending, but I was glad to note that even though there are tours, probably no one else will have that special and rare opportunity to sleep in the bedroom of John Wilkes Booth.

   Reply
8. 

   May 28, 2018
   LAURA VERGE

   I did not take advantage of spending a night at Tudor Hall, but several of us old-time Boothies had some very interesting visits with Howard and Dorothy Fox. Unusual occurrences continued at their home, including slices of cake levitating across the table to another guest.

   My favorite story was of an unannounced guest who was caught peering into one of the downstairs windows, shortly after the Foxes moved in — the guest happened to be a pony (that disappeared as quickly as it came). We all surmised that it was the spirit of Junius’s favorite – the one that he read funeral rites over when it died. Or, perhaps, Wilkes’s favorite, Cola di Rienzi??

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9. 

   June 10, 2018
   Art Klein

   In posting the story of my sleeping in John Wilkes Booth’s bedroom at Tudor Hall, I forgot to mention one curious thing. Back in the 1990’s, I was told that JWB, as a boy, scratched his initials in one of the window panes there, and that the owners at the time of my visit had preserved that pane of glass, which was still in place. I forgot to ask Mrs. Fox about it. Through all the various changes and preservations over the years, does anyone know if that pane of glass is still in place, (hopefully), and if so, is it part of the current tour?

   Reply
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  June 10, 2018
  BoothieBarn

  Art,

  The etched pane of glass is still in place at Tudor Hall but there’s no evidence that it was made by John Wilkes Booth. A close look at the pane just shows a collection of circular scratches and nothing that looks like John Wilkes Booth’s initials. The damage could possibly have been caused by a young Booth, but those in charge of Tudor Hall today believe that was just a fanciful tale told by the Foxes to visitors.

  Also, I know for a fact that others have spent the night in Tudor Hall and in John Wilkes Booth’s bedroom in recent years. I was one of them! I agree that it is not a memory one easily forgets.

  Best,

  Dave

  Reply
10. 

    June 27, 2018
    Art Klein

    If you had to think of one surviving artifact of Booth that most Booth scholars would give their eye teeth to own, my guess is that it would be the surviving top half of that famous cane. Here’s how, like many others, I got to examine it. Of course, many of you know already that it was in the possession of the beloved Dr. John Lattimer, a wonderful man whom I got acquainted with at the Lincoln Club of New York meetings, of which he was a member. On occasion, he loved bringing to the meetings some of his possessions, among which was the key to the door of box 7 at Ford’s, and of course the top half of that cane (the lower half having long disappeared from history.) So I was able to hold it, and examine the top, which was that small horse hoof made, I guess, of pewter. Here’s what I’m wondering. Some years ago, as you know, the good doctor passed, and there was a big auction of not only his Lincoln-Booth collection, but other items he collected. I looked through the auction catalog, and there was no mention of the cane, so I guess it was the one item his family wanted to retain. I often wondered if the family, (assuming they have it), would somehow loan it to a museum somewhere, so we could all have a chance to view an iconic item that might as well, for now, be lost to history.

    Reply
11. 

    February 28, 2022
    Linda McBeath

    From numerous newspapers of the day, when John Surratt was returned to the USA after the assassination of Lincoln, Thomas H. Ford, (attorney in Washington, D.C.) was going to represent Surratt’s defense. I do not find that he was ever involved in pretrial or trial hearings. Does anyone have information regarding Ford’s involvement with Surratt? Thanks

    Reply
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  February 28, 2022
  Dave Taylor

  From a quick glance through my John Surratt books, I don’t seem to find Thomas Ford’s name anywhere. I suspect it was just idle gossip that he was going to represent Surratt. Joseph Bradley acted as Surratt defense attorney during his trial.

  Reply
12. 

    August 26, 2022
    Charles Drake

    Dave- I stumbled onto a couple of your videos on YouTube and was transfixed! Plus, I feel a kinship with you: Not only have I been a Civil War enthusiast for 55 years, but I taught 4th and third grade in Homer, NY for 33 years. Loved it! In fact, at age 71, I am tutoring students privately in Arden, NC. BTW, Homer, NY has a special connection to A. Lincoln. Eli DeVoe, William O. Stoddard and Francis B. Carpenter all figure prominently in his history. I’d love to correspond with you when you have time!

    Reply
13. 

    January 26, 2024
    Steven Shea

    I’m trying to uncover as much as possible about the relationship between John Surratt, Louis Weichmann and Henri Beaumont Ste. Marie. I understand both Surratt and Weichmann met at St. Charles Seminary and became friends circa 1860 although neither completed nor were ordained. By the summer to fall 1962 both men taught for an over lapping period (circa 3 months) at remote/agrarian Baltimore county parish schools. Weichmann at St Charles Borromeo in Pikesville and Surratt at St. Josephs in Cockeysville. On Easter Day, 1863 all three met at Taylor’s Hall, the home of Richard Padian in Cockeysville and arranged by Padian’s daughter Maria. The Padian’s were known as ardent Confederate sympathizers. According to testimony of Ste Marie this is where he met John Surratt and was able identify him in Rome.

    Reply

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