Posts Tagged With: Lloyd

John M. Lloyd²

Posted on August 12, 2017 by Dave Taylor

Sometimes you go into a research rabbit hole, thinking you’ve found something completely new, only to have it turn out to be nothing. That happen to me over the last few days when, while researching my post on Alexius Thomas, I accidentally stumbled across a newspaper advertisement in the Port Tobacco Times that looked promising.

The name at the top of this advertisement for fertilizer should be familiar to those who study the Lincoln assassination. One of the key witnesses against Mary Surratt at the trial of the conspirators was the renter of her tavern, John Minchin Lloyd. At the trial Lloyd stated, on the day of Lincoln’s assassination, Mrs. Surratt came down to her tavern, gave him a wrapped pair of field glasses, and told him to “have the shooting irons ready” and that a party would call for them that night. Mary Surratt was executed largely due to Lloyd’s testimony.

Lloyd is no stranger to this blog. Back in 2015, I found the homestead Lloyd grew up on in Charles County. John M. Lloyd spent his formative years in the Southern Maryland area and knew the people well. Though he was consistently listed as a brick layer in the census records and city directories of D.C., it seemed perfectly reasonable that he also took up a side job as a fertilizer agent in the post Civil War years. I started the process of tracking his different enterprises, the earliest of which was as a produce agent. Everything seemed to fall into place. Some of the longer advertisements mentioned that Lloyd was a native of Southern Maryland but no longer lived there. He made yearly trips down into Charles and St. Mary’s counties to visit his friends and clients and discusses their fertilizer needs. His advertisements in the Port Tobacco Times ceased in 1890 which seemed to make perfect sense seeing as Lloyd died in 1892 while back at his “day job” as a brick layer and contractor. And finally, one advertisement gave his full name as John Minchin Lloyd, which assuaged my fear that this was a different John M. Lloyd.

I was preparing a whole blog post about John M. Lloyd’s other career in which he was likely Southern Maryland’s leading supplier of guano. For the “John M. Lloyd was guilty and lied about Mary Surratt to save his own hide” crowd, I was ready to cleverly point out that he proved himself to be very good at getting people to “buy his crap”. Everything was ready to go, and then I did one last piece of research in a book that should have been my first source.

The Lloyds of Southern Maryland is a wonderful genealogical record of the Lloyd family. It has about 6 pages in it devoted to John M. Lloyd and was very helpful to me when I was doing research about his early life. When I consulted the book again (fortunately it’s accessible on the Internet Archive for free), I was saddened when I turned to the index to find the right page:

The John M.¹ listed above is “our” John M. Lloyd. The John M.² is his cousin…a successful businessman who specialized in fertilizer (cue sad trombone sound). Yes, it appears that all of the advertisements I had found were for the other John Minchin Lloyd, ten years younger than the drunken tavern keeper who doomed Mrs. Surratt.

Admittedly, I felt silly for not consulting this book first. But confusing the two cousins Lloyd, is an easy enough thing to do since they had the same exact name and grew up in the same area. Even the author of the genealogy book mistakenly associates one of businessman Lloyd’s enterprises to hard-drinking, bricklayer Lloyd.

After the assassination of Lincoln and the trial of the conspirators, John M. Lloyd¹ left the tavern at Surrattsville and returned to Washington. He lived in the District consistently for the rest of his life. While he had been a founding member of the Metropolitan Police Force in the years prior to the Civil War, he did not return to that career. From October of 1865 onward, John M. Lloyd worked as a brick layer and contractor, and that’s it. He was not a produce agent. He didn’t sell fertilizer. He wasn’t the Southern Maryland bat poop king. He was just a brick layer.

That’s not to say that Lloyd was completely off of the radar while living in D.C. with his wife. When John Surratt was brought back to the United States after his escape to Europe, John M. Lloyd testified at his trial as well. After that, Lloyd disappeared for a bit. Then, on one night in 1883, John M. Lloyd discovered that his house was being robbed and he took action:

You’ll notice that the article states that the thief was spattered with blood when he appeared before the judge demonstrating that the ex-cop Lloyd really let him have it. A succeeding article stated that Lloyd’s burglar was sentenced to three years in prison in Concord, New Hampshire, which seems like a pretty severe punishment for the theft of a clock.

John M. Lloyd also popped up again on a slow news day in 1892 when he threw a leap year party for his friends and relatives:

This dance was one of John M. Lloyd’s last, however. Later that year, while working on a construction site, Lloyd suffered a fatal accident. Lloyd, a life long brick layer, found his life ended by a layer of bricks. Years later, his great-niece, Beatrice Petty, recalled her uncle and his unfortunate death.

“I was a small child but remember him quite well. He was a very kindly man, and were were devoted to him; he was a large man and sort of a Santa Claus to all of us. We called him Uncle Lloyd.

He was in the construction business and died of an accident that occurred on one of his building projects. He wasn’t satisfied with some work that had been done and went up on a scaffold to inspect it. Near the other end of the scaffold flooring a load of brick had just been deposited. As he reached the scaffold and stood on it, the boards gave way and he fell to the ground. The bricks tumbling down upon him crushed his head, kidneys, and other parts of his body.”

John M. Lloyd survived a little over a week after his accident but knew his injuries were fatal. He died on December 18, 1892, his 68th birthday. His death certificate lists his cause of death as “cerebro-spinal concussion”.

The Washington papers carried a brief obituary about Lloyd with no mention of his connection the events of 1865.

Papers in other cities, however, spoke of his death only as a means of rehashing his connection to Mrs. Surratt.

After his death, Lloyd was buried in a plot he had owned in Mount Olivet Cemetery since 1865. On his grave was placed a small, marble stone bearing only the words “John M. Lloyd”. Over the years, Lloyd’s grave fell over and was even buried for a time until assassination author Richard Smyth dug it back up one day.

Mount Olivet, a popular cemetery for D.C.’s Catholics, contains the graves of several other people connected to the Lincoln assassination. Thomas Harbin, Detective James McDevitt, Honora Fitzpatrick,and Father Jacob Walter are just a few of the others buried there. The most notable interment in the cemetery, however, is Mary Surratt. She also has a small stone bearing only her name.

I suppose it’s only fitting that John M. Lloyd¹, a man who never sold fertilizer, is now fertilizing the ground about 100 yards away from the woman he helped to condemn.

References:
The Lloyds of Southern Maryland by Daniel B. Lloyd
Newspaper clippings from GenealogyBank.com

Categories: History | Tags: , , , , | 7 Comments

Lloyd-ering around Banks O’Dee

Posted on May 31, 2015 by Dave Taylor

In Charles County, Maryland, located on the peninsula that is created by the merging of the Potomac and Wicomoco Rivers is a small rural area called Banks O’Dee:

Banks ODee, Maryland

The name Banks O’Dee or “The Banks of the Dee” was given its name by Welsh and Irish settlers to the region who named the area after the River Dee which forms part of the border between England and Wales. It is now, as it was then, a very small rural community with only a local road bearing the name Banks O’Dee Road to betray its existence. Yet, as we have often seen, even the most isolated and small communities can have connections to Lincoln’s assassination. Banks O’Dee, exemplifies this fact by having not one, but two associations to the great crime of April 14, 1865.

Mistaken Identi’Dee

After Lincoln’s assassination, the government mobilized troops and detectives to scour the entire region around Washington. Many men were sent into Southern Maryland which was a hotbed for Confederate sympathizers. Washington Provost Marshal, James R. O’Beirne, ordered several of his detectives into the region around Banks O’Dee in the search for John Wilkes Booth and David Herold in the hope that they had not yet crossed the Potomac River into Virginia. Three of O’Beirne’s detectives, Henry Bevans, Michael O’Callaghan, and Edward McHenry, were steamed in on April 19th to investigate the locals. Two the the detectives, McHenry and O’Callaghan, impersonated refugees and found themselves dining with a Banks O’Dee farmer by the named of Richard Claggett. During dinner, Claggett’s son revealed that at around 7:00 am on April 16th, he had seen two men in boat crossing over to a place on the Virginia shore called White Point (now Colonial Beach). The detectives passed this information along to O’Beirne and even crossed over the Potomac themselves in search for the two men in a boat, to no avail.

A farm near the water at Banks O'Dee. Thomas Harbin and Joseph Baden crossed the Potomac river near here on April 16, 1865.

A farm near the water at Banks O’Dee. Thomas Harbin and Joseph Baden crossed the Potomac river near here on April 16, 1865.

By April 24th days had gone by with no new credible sightings of Booth and Herold in Southern Maryland. O’Beirne, in the field himself at Port Tobacco, decided to once again bring the report of his detectives in Banks O’Dee to the attention of Lafayette Baker, head of the National Detective Police. Baker decided the report was now worth investigating further and approved the dispatch of men from the 16th New York Calvary to travel into the Northern Necks of Virginia in search of Booth and Herold. Two days later, this gamble paid off as the 16th New York cornered and killed John Wilkes Booth at the Garrett Farm in Caroline County, VA.

However, this report from Banks O’Dee of two men crossing over the Potomac in a boat on April 16th was a case of mistaken identity. From April 16 – 20, John Wilkes Booth and David Herold were hiding out in a pine thicket near Samuel Cox’s Rich Hill farm. The two men who did cross from Banks O’Dee on April 16th were actually Joseph Baden and Thomas Harbin. Harbin had been an early recruit into John Wilkes Booth’s abduction plot and, when the assassin did manage to cross the river, Harbin briefly assisted Booth onward to Dr. Stuart’s. Still, had Harbin and Baden not been seen by a farmer in Banks O’Dee who then blabbed the sighting to undercover government detectives, John Wilkes Booth may have been able to escape further south.

Lloyd-ering around Banks O’Dee

Banks O’Dee’s connection to the Lincoln assassination story stretches even further back than 1865.  In 1835, two large properties in the area were purchased by a man named Minchin Lloyd, Jr.  Mr. Lloyd’s father was an Irish immigrant who had set up his residence, and family, in Virginia and then in Port Tobacco, the county seat of Charles County.

Minchin Lloyd, Jr. was an enterprising businessman in Charles County, serving his county as a Deputy Sheriff and Deputy Tax Collector.  The second of six brothers, Minchin, Jr. had been entrusted by his siblings with many things of importance.  When his youngest brother Francis died, the financially successful Minchin inherited his entire estate.  He also inherited a large piece of his brother William’s estate when William died in 1833. William, who had been a businessman in Port Tobacco running a general store, also left two other things to his brother Minchin upon his death.  This two things were his two young sons.  Minchin became the guardian of William’s two children, Charles William and John Minchin Lloyd.

The latter name should sound familiar.  In 1865, John Minchin Lloyd would play a pivotal role in the assassination saga when, while renting Mary Surratt’s country tavern, John Wilkes Booth and David Herold arrived at the tavern, demanded the weapons that had been hidden there previously, and rode off after telling Lloyd they had assassinated President Lincoln.  John M. Lloyd would prove to be one of the government’s key witnesses against Mary Surratt at the trial of the conspirators and his testimony would help seal her fate.

When William died in 1833, John was 8 years old.  He and his younger brother went to live with his Uncle Minchin.  In 1835, Minchin bought a large (500+ acre) property near Banks O’Dee.  Minchin moved his whole family into a beautiful home which stood, “on an eminent hill in the center of the farm”.  The house was called Milton Hill and was constructed around 1792.  As a young boy of 11 years old, John is sure to have spent many days at Milton Hill with his uncle/adopted father.  John M. Lloyd grew up in the Banks O’Dee area and watched as the family acquired more land in the area.  Today a road, creek, and point in the region bear the Lloyd name and there are still descendants of the Lloyd family living in the area.  By about 1850, John M. Lloyd had left Banks O’Dee and had settled in Washington, D.C.  Lloyd became a brick layer, Washington Police Officer, and, later, unlucky tavern keeper.

Amazingly, the house in which a young John M. Lloyd lived still stands today in Banks O’Dee.  Milton Hill, which is private property, dates to about 1792.

Milton Hill, childhood home of John M Lloyd

Milton Hill, childhood home of John M. Lloyd

Epilogue

In addition to visiting Banks O’Dee and locating Milton Hall today,  I tried to determine the final resting place of John M. Lloyd’s father, William.  It seemed that the Lloyds often worshiped at St. Mary’s Church at Newport, the same church where Confederate agent Thomas Jones is buried.  I traveled to St. Mary’s in hopes there might be a few Lloyds there. In the end I found this stone which seems very promising:

The possible gravestone for William Lloyd, father of John M. Lloyd

The possible gravestone for William Lloyd, father of John M. Lloyd in St. Mary’s Church in Newport, MD

If this is the stone for “our” William Lloyd than it seems the phrase “like father, like son” is applicable even in death.  John M. Lloyd also has a small stone with only his name on it that has been knocked flat over the passage of time:

Grave of John M. Lloyd in Mt. Olivet Cemetery.

Grave of John M. Lloyd in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

References:
The Lincoln Assassination Reward Files by William Edwards
The Lloyds of Southern Maryland by Daniel Lloyd

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Resurrecting Gravestones

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Dave Taylor

April 14th is the 147th anniversary of Lincoln’s assassination.  Several generations have passed in that time.  Most recently, we mourned the passing of the last of Dr. Mudd’s grandchildren, succinctly showing the time that has elapsed since the great crime.  As has been done for ages, we mark our lost generations with gravestones.  They are a reminder of their time on earth and their influence on others.  Unfortunately the stones on which names are placed are not impervious to time’s unceasing march.  Water, wind, heat and cold, erase names and dates.  Markers stand as unreadable, phantom reminders of people and lives unknown.  Along with the elements, humans, both directly and inadvertently damage stones.  Markers are chipped, broken or fallen by human hands.  For many of these stones, this is the end.  Without families aware of their destruction, they remain broken, fallen, and forgotten.

For some related to the Lincoln assassination this is the case.  John M. Lloyd is one example.  Lloyd was Mrs. Surratt’s tenant occupying her Tavern in Surrattsville (then Robeysville), MD.  One the day of the assassination, Lloyd testified that Mary told him, “I want you to have those shooting irons ready: there will be parties here to-night who will call for them.”  The shooting irons referred to were Spencer Carbines that were hidden at the Surratt Tavern during the proposed kidnapping plot.  In addition Mary gave Lloyd a package wrapped in paper later found to be field glasses.  Later that night, Booth and Herold stopped by the Tavern, took one of the carbines and the field glasses.  Lloyd was a key witness against Mary Surratt at the Conspiracy trial.  Lloyd would later die an accidental death in 1892:

“He was in the construction business and died of an accident that occurred on one of his building projects. He wasn’t satisfied with some work that had been done and went up on a scaffold to inspect it. Near the other end of the scaffold flooring a load of bricks had just been deposited. As he reached the scaffold and stood on it, the boards gave way, and he fell to the ground. The bricks tumbling down upon him crushed his head, kidneys, and other parts of his body.”

John M. Lloyd's gravestone circa January 1969. Courtesy of the Surratt House Museum

Lloyd was laid to rest in Mount Olivet Cemetery in D.C.  This is same cemetery in which Mary Surratt is buried.  He was buried in December of 1892 and his marker was standing until it fell some time in 1969.  Today, his plot is unmarked – a shining example of the many who have fallen and have been forgotten. Correction: I have been informed by gravestone expert Richard Smyth that, as of 2008, Lloyd’s marker was still on his grave.  When Rich visited Mount Olivet, he had to dig the stone out and remove the dirt and grass that had grown over it.  The current condition of the stone is unknown.

There are also those to whom, markers were never created.  In these instances we are sometimes fortunate to have cemetery records to tell us who has been placed where.  This is the case of the Surratt Society’s current drive to place a marker on the grave of Frederick Aiken.  Aiken was one of the lawyers who defended Mary Surratt at the Conspiracy trial.  A tremendous amount of research into Mr. Aiken’s life was done by researcher Christine Christensen.  Her 28 page biography about this man’s extraordinary life is available through the Surratt House Museum and has been the catalyst for soliciting donations to mark his grave.  He is currently unmarked in Georgetown’s Oak Hill Cemetery:

A stone bearing his name, dates and a quote given by him at the trial will be put up once enough donations are received.

Finally, there are grave stones that have been resurrected so to speak.  These are stones that have been broken or worn, but have been fortunate enough to have been replaced.  Mary Surratt and Dr. Mudd are two examples of resurrected gravestones.

May Surratt was originally buried next to the gallows on which she died, in the yard of the Old Arsenal prison.  Eventually, her body was released to her family and she was interred at Mount Olivet.  For almost 100 years she was marked by this stone:

Then, around the 1970’s, this headstone was broken.  The original headstone is currently in pieces in storage at the Surratt House Museum.  They received the remnants from Boothie researcher John Brennan who asked and was permitted to have the broken gravestone.  Mary’s stone was replaced and this is the one that stands there today:

Dr. Mudd’s grave has a similar story.  Dr. Mudd died in 1883 at the age of 49.  He was buried at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Bryantown, MD.  From this point until 1940, Dr. Mudd had this gravestone:

As you can see, over time, part of the stone became moss covered.  In addition, this stone mistakenly puts the doctor’s age as 48 when he was truly 49.  Lastly, this stone originally had a cross at the top that was broken off.  In 1940, Mudd descendants placed a new gravestone on Dr. Mudd’s:

Dr. Mudd’s old stone is currently on display behind the Dr. Samuel Mudd House in one of the stables:

There are many individuals related to the Lincoln assassination who are without markers.  For the key conspirators, this was done to avoid either vandalism against them or reverence for them.  It was smart then, as retribution against their final resting place was a true worry.  But 147 years have passed since their actions.  The trot of time allows us to see them as people, and all people deserve to be recognized for their time on Earth.  Hopefully, with the help of organizations like the Surratt Society and private history-minded individuals, more Lincoln assassination figures will have their final resting places marked or resurrected.

References:
“That Man Lloyd” by Laurie Verge, April 1988, Surratt Courier
Finding Frederick by Christine R. Christensen

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | 5 Comments

Blog at WordPress.com.