What is the latest on the Booth DNA Project?

[Laurie Verge]

I have dealt with this issue since the 1980s and am amazed at how many people refuse to accept strong historical documentation when it stares them in the face. The evidence and testimony provided at the court in Baltimore in the 1990s were certainly substantial and delivered by the best historians and lawyers in the field. The petitioners and current reporters tend to overlook the evidence.

DNA is wonderful stuff, but there comes a time (148 years after the fact) when disturbing the bones of those long-gone seems a sacrilege, IMO. It is especially significant when publicity seems to be an overriding factor. Where does it end?

In this particular case, it would involve disturbing bones in a museum as well as the bones of Edwin Booth - a man who was plagued with the deeds of his younger brother until his death. I believe in the simple prayer: GOD GRANT THEM ETERNAL REST.

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Just a note to clarify the relationship of the current petitioner to John Wilkes Booth, here's a line from a satirical article she wrote on the issue back in 2005:

"For the record, I’m not a direct descendant — my line goes through one of his nine other siblings, making him something along the lines of a great-great-great-great-great-grand-uncle."