The Petersen Family

[loetar44]

First of all, I want to say thank you (Lincoln Wonk) for your detailed and wonderful information and answering my questions. I have a few follow-up questions, kindly asking for your opinion.

Firstly: in some deathbed scenes (e.g. the Berghaus and the Kellogg engravings) a Tad-sized figure is included, depicted as “Young Petersen”, as if one of William Petersen’s sons was there witnessing the death of Lincoln. Also William Petersen’s grandson George Rector said in the October 1921 interview in The New York Times that members of the Petersen family were present at the deathbed. He also said that the entire family “was up all night doing everything possible for the dying President”. I think it may be true that William Petersen was in the room, but I doubt that a young son (approximately Tad’s age) actually would have been allowed entering the room. What is your opinion?

Secondly: were all children of William and Anna Petersen born in America? The List of the 143 passengers on board of the Ship Europa, under master J. H. Homann, from Bremen to Baltimore, Maryland (23 June 1841) only mention Wilhelm (William) and Anna Petersen, resp. 25 and 23 years old, from Hanover, occupation “talor” (tailor). No other Petersens (children) are mentioned. Are the birth years of the children known?

Thirdly: is it true that the Petersens had preserved the blood-stained pillow and bolster on which Lincoln died? And is it true that Mrs. Charles E. Rector (Charles’ second wife; Louisa Petersen was his first) after the death of her husband turned them over (along with the engraving of “The Village Blacksmith” that hung over the bed of Lincoln) to the United States Government?

Fourthly: George Rector said (in the October 1921 interview) that Lincoln died in his mother’s (Louisa) bedroom. She was however on the night of the assassination at a boarding school in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. You said that one of the daughters (I suppose the eldest, Louisa) studied at the Moravian Seminary for Young Ladies in Pennsylvania. Was this Seminary in Bethlehem? You also said that Petersen rented every available inch of his house to boarders, so I suppose that Louisa's room was rented to William Clark. So in that case George Rector was right by saying that Lincoln died in his mother's bedroom ....