Letter from Mary Surratt?

[L Verge]

Joe and Blaine,

Thanks for following up with a copy of the letter. And, either I never knew or had forgotten that Dr. Lattimer had that letter.

I have wondered if Anna wrote the letter (her signature seems the same as the style in the text) or had a lawyer write it - or even her husband-to-be, Dr. William Tonry. Perhaps it was dictated to her as she wrote? It just seems very legally and professionally phrased. Anna was an exceptional student while attending school in Bryantown, but I'm not sure that her education advanced much after she moved to Washington and the troubles began.

I also wish that the two Surratt women would have given their correct names when they signed things! Mrs. Surratt has fooled a many a writer by changing her middle name on certain documents. Her given name at birth and on her marriage certificate was "Mary Elizabeth Jenkins (Surratt)." Her marriage certificate is signed "M. Elizabeth," and I had her great-niece tell me many years ago that the family called her "Aunt Lizzie."

However, she signed other things as "Mary Eugenia," which James O. Hall determined from records with the Sisters of Charity was the saint's name that she took upon her conversion to the Catholic Church. Eugenia was an early saint whose day was celebrated around Christmas. She is no longer remembered by the church, according to one priest who gave us her history back in the 1970s. I have spent a lot of time convincing people that "Eugenia" was not Mary's legal name.

As for Anna (or Annie), her given name was "Elizabeth Susannah Surratt." You very seldom see her referred to as that, and even in the above letter to the President of the United States, she signs it "Anna E. Surratt."

Of course, I'm a fine one to talk. My given name is "Laura Elizabeth," but I only use "Laura E." as my official signature when I have to. Everyone else knows me as "Laurie." My nickname is a compromise between my father and my mother. My mother wanted me to be "Laurie Ann," but my father said I would be a junior whether girl or boy. My mother was Laura Elysebeth (Welsh spelling), so I was named after her - just wish they had used her spelling of Elysebeth.

Secretly, I wish they had compromised. My father's given name was Noel Owen. I could have been either Laura Noelle or Laurie Noelle. Now, you can all reminisce on what you wish your parents had named you!!!