Interesting Day at the Old Surratt Hacienda

[L Verge]

(07-19-2016 11:33 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(07-19-2016 11:12 AM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:  Guy Moore has "about 1817" in his book about Mary.

Thanks, Susan. I found another place, too. On p. 217 of Hans Trefousse 's Historical Dictionary of Reconstruction the author gives her birth year as 1817.

And the "encyclopedia" here says about her:

Surratt, Mary E. (c. 1820–1865)

"American woman hanged, despite little evidence of guilt, for involvement in Lincoln's assassination. Name variations: Mrs. Surratt; also seen as Mary Seurat. Born Mary Eugenia Jenkins near Waterloo, Prince George's County, Maryland, around 1820 (some sources cite 1817, others 1823);"

At least the encyclopedia was careful enough to insert "c." in front of 1820, to hedge their guess.

I also am sad to report that I googled Guy Moore and found that he died in November of last year:

NIH Communicator Moore Mourned

Guy W. Moore, 93, who retired in 1979 as chief of the News Branch in the Office of the Director, died on Nov. 13.

Moore came to NIH in 1960 as deputy director of the information office in the Division of General Medical Sciences after having served as the first information officer of the Medical Research and Development Command of the Army’s Office of the Surgeon General. Following his retirement from NIH, he wrote The NIH: How It Works, published by Science and Health Publications in 1980.

Moore was born in Retta, Okla. He earned both his B.A. (radio-journalism, 1950) and his M.A. (history, 1952) from the University of Oklahoma.

His master’s thesis, slightly recast, was published by the University of Oklahoma Press in 1954 as The Case of Mrs. Surratt. The book was an account of the controversial trial and execution of Mary Surratt for her alleged involvement in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

Moore entered the U.S. Civil Service in 1944 in military intelligence with the Army Signal Corps. After World War II, he was stationed in the American embassy in Montevideo, Uruguay. After returning to Washington, D.C., in 1946, he married Hazel Avenell Cartwright of Arlington, Va., in 1948. She died in 1986.

A longtime astronomer, Moore was a member of the Northern Virginia Astronomy Club and contributed his observations to Sky and Telescope. Also an avid birdwatcher, he belonged to the Northern Virginia Bird Club and participated in the National Audubon Society’s annual bird count for many years.

This write-up reminded me that James O. Hall was also a native of Oklahoma and that both had experience with military intelligence during WWII.