Mary Victorine Hunter Surratt

[Laurie Verge]

The question as to whether or not his wife is buried with him has been asked a number of times, but I have never made the effort to track down an answer. I think because the tombstone is a simple cross with just "Surratt" engraved in it at New Cathedral in Baltimore, people have assumed that it is only John's grave. John Brennan was the great graveyard sleuth, but I don't remember if he ever found the Mrs. in another cemetery.

I assume you have checked with New Cathedral and not been successful??

Mary Victorine was a second cousin of Francis Scott Key descended through the Scott line. I believe her lineage during the Civil War was in Rockville, Montgomery County, Maryland - same as F. Scott Fitzgerald's (he was also a relative). I think that is where she met John Surratt, Jr. during his brief occupation as a teacher. Fitzgerald is buried in a historic churchyard in Rockville, I believe.

How far is Beallsville from Rockville? It appears that at least one of her descendants returned to Montgomery County. I met their grandson Louis Weller in 1976, when he was one of three great-grandsons who cut the ribbon to open Surratt House as a museum. I also met him again, as well as other descendants of John, Jr., in the early-1980s when we held a Surratt family reunion at Surratt House. They were very nice, cultured, and subdued people. Many have told me that we know more history than they because the subject was taboo when they were growing up.

I'm sure the local stories about the Wellers being shunned are probably true. I recently shared a letter with our volunteers from one of Mrs. Surratt's granddaughters (? I think, or great-granddaughter) in which she made statements about John, Jr. having to pay for his deeds for the rest of his life while struggling to keep a home for his children and to feed them.