assassination

[Jim Woodall]

(12-16-2015 11:16 AM)L Verge Wrote:  

(12-16-2015 06:20 AM)Jim Woodall Wrote:  

(12-15-2015 11:03 AM)BettyO Wrote:  I found this interesting site online - re: Boiseau and the Surratt Family -


https://deathandlifeofhistoricanacostia....e-rambler/

Actually, John Muller in the first article on Lost Tribe is referring to an email I had sent him at the time. I also sent him some more information on James Boiseau a bit after that.

I do need to correct something from that. The Jenkins' Tavern did not go into the brother's Thomas Jenkins (he who housed Mary Surratt and the kids) hands but in 1852 went to the nephew, Joseph Thomas Jenkins, son of the brother, Basil Jenkins. I believe Joseph Thomas Jenkins' will returned it to Ida Boiseau who later sold it to the Schelihorns and eventually transferred to some Vermillions. Interestingly, a sister of Joseph, Sarah Ann, did marry a Lawson Vermillion but they died in the early 1860s leaving a son, Albert, who died shortly afterwards having been struck by lightning beneath a tree in front of the tavern. In 1860, Sarah Ann Vermillion was living with her brother, Joseph Thomas Jenkins, and their mother, Eliza Jenkins.

Basil Jenkins' house where his widow, Eliza, lived was taken during the Civil War by General Sickles for officer quarters for Fort Baker.

Interestingly, Ida Boiseau also ended up with land that had been part of Fort Wagner (down the hill and across Good Hope Road from Fort Baker with my 3rd great grandfather, Thomas Anderson, sandwiched between the forts). I am not fully sure yet how she obtained the Fort Wagner land but likely was land originally owned by her father, James Boiseau, near to the Boiseau house where some say the Surratts were married.

If anyone has a copy of the Henri J Wiesel (grandson of James Boiseau) letter stating the Surratts were married in the Boiseau house, I would love to get my hands on a copy or transcript of said letter.

Betty Trindal covers some of the Jenkins and Boiseau relationships on page 20 of her book, An American Tragedy. Her citations come from the research of James O. Hall, which Surratt House owns. I will have our librarian check for the Henri Wiesel letter.

As an aside, two forts guarded Good Hope Road during the Civil War, Fort Baker and Fort Stanton. Booth and then Herold rode right past both as they escaped through Anacostia (then known as Uniontown). Today, there is a proposal to change the name of Good Hope Road to honor the late Mayor of D.C., the "colorful" and somewhat infamous Marion Barry

Alas, a quandary. Dare I disagree with a school marm (meant in the kindest of ways) who knows how to provide the proper dressing down, if even given with a spoonful of sugar. Dare I challenge one on a certain fact knowing how easily I can be run over by the vast store of facts this wonderful teacher has at her command which I don't know nor know that I do not know. In this case, rode the six hundred, or here the lone figure.

Fort Baker stood approximately where 30th Street and Fort Baker Drive is today. Fort Wagner stood where Stanton Elementary now stands (perhaps some confusion inherent in that). Fort Stanton is found at Erie Street and Fort Place near to the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum.

If one travels further south to Alabama Ave at Congress Place and 14th Place one finds where Fort Snyder had been. This helps define where Tom Jenkins (housed Mary Surratt and kids) was living. One of the houses on his property was supposed to have been dismantled and the wood used for constructing Officer Quarters for Fort Snyder. Also, Tom Jenkins lands were near to St. Elizabeths. He had also owned the National Race Course (see obit for daughter Susanna Johnston in Washington Times dated 6 Mar 1911 on page 14 at Newspapers.com).

Another daughter, Annie Hoyle, wrote(?) a letter that indicated that Mary Surratt and the kids had stayed at her dad's place. Anyone have a copy or transcript of said letter?

For fort locations see (scroll down to Southeast Region for the forts mentioned):
http://www.northamericanforts.com/East/dc.html#SE

Also, from The Lincoln Assassination: The Evidence snippet from Google books, on page 707 in a footnote, "Fort Baker, along with Fort Wagner, flanked Good Hope Road leading from the Anacostia or Uniontown area of the District of Columbia. Booth and Herold slipped between the two forts and made their way into southern Maryland before notification of Lincoln's assassination reached the two forts."

Also, Mr. Lincoln's Forts: A Guide to the Civil War Defenses of Washington snippet form Google Books, has descriptions of Fort Baker and Fort Wagner and a bit more history of both, along with the other forts.