Mary Victorine Hunter Surratt

[Rsmyth]

Of all the conspirators only one changed marital status post assassination; John Surratt Jr. He married Mary Victorine Hunter Surratt had seven children and from all appearances lived a happy life. After burying him in Baltimore, Mary lived another 10 years. I do not believe she is buried with John and wonder why not. She would have been 69 at the time of his death. Other than the fact the she is in the Francis Scott Key line I do not know anything else about her and importantly for me...where she is buried. Can anyone else supply additional info on this woman?

BTW - Jim Garrett who remembers everything he was ever told informed me that one of Mary's daughters married a "Weller" (Parker Weller in 1911) and moved to Beallsville. An old timer from the area told Jim that when ever a Weller was seen on the street the people would cross over to the other side.

[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.

[Rsmyth]

Kudos to Laurie for determining that not only is John's wife, Mary, buried with him but there are others in the plot as well. A complete list has been promised by the cemetery.

[Laurie Verge]

Here's what a staff member at New Cathedral Cemetery in Baltimore reported back after my inquiry:

Dear Ms. Verge,

Yes, I am happy to say our records indicate that Mary Victorine Hunter Surratt is interred with her husband in Section J Lot 264. Our records list her as Mary Victoria Surratt. She was interred on November 16, 1926. I will email you a list of all those interred in the lot in a separate email because lately the chart gets mangled in the email - technology! In Section J lot 268 there are other Surratts. Since both lots are owned by "Heirs of John Scott," and were formerly owned by Mary V. Key Robertson, I will send you those as well.

Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

Mimi Ringstad

[Dennis Urban]

Just completed reading the 2016 book by Frederick Hatch, John Surratt Rebel, Lincoln Conspirator, Fugitive. It is well-researched and fills in a lot of blanks. Well worth the time. As usual there is some conflicting information from various sources but many questions were answered for me.

I can answer some of the questions in this short thread. F. Scott Fitzgerald is buried in St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Rockville, adjacent to the church. John attended St. Mary's when he lived in the Rockville area of Montgomery County from "about 1870-1875" per Hatch. Two of John's children were baptized from that church. John Jr. met Mary Victorine Hunter while he in Montgomery County. They were married in May 1872. Hatch says Mary V grew up in upper Montgomery County.

Later, their daughter Mary Victorine Surratt (1818-1962) married Parker Weller in 1911. Their son was Louis Parker Weller, mentioned above. At some point, Parker and Mary moved to Frederick County, MD (perhaps in Barddock Heights) where they both died; he in 1958, she in 1962. They are buried with other family in the Monocacy Cemetery, Bealesville, MD.

Bealesville is directly north on Poolesville and south of Barnesville, MD; roughly 15 miles northwest of Rockville. This is still a very rural area of upper Montgomery County and may have been close to the home area of Mary Victorine Hunter Surratt.

John Harrison Surratt Jr had many grandchildren even though two of his daughters never married. The line is no doubt still going strong though with many different surnames. If John Jr had not burned the manuscript he wrote later in life (attribution to Hatch), we might have some additional answers. However, John Jr was not always prone to truthfulness.

[L Verge]

(09-25-2018 05:52 PM)Dennis Urban Wrote:  Just completed reading the 2016 book by Frederick Hatch, John Surratt Rebel, Lincoln Conspirator, Fugitive. It is well-researched and fills in a lot of blanks. Well worth the time. As usual there is some conflicting information from various sources but many questions were answered for me.

I can answer some of the questions in this short thread. F. Scott Fitzgerald is buried in St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Rockville, adjacent to the church. John attended St. Mary's when he lived in the Rockville area of Montgomery County from "about 1870-1875" per Hatch. Two of John's children were baptized from that church. John Jr. met Mary Victorine Hunter while he in Montgomery County. They were married in May 1872. Hatch says Mary V grew up in upper Montgomery County.

Later, their daughter Mary Victorine Surratt (1818-1962) married Parker Weller in 1911. Their son was Louis Parker Weller, mentioned above. At some point, Parker and Mary moved to Frederick County, MD (perhaps in Barddock Heights) where they both died; he in 1958, she in 1962. They are buried with other family in the Monocacy Cemetery, Bealesville, MD.

Bealesville is directly north on Poolesville and south of Barnesville, MD; roughly 15 miles northwest of Rockville. This is still a very rural area of upper Montgomery County and may have been close to the home area of Mary Victorine Hunter Surratt.

John Harrison Surratt Jr had many grandchildren even though two of his daughters never married. The line is no doubt still going strong though with many different surnames. If John Jr had not burned the manuscript he wrote later in life (attribution to Hatch), we might have some additional answers. However, John Jr was not always prone to truthfulness.

I have met a number of Surratt descendants through both Anna's line and John, Jr's. All were/are very nice people. I believe that Louis Parker Weller was one of the descendants who cut the ribbon to open Surratt House in 1976. Another descendant, Thelma Key Surratt, helped me put together a Surratt family reunion back in the late-70s, and yet another, Helen Surratt Heisler, wife of the publisher of the Baltimore New American, was a Life Member of the Surratt Society.

On the Anna Surratt Tonry side, one of her grandsons visited and told us about her long struggle with nerves that destroyed her kidney functions. He also told us that Anna watched a favorite servant drying her hair by the fire when a stray ember caught her hair on fire. She burned to death in front of Anna - something that she never got over. His father attended Anna at the last.

Another part of the Tonrys donated some of Anna's personal belongings to the museum. One item is a hair bracelet that I would like to think was made from the hair of Mary Surratt - hopefully before all of the "unpleasantness."

[Dennis Urban]

It's really cool that you've stayed in touch with the Surratt descendants. Any recent contacts or events? I am going to try to research the Mary Victorine Hunter connection to upper Montgomery County. I'd appreciate any information the Surratt research center may have.

[L Verge]

(09-28-2018 05:26 PM)Dennis Urban Wrote:  It's really cool that you've stayed in touch with the Surratt descendants. Any recent contacts or events? I am going to try to research the Mary Victorine Hunter connection to upper Montgomery County. I'd appreciate any information the Surratt research center may have.

The younger generation of Surratts seldom contact us, but we do have quite a number of collateral descendants from the original immigrants in the late-1600s that are members of the Surratt Society. They are scattered all over the country, but a good number are still in North Carolina, where a branch of the original family settled in the mid-1700s after emigrating from Maryland.

For information on Mary Victorine Hunter's family, email colleen.puterbaugh@pgparks.com She's our research librarian and is very accommodating.

Mary Victorine was a second cousin to Francis Scott Key, whose connections are to Frederick County (but pretty close to upper Montgomery, I think). There is a town in Frederick County named for the Keys - I bet that therein lies the connection. We do have a rather extensive drawing of her family tree.

We also own a handkerchief with the name "Surratt" embroidered on it. The family that donated it said that it was given to their female ancestor by John when he was teaching near Rockville. She was supposedly one of his students.

We would like to think that his mother did the embroidery, but I doubt that the handkerchief survived in such good condition if done before 1865 when things turned bad.

[Dennis Urban]

(09-28-2018 08:22 PM)L Verge Wrote:  

(09-28-2018 05:26 PM)Dennis Urban Wrote:  It's really cool that you've stayed in touch with the Surratt descendants. Any recent contacts or events? I am going to try to research the Mary Victorine Hunter connection to upper Montgomery County. I'd appreciate any information the Surratt research center may have.

The younger generation of Surratts seldom contact us, but we do have quite a number of collateral descendants from the original immigrants in the late-1600s that are members of the Surratt Society. They are scattered all over the country, but a good number are still in North Carolina, where a branch of the original family settled in the mid-1700s after emigrating from Maryland.

For information on Mary Victorine Hunter's family, email colleen.puterbaugh@pgparks.com She's our research librarian and is very accommodating.

Mary Victorine was a second cousin to Francis Scott Key, whose connections are to Frederick County (but pretty close to upper Montgomery, I think). There is a town in Frederick County named for the Keys - I bet that therein lies the connection. We do have a rather extensive drawing of her family tree.

We also own a handkerchief with the name "Surratt" embroidered on it. The family that donated it said that it was given to their female ancestor by John when he was teaching near Rockville. She was supposedly one of his students.

We would like to think that his mother did the embroidery, but I doubt that the handkerchief survived in such good condition if done before 1865 when things turned bad.

Thanks for the information. I'll email Colleen. The handkerchief I've seen and photographed in your exhibit case in 2016.

Mary Victorine Surratt Weller died in Frederick (1962) but is buried in the Monacacy Cemetery in Bealesville. They may have lived in Braddock Heights which is just northwest of Frederick City. Parker Weller died there in 1958. I would surmise there was some Hunter of Weller connection to the upper MoCo area since they are buried there. I have to find my old repro MoCo period maps.