Present at the Assassination - Michigan's Boy Surgeon?

[HeWasThere]

(07-12-2014 12:38 PM)LincolnToddFan Wrote:  Welcome Charles!

I am always fascinated to meet and speak with people who-through their ancestors-are a direct link to history!

And a "Welcome" to you as well!! If you're interested in ancestors with a direct link to history maybe I can call in all of my favors (hahahaha) and please help me out with thoughts or directions of a Great ++++ gentleman on my Mothers side, (Dr. Van der Veen was on my Fathers,) ... anyway his name was Sgt. Daniel Bissell of the Second Conn. I'd like to confirm if he was quite possibly one of only three (?) NCO's in the Continental Army that received a commendation from George Washington and supposedly these "commendations" later (1932 DAR ?) served as the basis for the Purple Heart medal. Your thoughts on the matter would be greatly appreciated.

[LincolnToddFan]

Charles,

Here is what I came up with for Sgt. Bissell:

http://www.connecticutsar.org/articles/b..._merit.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Bissell_(spy)

[HeWasThere]

(07-13-2014 01:18 AM)LincolnToddFan Wrote:  Charles,

Here is what I came up with for Sgt. Bissell:

http://www.connecticutsar.org/articles/b..._merit.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Bissell_(spy)

Fantastic news, now on to find a forum who helps piece together "who begat who" to see if there's a revolutionary spy in the family. Thank your for laying the ground work and help,... the first rounds on me my friend.

[BettyO]

Charles -

You may want to try Ancestry.com. I use that exclusively and I have found amazing things about my own family as well as others....

[Linda Anderson]

(07-08-2014 09:34 PM)CJSchoonover Wrote:  I think the man you are thinking about Linda was Wilson Kenzie. The Courier was nice enough to publish an article I wrote regarding Kenzie's claim that he was at Ford's as well as the Garrett Farm in their May, 2012 edition. Hope this name rings a bell.

Thanks, Cal! Kenzie has an interesting tale to tell.

The person I was thinking of is Hollis Lorenzo Chubbock. I found the article about him in the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection. It's from the 2/10/1949 California Eagle, "An Eyewitness Account of Lincoln's Assassination." The paper took the story from the Genealogical Report of the Historical Society of Philadelphia published in 1913.

Chubbock tells an incredible story with many errors, two of which are that Chubbock did not start the fire at the Garretts' barn and no one burned to death in the barn.

"On page 677 [of the Report] it is reported that Hollis Lorenzo Chubbock, born August 23, 1828 at Towawanda, Bedford County, Pennsylvania, was present in Ford's Theatre when president Lincoln was assassinated.
"According to an account that appeared in the St. Louis Globe Democrat at that time, Holllis Chubbock was close enough to the assassin Booth to have caught him.
"Chubbock is quoted in the article as having said, 'I was within a few feet of Mr. Lincoln when he was assassinated. I saw Booth walk along the aisle next to the wall and pass through the door onto the stage. I was watching him closely but not suspiciously.
"'He walked up behind the president, and before I knew or realized what he was up to he stepped nimbly aside and a deafening shot rang out. It was all done so quick no one seemed to realize what had happened.
"'While it may seem incredible, I leaped from the small railing around the orchestra to the footlights and was within a few inches of the assassin when he dodged around some scenery. I followed and I know I would have caught him when he fell had it not been for some of the excited stage hands who blocked my way.'
"Colonel Hollis L. Chubbock was for many years Assistant Commissioner of Agriculture under Isaac Newton, and for more than thirty years, he was an officer of the law among the Cherokee and Osage Indians.
"It was Colonel Chubbock who touched the match to the barn where the assassin Booth was supposed to have been cornered. However, Chubbock was never certain that the man consumed by the flames of the burning barn was Booth. In later years he went to Enid Oklahoma to view the remains of a suicide who was thought to be Booth.
"Chubbock unhesitatingly stated that, in his opinion, the man was Booth and the man burned in the barn was not Booth.
"'I sometimes feel positive the dead man I saw in Enid,' Colonel Chubbock said, 'was Booth and again I look back over the many intervening years, and think I may be mistaken.
"'...I have nothing to go by, only the stealthy cat-like movements of the actor (Booth) as he approached his victim, and the frenzied dash of the murderer after the terrible deed had been perpetrated.'"

[RJNorton]

I wish we could get Hollis Lorenzo Chubbock, Mrs. Nelson Todd, and John Wally to collaborate on a Lincoln assassination book. Such an effort would help clarify what really happened.

[Rsmyth]

I agree Roger! What an action movie that script would make.

[CJSchoonover]

That was interesting Linda, I have never heard of this. Thanks for sharing and it's always interesting to hear stories of people who make claims about being at the theatre who actually were not.

(07-15-2014 04:47 PM)Linda Anderson Wrote:  

(07-08-2014 09:34 PM)CJSchoonover Wrote:  I think the man you are thinking about Linda was Wilson Kenzie. The Courier was nice enough to publish an article I wrote regarding Kenzie's claim that he was at Ford's as well as the Garrett Farm in their May, 2012 edition. Hope this name rings a bell.

Thanks, Cal! Kenzie has an interesting tale to tell.

The person I was thinking of is Hollis Lorenzo Chubbock. I found the article about him in the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection. It's from the 2/10/1949 California Eagle, "An Eyewitness Account of Lincoln's Assassination." The paper took the story from the Genealogical Report of the Historical Society of Philadelphia published in 1913.

Chubbock tells an incredible story with many errors, two of which are that Chubbock did not start the fire at the Garretts' barn and no one burned to death in the barn.

"On page 677 [of the Report] it is reported that Hollis Lorenzo Chubbock, born August 23, 1828 at Towawanda, Bedford County, Pennsylvania, was present in Ford's Theatre when president Lincoln was assassinated.
"According to an account that appeared in the St. Louis Globe Democrat at that time, Holllis Chubbock was close enough to the assassin Booth to have caught him.
"Chubbock is quoted in the article as having said, 'I was within a few feet of Mr. Lincoln when he was assassinated. I saw Booth walk along the aisle next to the wall and pass through the door onto the stage. I was watching him closely but not suspiciously.
"'He walked up behind the president, and before I knew or realized what he was up to he stepped nimbly aside and a deafening shot rang out. It was all done so quick no one seemed to realize what had happened.
"'While it may seem incredible, I leaped from the small railing around the orchestra to the footlights and was within a few inches of the assassin when he dodged around some scenery. I followed and I know I would have caught him when he fell had it not been for some of the excited stage hands who blocked my way.'
"Colonel Hollis L. Chubbock was for many years Assistant Commissioner of Agriculture under Isaac Newton, and for more than thirty years, he was an officer of the law among the Cherokee and Osage Indians.
"It was Colonel Chubbock who touched the match to the barn where the assassin Booth was supposed to have been cornered. However, Chubbock was never certain that the man consumed by the flames of the burning barn was Booth. In later years he went to Enid Oklahoma to view the remains of a suicide who was thought to be Booth.
"Chubbock unhesitatingly stated that, in his opinion, the man was Booth and the man burned in the barn was not Booth.
"'I sometimes feel positive the dead man I saw in Enid,' Colonel Chubbock said, 'was Booth and again I look back over the many intervening years, and think I may be mistaken.
"'...I have nothing to go by, only the stealthy cat-like movements of the actor (Booth) as he approached his victim, and the frenzied dash of the murderer after the terrible deed had been perpetrated.'"