While scouring the Congressional Cemetery obit site I came across the listing for Henrietta Arth. I knew she had been married to Joseph A. Arth who was the drummer the night of the assassination. Evidently she had been married to someone else connected to the band.
"With the death last Friday of Mrs. Henrietta Arth, 90, daughter and widow of two prominent Marine Band musicians of President Lincoln's time"
Does anyone know who that other musician was?
Do death certificates give maiden names? One should be on file with the cemetery. Mr. Arth should have pension papers somewhere that might have his wife's maiden name?
There used to be a member of the Surratt Society who had done extensive research on the musicians present at the theater that night. However, he retired, and we have lost track of him. Another person who has done some research via William Withers is Richard Sloan of this forum.
Also, Tom Bogar has a new book coming out on Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination. It focuses on the cast and crew, but he might have some information on orchestra members also. He's a member here.
I feel a trip to Congressional coming on.
Sorry, but once I discovered that Withers let the orchestra go at the end of the second intermission (leaving their instruments in place), telling them only to be back in time for the post-show singing of his and Phillips' song, and thus they were not around at the moment of the shot, I let them drop off my research radar screen. I have somewhere a list of who they were, and what instrument each played, but I didn't pursue what happened to each afterward or how long each lived. I already had my hands full with the 46 people who were there, trapped backstage, when the assassination went down. I have faith that someone on this board will respond, though!
Would Arth's pension papers from the Marines give his wife's full name, including maiden name?