Over the weekend, before visiting with Dave & Kate at Tudor Hall, I visited Green Mount Cemetery. While there, I was reminded of the John H. Weaver vault (where John Wilkes Booth's body was quietly put away from February 17, 1869 until arrangements where made and JWB was buried at the Booth family plot on June 26, 1869.)

John Weaver, a Baltimore undertaker, assisted the Booth family greatly and particularly Edwin Booth in the months and days leading up to John Wilkes Booth's final burial. In early February 1869, Weaver went as far as to carry Edwin Booth's letter to President Johnson in Washington DC requesting his brother's remains. Weaver was then instructed to return in three days to garner Booth's body at the Arsenal.

Thus, it was very interesting for me to see the Weaver vault while touring Green Mount Cemetery. Below is a picture I took of the Weaver vault; I wanted to share it with everyone. Attached also, is a picture of me sitting next to the Booth family plot where JWB was finally buried.

Pictures coming soon...............

Just wanted to add, here is what the Baltimore Sun had to say on February 19, 1869, after Booth's body was placed in the Weaver vault:

"The remains of J. Wilkes Booth were quietly put away in the vault of Mr. J. H. Weaver, the undertaker, at Greenmount Cemetery yesterday morning [February 18], without ceremony. There was no one present on the occasion but Mr. Weaver and his assistants."

The body was moved to the Weaver vault shortly after it was identified to the satisfaction of the Booth family.

Did you know that the "substitute" Episcopal priest who interred Booth's body for the final time lost his job because of accepting the task?

(04-17-2015 03:37 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Did you know that the "substitute" Episcopal priest who interred Booth's body for the final time lost his job because of accepting the task?

Laurie, I did not know this. What was his name? Where can I read more about him?

I don't ever remember reading more than a sentence or two about him in a few books, and I've never tried to google his name. Terry does give him mention in Fortune's Fool. I first learned of him from John C. Brennan, the font of all knowledge regarding the Lincoln assassination (especially the trivia!). Long deceased and long missed.

His name was Fleming James. See what you can find.

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Green Mount Cemetery has a wonderful history and a long list of prestigious "residents." Check out this site: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1996-05...haumburg/2

I'm not sure that it's mentioned here, but for you who are interested in the occult, the inventor of the Ouija Board was buried in an unmarked grave here from 1921 until 2007. His name was Elijah Jefferson Bond (b. 1847). In 2007, a manufacturer of Ouija Boards placed a marker on his grave. On the reverse of the large, square stone is engraved the image of a Ouija Board.

Great photos, Paige! And an interesting subject. The burial of Booth and the conspirators has always fascinated me.

Thanks for the information, Laurie! When I saw the name Fleming James, I knew I had read this name recently in a book, and indeed, Fleming James is briefly mentioned in Arthur Loux's John Wilkes Booth Day-by-Day (page 230) I have not had the pleasure of reading Fortune's Fool yet, but it is on my list of what to read next.

So, I took your advice and googled him! Unfortunately, it appears there is not much information available on him. I attempted to find a picture of him, but arrived at nothing.

Apparently (or including to some sources) no one was willing to perform a burial service for Lincoln's assassin, and the Booth family had a difficult time finding anyone willing to perform the ceremony. Somehow (or perhaps by accident) the Booth family eventually engaged the spiritual talents of Fleming James, an Episcopal minister from New York, who was visiting "friends" in Baltimore. I suspect this "friend" was a certain Reverend Dudley of Baltimore. From what I can find, it appears Dudley was asked to perform the spiritual services at John Wilkes Booth's funeral but, upon claiming he was not available to do so, he passed the job onto his friend Fleming James, who claimed he had no knowledge of the identity of the deceased person he was performing spiritual services for. Indeed, I found several sources claiming Fleming James was not told the deceased was JWB, and that Fleming simply believed he was lending a helping hand. Personally, I have my doubts about this, but regardless, Fleming performed the ceremony.

After the burial of Booth, Fleming James remained in Baltimore and was for some years Rector of Saint Mark's Protestant Episcopal Church. When Fleming finally returned to his congregation in New York, he lost his job. One thing of particular interest that I did find, however, was that Fleming James apparently felt compelled to send a letter to the New York Times justifying his actions concerning Booth; the letter is dated June 30, 1869, but I am unable to find the letter. But yes, I am still searching!!

Well, that is all I was able to come up with for right now, Laurie; I will continue to search as I am certain all of what I found is already well known information. Have you ever read the letter Fleming James wrote to the New York Times? I did find an issue of the New York Times dated June 28, 1869, which seems to discuss Booth's funeral in some detail, but I would have to subscribe to view the full article; not sure if Fleming James would be mentioned there or not.

P.S. As a fellow Southerner, I do think it was terrible Fleming James lost his job.

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(04-17-2015 09:23 PM)BettyO Wrote:  Great photos, Paige! And an interesting subject. The burial of Booth and the conspirators has always fascinated me.

Thank you, Betty! Yes, the burial of the conspirators is indeed remarkable; Powell being among one of the most fascinating!

(04-18-2015 06:08 PM)PaigeBooth Wrote:  Thanks for the information, Laurie! When I saw the name Fleming James, I knew I had read this name recently in a book, and indeed, Fleming James is briefly mentioned in Arthur Loux's John Wilkes Booth Day-by-Day (page 230) I have not had the pleasure of reading Fortune's Fool yet, but it is on my list of what to read next.

So, I took your advice and googled him! Unfortunately, it appears there is not much information available on him. I attempted to find a picture of him, but arrived at nothing.

Apparently (or including to some sources) no one was willing to perform a burial service for Lincoln's assassin, and the Booth family had a difficult time finding anyone willing to perform the ceremony. Somehow (or perhaps by accident) the Booth family eventually engaged the spiritual talents of Fleming James, an Episcopal minister from New York, who was visiting "friends" in Baltimore. I suspect this "friend" was a certain Reverend Dudley of Baltimore. From what I can find, it appears Dudley was asked to perform the spiritual services at John Wilkes Booth's funeral but, upon claiming he was not available to do so, he passed the job onto his friend Fleming James, who claimed he had no knowledge of the identity of the deceased person he was performing spiritual services for. Indeed, I found several sources claiming Fleming James was not told the deceased was JWB, and that Fleming simply believed he was lending a helping hand. Personally, I have my doubts about this, but regardless, Fleming performed the ceremony.

After the burial of Booth, Fleming James remained in Baltimore and was for some years Rector of Saint Mark's Protestant Episcopal Church. When Fleming finally returned to his congregation in New York, he lost his job. One thing of particular interest that I did find, however, was that Fleming James apparently felt compelled to send a letter to the New York Times justifying his actions concerning Booth; the letter is dated June 30, 1869, but I am unable to find the letter. But yes, I am still searching!!

Well, that is all I was able to come up with for right now, Laurie; I will continue to search as I am certain all of what I found is already well known information. Have you ever read the letter Fleming James wrote to the New York Times? I did find an issue of the New York Times dated June 28, 1869, which seems to discuss Booth's funeral in some detail, but I would have to subscribe to view the full article; not sure if Fleming James would be mentioned there or not.

P.S. As a fellow Southerner, I do think it was terrible Fleming James lost his job.

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(04-17-2015 09:23 PM)BettyO Wrote:  Great photos, Paige! And an interesting subject. The burial of Booth and the conspirators has always fascinated me.

Thank you, Betty! Yes, the burial of the conspirators is indeed remarkable; Powell being among one of the most fascinating!

Excellent job, Paige - and I do not recall ever hearing about a letter that he wrote to the NY Times. I have also wondered how he got an extended leave of absence from his New York church in order to stay in Baltimore. As an Episcopalian myself, we aren't usually that generous.

That's a very good point you make, Laurie; I wondered the same thing. Well, I did some deeper research on Fleming James this afternoon, and although I am still unable to find a picture of him, I did find some very interesting information about Fleming's later life; this information was all new to me and I thought I would share it.

As stated before, Fleming James remained in Baltimore after the burial of John Wilkes Booth and worked at Saint Mark's Protestant Episcopal Church. Apparently, Fleming was rather successful at this church and obviously well received; Maryland not being among the most loyal of states, it seems probable in my opinion that Fleming could be welcomed in Baltimore and disliked in his New York church where he eventually lost his job. I say Fleming James was well received because upon the death of a certain Robert Fowler, Fleming served as officiating clergyman. Robert Fowler was State Treasurer of Maryland for some time, and later served as a Whig in the House of Delegates; thus, making Fowler a very prominent man in Maryland. As I see it, Fleming James was obviously well liked in Baltimore or he would not have been given the honor of officiating clergyman at Robert Fowler's funeral.

Sometime in the 1870's, Fleming's friend, Reverend T.U. Dudley (who substituted the job of minister at JWB's funeral to Fleming) left the Baltimore area and moved to Louisville, Kentucky.

Perhaps upon loosing his job in New York after leaving Baltimore, Fleming James moved to Philadelphia, where he became a Professor of Homiletics and Pastoral Care in a Divinity School. It is unclear to me how long Fleming lived and worked in Philadelphia, but he eventually followed his friend T.U. Dudley and moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where Dudley (perhaps having a guilty conscience about pushing Fleming into the job of minister at Booth's funeral) offered Fleming a job at a certain Calvary Church in Louisville, where Dudley worked.

I can only assume Fleming James died in Louisville, Kentucky.

Paige, Thank you for starting this thread. The stories of the reburial of all the conspirators are all interesting. The Rev. John Lewis interceded of behalf of the Herold family. He was the rector of St. John's Episcopal Church (the church of the Presidents) right across Lafayette Square from the White House. George Harvey (of Harvey & Marrs) had a lock of Abraham Lincoln's hair. All great stuff.

(04-20-2015 08:14 PM)Jim Garrett Wrote:  Paige, Thank you for starting this thread. The stories of the reburial of all the conspirators are all interesting. The Rev. John Lewis interceded of behalf of the Herold family. He was the rector of St. John's Episcopal Church (the church of the Presidents) right across Lafayette Square from the White House. George Harvey (of Harvey & Marrs) had a lock of Abraham Lincoln's hair. All great stuff.

The Herold family were not members of St. John's, but rather Christ Church on Capitol Hill (where they hobnobbed with John Philip Sousa), so how did Fr. Lewis get into the game?

There is a local story that, on the day of the execution, the Herold sisters stopped all the clocks in the house so that their mother would not know when the hour of execution had come. Their plans were foiled when the bells of St. Peter's rang to announce the execution was complete.

Speaking of bells ringing, for those of you who watched the C-Span account on April 15, it ended with the tolling of the bells at St. Patrick's Catholic Church -- Mrs. Surratt's church in D.C., though not the physical building at that time.

Laurie, thanks for mentioning the tolling bells at St. Patrick's Church. I was watching C-span live, and I wondered immediately if that was the same church Mrs. Surratt attended the fateful Good Friday of 1865.

The church on TV looked very old, although beautiful.

(04-21-2015 10:59 AM)LincolnToddFan Wrote:  The church on TV looked very old, although beautiful.

The current structure dates from 1872 and it was dedicated in 1884. I also find the look of the building quite striking.

We included the church in a bus tour we did years ago for our volunteers related to sites with connections to Mary Surratt. The interior is just as impressive as the exterior. I'm pretty sure that they gave us a small booklet on the history of the parish - which is probably on their website (if they have one).

The Surratts also had some ties to St. Aloysius in D.C. I believe that's the church that had a bazaar or something that JWB contributed to on behalf of the Surratts. I always wondered if that's where the Agnus Dei medal came from - although that medal was given frequently as gifts at confirmation, for birthdays, etc. sort of the equivalent to the Catholic rosary or a crucifix as a sign of good wishes.