Hello everyone,

In case you have not visited Dave Taylor's site recently, I have started a project to list all known attendees at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865. Yes, it's ambitious, but thanks to the great work of previous authors, the spreadsheet has nearly 500 names, including the theater employees.

My aim is to have a single location to summarize or evaluate eyewitness accounts, for example: how many people heard Booth utter which phrase, and at which part of the theater; how many people claimed to carry Lincoln across the street, etc.

Much work remains to fill in the details, as I have prioritized listing the names with basic sourcing info. I wanted to publish this sooner rather than later, in hopes others can contribute. To that end, please let me know if you're aware of additional attendees, or errors in the list. In time, this can be a valuable source for genealogy and research.

For more info, and the link to the spreadsheet, visit here: https://lincolnconspirators.com/2026/04/...joe-barry/

Joe, do you have a copy of We Saw Lincoln Shot - One hundred Eyewitness Accounts by Tim Good? This book would be a valuable resource for you.

(04-17-2026 12:56 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Joe, do you have a copy of We Saw Lincoln Shot - One hundred Eyewitness Accounts by Tim Good? This book would be a valuable resource for you.

Absolutely, Roger! The names from that book are present, as well as from several other sources. I welcome additions and corrections from all, but especially family lore that may not (yet) be on the record!

Great Idea! Looking at your list there are a bunch of names that I never heard of before.


Here's a name that wasn't on you list, Dr. Samuel Sabin:

https://archive.org/details/ninthnewyork...up?q=Sabin

I don't know if he actually went into the box or just told his wife that he did, so she wouldn't wonder/ask questions of why he didn't go to the box as a surgeon.



Laura Keene account from the 17 April 1865 edition of the New York Herald:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:...ccount.jpg



Here's a bunch of articles I posted to this Forum about Jacob Soles:

https://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussi...l#pid70179

Reading the articles, I don't find Soles very credible


In addition to the Soles articles, there's dozens of newspaper articles that I found which I had posted to the Forum over the years recounting events at Ford's Theatre and Petersen House by eyewitnesses. I emailed the images to Roger and he posted large images of them on Forum threads, most of them in the Assassination section. You can try and find them using the search function.



A couple of question hopefully you project will answer:

Who's the man who initially assisted Dr. Leale and William Kent with Lincoln? Dr. Leale said two men initially assisted him in taking down the President and searching for the wound. Kent's trial testimony mentioned two men carrying Lincoln from the chair to the floor (one of them a doctor) as he came into the box. So who's the other man? I don't think I've come across one eyewitness account which matches this; well credible accounts which don't contradict Leale's acount anyway.


Who's the soldier wearing the (sky blue color) Veterans Reserve Corp uniform who climbed into the box assisted by Clara Harris and mentioned in her affidavit?

Lt. John T. Bolton?:

https://archive.org/details/rarelincolni...7/mode/2up

or Capt Edwin Bedee?:

https://archive.org/details/historyoftwe...4/mode/2up

Bolton was in the VRC, but his account is very late and reading it I'm not really convinced he was there. Bedee, though not in the VRC, was definitely there at Ford's Theatre because there's contemporary records of him at the theater and helping by carrying the correspondence/papers from Lincoln's pocket across the street to Petersen House. Bedee had gotten a head wound during a battle and was functionally blind in one eye because of it. I suppose if Clara was focused on that it could lead her to misremember the uniform. Then again Bedee was prone to exagerating with his personal history so could definitely have been trying to magnify his role by inserting himself into other's actions. His claim of rushing the stage does seem to echo Joseph Stewart.

Of course it could've been somebody else who never came forward.

Thanks, Steve. I agree that's a great idea.

Hi, Joe, I replied to your post on Dave's site a couple of days ago but my post hasn't been approved yet. (Dave's conducting his escape route tours this weekend.)

I wrote about Dr. Sabin in 2014 after I discovered him when I was researching the Seward family. Dr. Sabin was accompanied to Ford's Theatre by Lieut. Jakeway R. Hoff.

Where do you think Sabin was going here? Was he on the stage?

"My first thought was that a boy in the gallery had fired off one of those large firecrackers which we have been hearing for the last week, and that one of the president's party had been seized with a fit, or had suddenly become insane, and I ran towards the back to stop him, supposing, as he went behind the scenes, he had instead jumped to the floor and was coming towards the door. As I got to the door, someone said, 'The president is shot,' and, thinking there would be no surgeon at hand I might be of service, I ran immediately to the president's box."

Here's the link to the Sabin thread:

https://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussi...Cousin%22.

(04-18-2026 02:08 PM)Steve Wrote:  Great Idea! Looking at your list there are a bunch of names that I never heard of before.


Here's a name that wasn't on you list, Dr. Samuel Sabin:

https://archive.org/details/ninthnewyork...up?q=Sabin

I don't know if he actually went into the box or just told his wife that he did, so she wouldn't wonder/ask questions of why he didn't go to the box as a surgeon.



Laura Keene account from the 17 April 1865 edition of the New York Herald:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:...ccount.jpg



Here's a bunch of articles I posted to this Forum about Jacob Soles:

https://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussi...l#pid70179

Reading the articles, I don't find Soles very credible


In addition to the Soles articles, there's dozens of newspaper articles that I found which I had posted to the Forum over the years recounting events at Ford's Theatre and Petersen House by eyewitnesses. I emailed the images to Roger and he posted large images of them on Forum threads, most of them in the Assassination section. You can try and find them using the search function.



A couple of question hopefully you project will answer:

Who's the man who initially assisted Dr. Leale and William Kent with Lincoln? Dr. Leale said two men initially assisted him in taking down the President and searching for the wound. Kent's trial testimony mentioned two men carrying Lincoln from the chair to the floor (one of them a doctor) as he came into the box. So who's the other man? I don't think I've come across one eyewitness account which matches this; well credible accounts which don't contradict Leale's acount anyway.


Who's the soldier wearing the (sky blue color) Veterans Reserve Corp uniform who climbed into the box assisted by Clara Harris and mentioned in her affidavit?

Lt. John T. Bolton?:

https://archive.org/details/rarelincolni...7/mode/2up

or Capt Edwin Bedee?:

https://archive.org/details/historyoftwe...4/mode/2up

Bolton was in the VRC, but his account is very late and reading it I'm not really convinced he was there. Bedee, though not in the VRC, was definitely there at Ford's Theatre because there's contemporary records of him at the theater and helping by carrying the correspondence/papers from Lincoln's pocket across the street to Petersen House. Bedee had gotten a head wound during a battle and was functionally blind in one eye because of it. I suppose if Clara was focused on that it could lead her to misremember the uniform. Then again Bedee was prone to exagerating with his personal history so could definitely have been trying to magnify his role by inserting himself into other's actions. His claim of rushing the stage does seem to echo Joseph Stewart.

Of course it could've been somebody else who never came forward.

Steve, thanks for your response. It's exactly these types of questions we need to ask and record. Over time, as this list gets fuller, the fun part will be debating the accounts. For now, I have the "veracity of presence" column where anything doubtful I put in yellow-red. I welcome anyone and everyone's inputs!

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(04-18-2026 03:52 PM)Linda Anderson Wrote:  Thanks, Steve. I agree that's a great idea.

Hi, Joe, I replied to your post on Dave's site a couple of days ago but my post hasn't been approved yet. (Dave's conducting his escape route tours this weekend.)

I wrote about Dr. Sabin in 2014 after I discovered him when I was researching the Seward family. Dr. Sabin was accompanied to Ford's Theatre by Lieut. Jakeway R. Hoff.

Where do you think Sabin was going here? Was he on the stage?

"My first thought was that a boy in the gallery had fired off one of those large firecrackers which we have been hearing for the last week, and that one of the president's party had been seized with a fit, or had suddenly become insane, and I ran towards the back to stop him, supposing, as he went behind the scenes, he had instead jumped to the floor and was coming towards the door. As I got to the door, someone said, 'The president is shot,' and, thinking there would be no surgeon at hand I might be of service, I ran immediately to the president's box."

Here's the link to the Sabin thread:

https://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussi...Cousin%22.

Linda, thank you very much for your response! Ironically, I was with Dave and 50 other attendees yesterday at his Lincoln Assassination bus tour. It is PHENOMENAL! Highly recommended! As a bonus, Michael Kauffman was next to the roadside sign "Assassin's End" nearby when the bus pulled up. He came onboard, made a few comments, and signed copies of his book (I very luckily had my copy in my book bag)!

One overall thought, in which I should have added to Steve's comment is: Based of how memory deteriorates over time, and many of these accounts are decades after the fact, I still give eyewitnesses (somewhat) of the benefit of the doubt, in the sense I suspect the vast majority of people who said they were there were probably there. That's a binary thing: you were either there or not. I suspect most of the "elastic" memories are more about WHAT they did or did not do while they were present. That's more of a gray area, i.e. something as "small" as helping clear the path of spectators on 10th St towards the Petersen House over time turns into "I helped carry Lincoln across the street."

Thanks again for your input!

Joe, that must have been such a wonderful time on the bus tour with Dave! His enthusiasm and knowledge of the assassination story are really incredible. We went on the tour some years ago when we were already there for the Surratt Conference. The late John Howard was our narrator and he was excellent as well. We were able to stop at the site of the Garrett farm back then. It took a lot of imagination to think of that patch of grass as being where Booth died on the Garrett's porch especially with the traffic whizzing by.

How great that you were able to meet Mike Kauffman and have him sign your book!

First hand accounts are tricky as I think our brains can only process so much of a traumatic event. The rest is buried in our subconscious and may come to the surface at a later time either directly or indirectly. I'm writing an article on William H. Bell and have found that "recollections may vary," as Queen Elizabeth said, some innocently and some on purpose. I decided to give the conflicting reports of an event if I have no corroborating evidence of what really happened.

Thanks to Both Steve and Linda. I have updated the file at: https://joebarryauthor.com/fords-theatre

Many thanks to Steve. Steve writes, "I have something to post to the Forum. It's the obituary of Lt. Jakeway Hoff who Linda Anderson discovered as the person who attended the Ford's Theatre with Dr. Samuel Sabin. It comes from page 10 of the 16 Jan. 1909 edition of the Baraboo Evening News."

Superintendent of Police A.C. Richards maintained he was sitting in the Dress Circle when Booth shot Lincoln. I believe at least some historians doubt his word. Does anyone know of any eyewitnesses at Fords who can verify Richards' account that he was present in the theater when the assassination took place?

Joe, here's an earlier discussion on the Forum about the possibility of Richards being in the theater during the assassination --- it might be useful for your chart:

https://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussi...-3082.html

Joe and Steve,

I don't know if you've seen this yet but I found a document titled The assassination of Abraham Lincoln : recollections and accounts of eyewitnesses: Published Accounts of the Lincoln Assassination, "from the files of the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection" on the Internet Archive. Maybe there are some names there that are not yet on the list? There are 5 volumes.

https://archive.org/details/assassinatio...1/mode/2up

https://archive.org/details/assassinatio...1/mode/2up

https://archive.org/details/assassinatio...1/mode/2up

https://archive.org/details/assassinatio...1/mode/2up

https://archive.org/details/assassinatio...1/mode/2up

Thanks Linda,

The links are for 4 volumes (about 45 pages each of newspaper clippings) memories of people who claim to have been at Ford's Theatre when Lincoln was shot. Interesting and worth a look.

(04-24-2026 08:28 AM)Gene C Wrote:  Thanks Linda,

The links are for 4 volumes (about 45 pages each of newspaper clippings) memories of people who claim to have been at Ford's Theatre when Lincoln was shot. Interesting and worth a look.

You're welcome, Gene. Mrs. Luther E. L. Doethe, (that's her name in the file but it's spelled "Deothe" in the same Newspaper.com article and "DeOthe" in the 1929 Denver City Directory) said she recognized Booth "as I had often seen him hang around the Kirkwood Hotel with some other, worthless third-rate actors." Mrs. Deothe also offered her opinion that Lincoln married Mary "in an effort to overcome his grief at the death of his first sweetheart."

(04-23-2026 01:24 PM)Steve Wrote:  Joe, here's an earlier discussion on the Forum about the possibility of Richards being in the theater during the assassination --- it might be useful for your chart:

https://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussi...-3082.html

Thanks Roger and Steve! I'll take a look. My initial take is he likely showed up several minutes after the fact, but this thread may show otherwise. Even if he was there at the time, I don't think his account of running down from Dress Circle to meet Stewart onstage, and both of them "groping" through the backstage together to be very credible. Maybe he linked up with Stewart after Stewart returned from outside ...

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(04-23-2026 11:24 PM)Linda Anderson Wrote:  Joe and Steve,

I don't know if you've seen this yet but I found a document titled The assassination of Abraham Lincoln : recollections and accounts of eyewitnesses: Published Accounts of the Lincoln Assassination, "from the files of the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection" on the Internet Archive. Maybe there are some names there that are not yet on the list? There are 5 volumes.

https://archive.org/details/assassinatio...1/mode/2up

https://archive.org/details/assassinatio...1/mode/2up

https://archive.org/details/assassinatio...1/mode/2up

https://archive.org/details/assassinatio...1/mode/2up

https://archive.org/details/assassinatio...1/mode/2up

Thanks Linda, these and some other folders are in the link I've provided. Definitely one of the richest sources of info on eyewitnesses!