Awww...Peanuts

[STS Lincolnite]

A while back, I was paging through Michael Kauffman's In the Footsteps of an Assassin. On page 57, in a picture caption, Mr. Kauffman describes Joseph "Peanuts" Borrows as "the young son of a local doctor". The idea that he was the son of a doctor was a new one to me. I went back to American Brutus, and throughout the book, Mr. Kauffman spells Peanuts' last name as "Borrows" as compared to the more commonly seen "Borroughs". I was not, however, able to find any reference or note in regards to a source regarding young Mr. Borrows (Borroughs?).

Does anyone know where the statement claiming Peanuts was the son of a doctor may be sourced from?

[Rsmyth]

I believe that was later research by Mike attributed to the fact that he located the doctor as living close to the theater.

[RJNorton]

I think Rich nailed it. Laurie once told me that Mr. James O. Hall checked city directories from 1822 to 1899. He found listings for Burroughs, Borrows, Barrows, and Burrows. So I am guessing Mike did the same and found a doctor named Borrows living close to Ford's.

[BettyO]

Rich is right -

Here is the name taken from the 1864 DC City Directory (I don't have a copy of the 1865 Directory - it's very scarce)....

   

[L Verge]

Betty,

Does the 1864 Directory show how many Burroughs names are listed? Has anyone checked the 1860 Federal Census for the city?

This intrigues me because I have always read it as Burroughs and that is the way it is spelled in the trial transcripts. Burroughs was/is a very common surname in Southern Maryland, and I'm part of that line - my mother's maiden name was Burroughs, and her father was from St. Mary's County, Maryland.

[BettyO]

Laurie -

Yes -

I have listings for 1860, 1862 and 1865. I'll post them after lunch -

[Susan Higginbotham]

(07-08-2014 05:39 AM)BettyO Wrote:  Rich is right -

Here is the name taken from the 1864 DC City Directory (I don't have a copy of the 1865 Directory - it's very scarce)....

The 1865 directory (available at Ancestry.com) also has Dr. Joseph Borrows at 396 E North.

Per Laurie's question, the 1865 directory lists only two Burroughs: A. J. and John. Both are listed as clerks at the Treasury Department with no home address given.

[L Verge]

Which means they are probably living in a boardinghouse... Does anyone know if John Ford ever mentioned anything about Peanuts? He was so sympathetic to Ned that I would think he'd be somewhat the same of young Peanuts - even though Peanuts was never charged.

[Susan Higginbotham]

(07-08-2014 12:21 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Which means they are probably living in a boardinghouse... Does anyone know if John Ford ever mentioned anything about Peanuts? He was so sympathetic to Ned that I would think he'd be somewhat the same of young Peanuts - even though Peanuts was never charged.

I checked the 1860 census. The physician Joseph Borrows was living with his wife (Catherine), his five-year-daughter (Sarah C.), a 20-year-old from Ireland named Margaret McDonnel (a servant, I'm guessing), and a fifteen-year-old girl named Laura J. Towers. No boys in the house. The 1880 census also has Joseph, Catherine, and Sarah, along with a servant and some relations.

In the late 1880's, a wealthy patient, Sarah Borrows, was admitted to St. Elizabeths. Her widowed mother, Catherine, had a house constructed on the premises especially for her daughter and eventually moved in herself. (One of Sarah Borrows' fellow patients was Mary Surratt's former boarder, Nora Fitzpatrick Whelan.) I strongly suspect this is the same Borrows family mentioned in the 1860 and 1880 censuses.

Based on all this, I doubt that Peanuts was a member of the family, as I think that Joseph and Catherine's wealth and social position were such that if they had had a son, he would have been attending school instead of selling peanuts.

Addition: Dr. Borrows' obit in the May 31, 1889 Evening Star mentions that he was survived by a wife and daughter.

[BettyO]

Great work, Susan!

I most certainly believe that you are right -

BTW here are the directories -

   

   

   

   

[L Verge]

Bless you, Susan! I believe you have pretty much dispelled the theory of Peanuts being the son of Dr. Borrows. That claim has bothered me for a decade or more.

BTW, folks - Susan mentioned Nora Fitzpatrick Whelan in her above posting. That would be the young lady who boarded at the Surratt home on H Street, and Susan has done extensive research on Nora for a long article that I hope to run in a fall issue of the Surratt Courier.

I wonder if the Borrows house at St. E's still exists? A good portion of that historic property has been turned over to Homeland Security, so who knows how much of its history will be spared.

[Susan Higginbotham]

(07-08-2014 02:02 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Bless you, Susan! I believe you have pretty much dispelled the theory of Peanuts being the son of Dr. Borrows. That claim has bothered me for a decade or more.

BTW, folks - Susan mentioned Nora Fitzpatrick Whelan in her above posting. That would be the young lady who boarded at the Surratt home on H Street, and Susan has done extensive research on Nora for a long article that I hope to run in a fall issue of the Surratt Courier.

I wonder if the Borrows house at St. E's still exists? A good portion of that historic property has been turned over to Homeland Security, so who knows how much of its history will be spared.

Thanks, Laurie!

Borrows Cottage (which became spelled as Burroughs Cottage over the years) does still exist, and I think it is protected as a landmark. All I can say is "Some cottage!"

http://research.archives.gov/description/5664479

How old was Peanuts supposed to be in 1865?

[RobertLC]

Thomas Bogar reports him to be "about seventeen" in his book "Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination.

[STS Lincolnite]

Thanks everyone!

Like Susan, I found it strange that the son of a physician would be peddling peanuts and handing out playbills during the day and then working at Ford's at night. School would seem more likely for the son of a physician.

Last night after posting, I too found the 1860 and 1880 censuses and thought that pretty much proved that Peanuts was not the son of Dr. Borrows. I hoped to search a little more after work tonight but Susan I think stopped my need to do so. Like Laurie, I think that with Dr. Borrows' obit and the other evidence, Susan has closed the case on the possibility of Dr. Borrows being Peanuts' father.

I did re-read Peanuts' testimony (In: The Lincoln Assassination , The Evidence, ed. Edwards and Steers) and did see something I hadn't taken much notice of before. Burroughs is recorded as living with his father at 511 10th Street (I believe that is the address of Ford's Theatre - was the address different in 1865?). I don't recall any other witness having their address recorded. I would suppose the fact that it was recorded that he lived with his father also confirms that he was not considered an adult.

So to me that begs the question: was there someone else actually living at Ford's (not in a boarding house) that could then be identified as Peanuts' father (or maybe adoptive father)?

I am hoping Tom Bogar may weigh in as to whether it was commonplace for crew to lodge at Ford's.

[Cliff Roberts]

It's been several years since I worked on Peanuts, but I recall finding a likely family for him living in the D.C. suburb of Tennellytown (sp?), consisting of a mother, grandfather and several children including Joseph. There was no father. The ages and dates given in the 1850 and 1860 census suggested to me that Joseph was a teenager when he left home and likely came to Washington, alone, to find work. He'd only worked at Ford's for a month or so. As I recall, the business about him living with his father at the theater was at the heading of one of his statements - it doesn't appear to be a direct quote from him - which might suggest a misunderstanding on the part of the interrogator. I spent months searching for actors named Burroughs who might have played at Fords but with no success. Ned Spangler is quoted as stating that for one or two nights after the assassination, Peanuts stayed with him at a rooming house where several other theater employees were living - strong evidence that Peanuts had nowhere else to stay. A fellow genealogist has been working on the Tennellytown Burroughs family and thinks son Joseph left home in early 1865, which seems to fit. Her research confirms much of what I had. This Joseph eventually settled in Baltimore. It's been a year since we last communicated; I'll check and see if she's found anything more to connect her Joseph Burroughs with our Peanuts.