Path of the assassins

[Jim Woodall]

(08-09-2013 01:15 PM)Linda Anderson Wrote:  You're welcome, Dave.

These are the photos my husband took last March after the Conference.

Margaret's name is on the back side of the tombstone. James Coleman was her brother, Mary was her sister-in-law and Michael was their son. Margaret became Charles Sumner's housekeeper after Seward left Washington in 1869. Margaret went to live with her brother and his family at 1114 6th St. southwest after Sumner died in 1874.

I hate to throw some cold water on this (edit: especially when on further analysis it has to be her) but I think one needs to be looking for a "Margaret Coleman Davidson" gravestone or internment. The obituary for her niece, Margaret, who was hired at the treasury at her behest, indicates that her aunt's name was the late, "Margaret Coleman Davidson."

From the Evening Star dated, 15 Mar 1948, on page 12, headlined:

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Funeral Set Tomorrow For Niece of Woman Who Saved Seward

Miss Margaret T. Coleman, who owed her Treasury Department job to the fact her aunt saved the life of Secretary of State Seward the night Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, will be buried here tomorrow.
Miss Coleman, who was 73, died Thursday at a Washington hospital after a long illness. From 1901 to 1931 she held a job in the loans and currency division of the Secretary of Treasury's office, given her "as a favor" to her aunt, the late Mrs. Margaret Coleman Davidson.
Mrs. Davidson had been the housekeeper at Secretary Seward's home the night of April 14, 1865, when a conspirator forced his way into the house to kill the Secretary. The would-be assassin first stabbed Frederick Seward, the son, in an attempt to reach the Secretary who was bedridden from a cariage (sic) fall.
Mrs. Davidson heard the noise and sprang upon the conspirator at the top of the stairs. She broke her collarbone in the scuffle, but her shrieks brought other members of the household who pulled the attacker away as he slashed Mr. Seward. Mr. Seward later recovered from the wounds.
Mrs. Davidson was termed a "historical character" by Massachusetts Representative Samuel Hooper when he and other political figures asked that she be given a job in the Government.
According to Miss Coleman's family, the Secretary had promised Mrs. Davidson or a relative should always have a job in the Government. Miss Coleman was the last of the line. She retired in 1931 due to illness.
She was a native Washingtonian and for many years lived in the 1200 block of East Capital Street. She has no immediate survivors.
Requiem Mass will be said at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow at St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Tenth and G streets N.W., with burial in Mount Olivet Cemetery.
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I do not think she would have been buried under just the Coleman name, even in a family plot. What name is on the death certificate or internment records?

Margaret T Coleman's death notice is also in same paper on same page just a couple columns to the left of the obituary.

Her burial mass notice appeared in the previous day's Evening Star on page 4 where it listed her parents as: James and Mary Murphy Coleman.

This Margaret T Coleman should not be confused with Margaret Gertrude Coleman, born of James Coleman and Anne Virginia Smoot Coleman, who goes on to marry David Diggins. Both of the Margarets are born about 1875. Margaret Gertrude Coleman's aunt, Margaret, had worked at the Treasury in 1870, as well. Her dad was of the Washington Light Infantry and joined the Union army proper attaining rank of Captain. His mother's name was Mary.

Margaret appears to be a popular name within the Coleman family lines.

I would assume that since an 1887 article refers to Margaret Coleman as saving Seward, that she must have married Davidson after that??

Edit: The newspaper in 1902 announces Margaret Coleman's death at the correct address from the 1900 census, stating her age at 86. It is curious that they would put 1818 on the tombstone which doesn't even match with age given in the death notices and does not match what was pretty consistent in the censuses.

Other than lack of Davidson for her last name and the prior mentioned birth year variance, it does look like the right spot given the names on the front which match. However, I do not find James Coleman after 1870 census but he is listed as dead in 1898.

I would blame cut/paste in computers for the consistent usage of Davidson in the one article but I don't think they would have easily made an accidental mistake like that given the technology they had then. So where does the Davidson come from?