New Development in Booth Case Coming Soon

[Steve Whitlock]

There are many other indications which show David E. George was a man with serious mental issues, and not John Wilkes Booth.

I agree with you 100%. In reading Bates' book it's obvious John St. Helen/David E. George says things that show he didn't know the specifics of what really went down on April 14, 1865. He tells Bates things that the real Booth would not say, IMO. For example, John St. Helen/David E. George tells Bates that it was Andrew Johnson who arranged for the Grants not to attend the theater with the Lincolns. This is totally false; Johnson had nothing to do with the Grants leaving Washington that evening. John St. Helen/David E. George said he stopped at the Kirkwood House and met with VP Johnson at 3 PM. False. Johnson was at the White House meeting with Abraham Lincoln at that time. Booth didn't meet Johnson at all; rather he left a note that said, "Don't wish to disturb you. Are you at home? J. Wilkes Booth." I feel the real Booth, in trying to convince people he was indeed JWB, would not create stories that were patently false. Rather his stories show he wasn't Booth.

Roger,

There are also some timing issues with John W. Booth in TN getting married 25 Feb 1872 and staying a few months. John St. Helen is supposed to be in TX in 1872 with Finis Bates as well, but not certain of dates. I also think Finis Bates had a hand in convincing Laura Ida Booth that David E. George was her father, because she believed the story he was selling/telling.

While I don't believe David E. George was John Wilkes Booth, I also don't think he was the John W. Booth that married Louisa J. (Price) Payne.

What I'm hoping to do here is resolve several supposed children of John Wilkes Booth, and the stories which followed.

The current effort to exhume Edwin Booth and compare his dna to Lois Fellows (White) Rathbun-Trebisacci will only prove she is his descendant, and does nothing to prove who is buried in the grave of John Wilkes Booth. It could be significant to have Edwin's dna results on hand if a future check for the man buried in John Wilkes Booth's grave yields a match to Edwin.

By showing Lois to have no autosomal match to descendants of Izola Forrester, Sarah Scott (dtr of Kate Scott), and Laura Ida Booth (if she has a living descendant) the most prevalent theories of John Wilkes Booth's escape can have dna evidence to the contrary. Unlike mtdna and Y-dna autosomal dna gets weaker with succeeding generations. Even now it's a little iffy. Lois should provide the dna. Her daughter, Kristen Booth Rathbun will be less of a match.

Thank you to everyone that I'm not getting the vitriol of some other threads. If this is another red herring I may soon have enough for a fish fry, and occasionally other fish get caught. If not for this search I wouldn't know the irony of a cousin of Maj. Henry Reed Rathbone marrying a Booth descendant, albeit the Booth line of Edwin Booth.

Roger, thank you for your patience!!