Genetic Lincoln

[Steve Whitlock]

(03-30-2020 04:31 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Steve, the reason I asked was because Mary Lincoln was sitting on a chair next to Lincoln's rocker. I have seen her chair described as a "carved-back, cane-seat parlor chair." Personally, I do not think I've ever read that Lincoln's rocking chair is missing any pieces of wood, but I could be wrong on that.

Roger,

Do you have a photo, or have you seen the chair Mary Todd Lincoln was sitting on at Ford's Theatre? I found 2 pics, but the chair for Mary would be so much less elegant than Abe's, or the chair and couch that Clara Harris and Major Henry Reed Rathbone were in on the right.The description I have for her chair is from an article:

"Ford Theatre gets Mary Lincoln's chair

WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Washington's Ford Theatre now has the chair Mary Todd Lincoln was believed sitting in the night her husband, President Abraham Lincoln, was killed.

The carved-back, cane-seat parlor chair from the presidential box was donated to the U.S. government by an anonymous Virginia family last week, the Washington Post reported Monday.

"This is a fabulous thing we've been given. We're very excited about it," Gloria Swift, the National Park Service's curator for Ford's Theatre, told the newspaper.

The chair apparently made its way out of the building via a construction worker on the crew charged with turning the theater into an office building after John Wilkes Booth assassinated the president.

The worker gave the parlor chair to the Virginia family, where it was handed down for generations, Swift said.

The space was restored in the 1950s with replicas of the chairs on which Lincoln and his wife were sitting that night. Lincoln's chair is in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearbon, Mich."

I take it the area where she sat was the "cane" part of "carved-back, cane-seat parlor chair". The attached photos are for Ford's Theatre, and the last part of the article does state the space was restored with replicas of the chairs the Lincolns were sitting on.

According to the many written accounts I've read of that fateful night Mary and Abe had their arms entwined, and Mary expressed concern that Clara might think badly of her at being so shameless with her affection, so likely the chair was as in the first attachment.

The position of the chair matters to try picturing the chain of events, and how Rathbone's blood was on Mary's chair. You are correct that the relic had to come from Mary's chair. Thank you for noting that.