List of Ford's Theatre Attendees

[jbarry]

(04-26-2026 02:30 PM)Linda Anderson Wrote:  I found a Joseph Coombs in the 1870 Census who was born in 1817, lived in DC and was a lawyer. He could be the Mr. Coombs, bank inspector, who accompanied the 98-year-old Mrs. Deothe to Ford's on April 14.

I haven't looked through all the names in the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection but I did find one person, William Hearsey of Dayton (Folder 3), who is not on the list.

"As a soldier Mr. Hearsey happened to be in Washington, and, having heard of the fame of Laura Keene as. an actress, and also of the fact that the President would attend, went to Ford's Theater to pass the evening."

Also, I noticed that a twelve year old boy, Henry B. Polkinhorn (sometimes spelled "Polkenhorn) in Folders 2, 3 & 5, is on the list as having claimed to carry the dying Lincoln across the street but I think he was just listed in Clark's article as one of the people in Ford's Theatre that night who were still alive in 1923 when Clark first read his article to the Columbia Historical Society.

"Of those whose witnessed the assassination and happily survive although nearly sixty years intervene are Colonel Otto J. Downing of Dixon Ill., - he was of the five who bore Mr. Lincoln across the street - Louis Kettler, Myron M. Parker, Henry B. Polkinhorn, and Mrs. Beekman DuBarry, all of the City of Washington, D.C.," 104.

Allen C. Clark, “Lincoln in the National Capital,” Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C., 27 (1925)

This article has a photo of "little Henry."

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

Hi Linda, I appreciate your Eagle Eye on this list! I originally had Mr. Hearsey on the list, but on further inspection noticed it overlapped with the William Hershey I have listed. If your research indicates otherwise, please let me know and I'll amend as necessary.
Thanks!
Joe

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(04-26-2026 07:19 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Thank you, Linda. Your research is amazing.

Many years ago I compiled a list of over 25 men who claimed (or were given credit) to have helped carry the stricken President across the street from Ford's Theatre to the Petersen House. The names include Dr. Charles Leale, Dr. Charles Taft, Dr. Albert King, Albert Daggett, Augustus Clark, Capt. Obadiah Jackson Downing, Capt. Edwin Bedee, Major Isaac Walker McClay, W.H. Flood, Frederick Johnstone, Jacob J. Soles, John Corey, Jacob Griffiths, William Sample, William McPeck, John Weaver, Joseph Hazelton, Capt. Owen, Capt. John Sears, Capt. John Busby, Capt. Oliver C. Gatch, George A. Clark, Thomas Gourlay, William Greer, Andrew J. Smith, Dr. Ezra Abbott, and Dr. Charles Davenport Gatch.

I think these four names may be mentioned most often in history books: Jacob Soles, John Corey, Jacob Griffiths, and William Sample.

Thanks Roger, this is a great list. Also, in case you haven't seen it already, Lincoln Financial Foundation has digitized a folder specifically on people claiming to have carried Lincoln to Petersen House: https://www.lincolncollection.org/search...item=96583