Genetic Lincoln

[Steve Whitlock]

(05-08-2020 01:47 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Kees, who did a tremendous amount of research, listed Dr. Gatch under this category:

B: : PHYSICIANS PRESENT AT FORD’S THEATRE
(but doubtful if they were in the State Box)

Please see Kees' research here:

https://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussi...ight=Gatch

For you to say "Perhaps Dr. Leale was relieved by more experienced doctors, and left after doing what he could" goes against everything I have read over the past 50+ years. For more information on Dr. Leale please go here:

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/262986...w=fulltext

Roger,

The links are very much appreciated, and the one for "Dr. Charles A. Leale’s Report on the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln" answers a couple of questions I had, especially that Dr. Leale, not Dr. Gatch, was called as a witness. Also, Dr. Leale makes clear he was not relieved of responsibility until he requested Dr. Stone, Lincoln's personal physician, take charge after Mr. Lincoln was transported to the Peterson house. So much for my incorrect speculation.

Meanwhile, it seems clear that the Gatch brothers were in attendance, and involved beyond that in some capacity, despite Kees' comment "The Gatch brothers’ story (if true) ended when Lincoln was removed from Ford's Theatre". Dr. Gatch's presence on a couple of lists shows he was at the president's bedside when he died.

I don't know who the 2 gentlemen were that Dr. Leale mentions, who arrived before Dr. Taft and Dr. King.

"When I reached the President he was in a state of general paralysis,[29] his eyes were closed and he was in a profoundly comatose condition, while his breathing was intermittent and exceedingly stertorous.[30] I placed my finger on his right radial pulse but could perceive no movement of the artery. As two gentlemen now arrived, I requested them to assist me to place him in a recumbent position, and as I held his head and shoulders, while doing this my hand came in contact with a clot of blood near his left shoulder."

His account for the arrival of Dr King and Dr Taft comes later in the narrative.

Be all that as it may, my interest in the brothers is relative to the relic from Mary Todd Lincoln's chair at Ford's Theatre. Once again I believe they'll fall a bit short, and the family legend is likely more true, that Lt. William H. Bower provided the relics.

There is a firsthand account of the relics being in a frame that hung on the wall for many years in the home of Ethel Ida Bower (Goodwin) Swinney. Her mother was Ida Kirk (Bower) Goodwin, a sister of Lt. William H. Bower.

Wm H Bower

in the New York, State Census, 1875

Name: Wm H Bower
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Birth Year: abt 1840
Residence Date: 1 Jun 1875
Residence Place: Rochester Ward 10, Monroe, New York, USA
Election District: Ward 10
Household number: 507
Relation to Head: Son
Father's name: John
Mother's name: Mary Bower
Line Number: 10
Sheet Number: 53
Household Members:
Name Age
John Bower 62
Mary Bower 50
Wm H Bower 35
Ida K Bower 21 [Ida Kirk Bower m: Philip Swing Goodwin]
Julia T McCormick 39
*******************
Wm H S Bower
in the New York, State Census, 1865

Name: Wm H S Bower
Gender: Male
Relation to Head: Son
Birth Year: abt 1838
Age: 27
Residence: Rochester, Monroe, New York, USA
District: South
Ward: 5
Line Number: 12
Page Number: 11
Household Members:
Name Age
Mary J Bower 46
Wm H S Bower 27 [Shown as a soldier]
Ida Bower 14 [Ida Kirk Bower]
Julia Tillelcomick 27
*******************
That's a pretty short path for provenance. For the Gatch brothers to have provided the relics they would have had to give them to a 2nd cousin a couple of steps higher in the Goodwin lineage. The family legend is most likely correct re: Lt William H. Bower.