Was John Surratt engaged to Miss Roose?

[Jim Woodall]

While I was looking through the censuses regarding the Tonrys (Ann Surratt and William Tonry), I found Anna and William living in a boarding house in Baltimore in 1870.

Living there as well is a Sallie Roose age 24 (as transcribed by ancestry.com). I would have expected her to be closer to 28 but the 4 is not well-formed but likely a 4. Sallie would be a common nickname for Sarah. She is listed as a school teacher. She had attended, previously, the State Normal School as indicated by their catalog. In the 1867 listing of students, she is shown as student/teaching in Howard County. In 1868, she is shown in Baltimore City. In 1869, she is still listed in Baltimore City. Again, in 1870, she is listed in Baltimore City. Also, 1873, 1874 (Baltimore County), 1881 (Baltimore City).

Some confusion may be from the way the previously mentioned Obit of William S Roose was written. If there was an engagement to John Surratt, perhaps it was after the assassination and before he married Mary Victorine Hunter. The way the Obit was written seemed to imply an engagement prior to the assassination and the assassination was the reason Sallie entered the convent. Perhaps the timing/causes of actions are off.

[BettyO]

I have a newspaper transcript somewhere in my files which mentions Johnny Surratt being engaged "pre-Mary Victorine" - I'll have to look for it -

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[HerbS]

BettyO,you are awesome!

[L Verge]

(02-18-2016 08:28 AM)BettyO Wrote:  I have a newspaper transcript somewhere in my files which mentions Johnny Surratt being engaged "pre-Mary Victorine" - I'll have to look for it -

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Please try to find that article, Betty. The timeline related to Johnny and the possibility of a previous engagement is driving me bananas (and it doesn't take much now).

John was born in April of 1844, so he was 17 when the war began, and within a year or so, he was doing a lot of traveling on behalf of the Confederacy. Not much time to socialize - except perhaps with Sarah Slater.

From 1865-1867, he was in hiding in Europe. By 1868, he was back home and on trial. We know that he was also in South America for awhile in 1869 (while his mother was being reinterred in Mt. Olivet). The next year, he spent time on the lecture circuit. Then by 1872, he had met, courted, been engaged to (probably for at least six months or more), and married to Mary Victorine Hunter.

To me, the chances that he and Miss Roose met, fell in love, and became engaged would have to be between 1870 and 1871. What am I missing?

[Susan Higginbotham]

I vaguely remember seeing a news article dated shortly after the assassination about a young lady being romantically linked with John Surratt. It's going to drive me mad until I find it now!

[Susan Higginbotham]

I found the news snippet that I remembered. It's from the April 21, 1865 Evening Star and reads, "This morning Officer J. V. Grant served a summon upon a young lady named Anne Mitchell, the said-to-be betrothed of Suratt [sic], and carried her to the police headquarters for examination."

A nearly identical snippet appears in the Constitutional Union on April 22, 1865. I wonder if the young lady was actually Annie Ward, although I doubt she and John were involved.

[Jim Woodall]

Susan,

That is an interesting article. If Anne Mitchell is not an alias, I wonder if she was already familiar to the family.

The Jenkins' line and the Mitchells line were intertwined a few different times along the years prior including likely an aunt of Zadock, Rachel Lanham, marrying Ignatius Mitchell about 1738. Also, my 6th great grandfather, Francis Jenkins, married Anne Mitchell (sister to Ignatius) abt 1741 [am not fully convinced of this, others have her as Anne Bennett]. It may be that another sister also married a Jenkins [I have not looked fully at that yet].

Also, my 4th great grandmother, Sarah Ann Jenkins, married as a second marriage, a Richard Mitchell on Valentines Day in 1822. The Mitchell daughter, Martha, did have Ann as a middle name. However, she would have been too old, most likely, for John Surratt. Anyways, my third great grandmother, Martha Ann Mitchell, was already married to Thomas Anderson in 1852. None of the Mitchell grandkids would have been old enough.

There are quite a bit of Mitchells back then. There is an 18 y.o. Annie Mitchell in the 1860 census living in Ward 4 of DC in a boarding house. She is listed as born in DC and her occupation is folding documents (assume government printing office??). Depending on what kind of documents she is folding, she might be an interesting individual to get to know. I do not show her being married in DC up through 1870. She may have died without marrying and looks to be buried at Congressional Cemetery as Annie D. Mitchell. It looks like her brother was John H Mitchell.

[RJNorton]

(02-19-2016 01:10 AM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:  I wonder if the young lady was actually Annie Ward, although I doubt she and John were involved.

Is it known why John Surratt sent letters to his mother through Annie Ward? Did he also send letters to Annie herself? Are the contents of John Surratt's letters to Annie known?

Personally, I find the Annie Ward-John Surratt relationship to be intriguing.

[BettyO]

Quote:I found the news snippet that I remembered. It's from the April 21, 1865 Evening Star and reads, "This morning Officer J. V. Grant served a summon upon a young lady named Anne Mitchell, the said-to-be betrothed of Suratt [sic], and carried her to the police headquarters for examination."

A nearly identical snippet appears in the Constitutional Union on April 22, 1865. I wonder if the young lady was actually Annie Ward, although I doubt she and John were involved.

This is the same article I have from the Constitutional Union - I was also wondering if she could be Sarah Slater - ?!

[Susan Higginbotham]

(02-19-2016 06:03 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(02-19-2016 01:10 AM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:  I wonder if the young lady was actually Annie Ward, although I doubt she and John were involved.

Is it known why John Surratt sent letters to his mother through Annie Ward? Did he also send letters to Annie herself? Are the contents of John Surratt's letters to Annie known?

Personally, I find the Annie Ward-John Surratt relationship to be intriguing.

Annie Ward testified that she received four letters from John, two for herself and two for Mary. Weichmann recalled the contents of one of the letters from John to Mary--he admired the city of Montreal, mentioned that he had bought a French pea jacket, and complained about the high cost of lodging.

I did a blog post about her last month:

http://www.susanhigginbotham.com/blog/po...tt-family/

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(02-19-2016 05:18 AM)Jim Woodall Wrote:  Susan,

That is an interesting article. If Anne Mitchell is not an alias, I wonder if she was already familiar to the family.

The Jenkins' line and the Mitchells line were intertwined a few different times along the years prior including likely an aunt of Zadock, Rachel Lanham, marrying Ignatius Mitchell about 1738. Also, my 6th great grandfather, Francis Jenkins, married Anne Mitchell (sister to Ignatius) abt 1741 [am not fully convinced of this, others have her as Anne Bennett]. It may be that another sister also married a Jenkins [I have not looked fully at that yet].

Also, my 4th great grandmother, Sarah Ann Jenkins, married as a second marriage, a Richard Mitchell on Valentines Day in 1822. The Mitchell daughter, Martha, did have Ann as a middle name. However, she would have been too old, most likely, for John Surratt. Anyways, my third great grandmother, Martha Ann Mitchell, was already married to Thomas Anderson in 1852. None of the Mitchell grandkids would have been old enough.

There are quite a bit of Mitchells back then. There is an 18 y.o. Annie Mitchell in the 1860 census living in Ward 4 of DC in a boarding house. She is listed as born in DC and her occupation is folding documents (assume government printing office??). Depending on what kind of documents she is folding, she might be an interesting individual to get to know. I do not show her being married in DC up through 1870. She may have died without marrying and looks to be buried at Congressional Cemetery as Annie D. Mitchell. It looks like her brother was John H Mitchell.

That's intriguing!

[RJNorton]

(02-19-2016 10:13 AM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:  Annie Ward testified that she received four letters from John, two for herself and two for Mary. Weichmann recalled the contents of one of the letters from John to Mary--he admired the city of Montreal, mentioned that he had bought a French pea jacket, and complained about the high cost of lodging.

I did a blog post about her last month:

http://www.susanhigginbotham.com/blog/po...tt-family/

Thanks, Susan!

"Testifying for the defense at the same trial, Anna Ward admitted to inquiring about a room at the Herndon House, but did not know exactly when, other than it could have been February or March. She denied knowing that the room was for a man, and claimed that she did not know who the room was for."

IMO, this testimony is suspect. If she were exchanging letters with John Surratt, and were apparently a confidante of John Wilkes Booth, I think she may well have known whom the room was for (Powell). Something doesn't seem right here.

[Gene C]

(02-19-2016 01:10 AM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:  I found the news snippet that I remembered. It's from the April 21, 1865 Evening Star and reads, "This morning Officer J. V. Grant served a summon upon a young lady named Anne Mitchell, the said-to-be betrothed of Suratt [sic], and carried her to the police headquarters for examination."

Great research ladies.

What a shame.
I guess she was singing the blues.
"Honest officer, he told me his name was Bill"

Remember this song by the 5th Dimension?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhtCGZbxTfc

[L Verge]

I think there is very little doubt that Annie Ward was a tiny piece of the Secret Line/courier chain as related to keeping John Surratt up-to-date or running errands for him, at least near the end of the war. However, I seriously doubt any personal relationship between the two.

For one thing, there was a big age difference (I think we discussed this many moons ago). Remember also that being a link in the espionage chain did not mean that you knew anything about other links, what your role in something might turn out to be, why you were all of a sudden meeting a famous actor in the parlor of a family that you had known for nearly ten years, etc.

The Surratts - at least Annie Surratt - knew Annie Ward before the war because the lady was a teacher at Miss Winifred Martin's school in Bryantown, MD, which Annie attended. She then moved to a teaching position at the Visitation School in DC, which wasn't far from the boardinghouse. It seems to be standard operating procedure for Southern Maryland residents to change addresses in or close to Washington, D.C. during the war, usually to assist the Confederacy in some way.

Annie Ward was an immigrant to Maryland from Ireland. The Confederate influences in the area where she was raised as well as Lincoln's former dealings with the American Party might make her easily accessible to helping the Confederate underground, especially in its dying moments.

One last gasp from me on the subject: Remember Richard Smoot and his story about being at the boardinghouse on the night of the assassination in order to get paid for his boat? His middle name was "Mitchell."