Booth's mistress, Ella Starr, and other "unknown" Booth ladies!

[Jenny]

Sorry to bring this thread up again with a morbid subject but I need some help deciphering the "causes of death" on the death certificate of Mary Jane Starr, Ella's half-sister, that the James O. Hall Research Center so graciously copied for me. (I love you guys up there in Maryland. Seriously, I do.)

I won't post the entire certificate, just the part with the causes of death so y'all can see the words better. I can make out "Heart disease" on the top line (primary causes of death) but have absolutely NO CLUE what is written next to it. On the bottom line (the secondary causes of death), I can make out "(unknown word) paralysis." I've been searching 19th century medical terms and everything to see if I can pinpoint these words to no avail.



LDS, I need your expertise! Thank you! <3

EDIT: Word in front of "paralysis" is cardiac. Cardiac paralysis. D'oh! Still can't figure out the others.
EDIT 2: First word of "second primary cause of death" is aortic. Last two words I still have no idea.
EDIT 3: Image updated. Still not sure of last two words on first line.
EDIT 4: Friends say last word is "regurgitation."
EDIT 5: Friends say middle word is "mitral."

So she died primarily of heart disease and aortic mitral regurgitation and had experienced cardiac paralysis as a "secondary cause of death."

[Gene C]

Third word, first line, Aortic?
could the second line be "cardiac paralysis" ?

Don't know if this web site will be of any assistance or not
http://www.antiquusmorbus.com/Index.htm

[Jenny]

(05-24-2013 03:02 PM)Gene C Wrote:  Third word, first line, Aortic?
could the second line be "cardiac paralysis" ?

I think you've got it, Gene. It's those last two words on the first line I can't figure out for the life of me.

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Thanks for the link, Gene!

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Think I've got it! The last word is "mitral." I think.

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Oops, the last word is "regurgitation," not segregation (duh).

[Bill Richter]

Mitral regurgitation (MR), mitral insufficiency or mitral incompetence is a disorder of the heart in which the mitral valve does not close properly when the heart pumps out blood. It is the abnormal leaking of blood from the left ventricle, through the mitral valve, and into the left atrium, when the left ventricle contracts, i.e. there is regurgitation of blood back into the left atrium. MR is the most common form of valvular heart disease.

[Jim Garrett]

(01-14-2013 05:07 PM)Jenny Wrote:  Rsmyth, thank you for reminding me! I've heard of two versions of the note. One has the words "my darling baby" and is signed "E.T." The other version has the words "my darling boy" instead and is signed "E.S." I wonder which version it really was! Probably the version that was written about first, and I am not sure which one that is! I will look into that!

Herb,
Henrietta is an interesting character! That lady even looks like she was a spitfire! The story I am most familiar with regarding her is the infamous knife incident in Albany when she attacked Wilkes and then attempted suicide in 1861. What else have you found on her during the time she was in her relationship with Booth? I'm very curious and would love to help you out in researching her if you've hit some roadblocks!

John,
I was unaware of that. I'll edit the original post to exclude Sarah.

The "My Darling Boy" letter was/is in the National Archives. I wanted to see the original, but at this time, they can only produce a digital copy of a photo copy. I hope it is just mis-filed and has not grown legs. When reading the letter in the context of a jilted lover, it is a heart wrenching letter. John Wilkes Booth was the best possible chance Ella had to get out of her life as a prostitute and I believe she was (like every other women to cross JWB's path) totally infutuated and in love with him. Then to ad insult to injury, she is questioned about her lover assassinating the President. No wonder she tried to kill herself. Her world was destroyed. Just one more wrecked life in the wake of the Assassination.

[Jenny]

I did not know the letter existed still in any form. Interesting - thanks for mentioning it, Jim! I'd love a digital copy of a photo copy - how should I go about inquiring about it? Go to the National Archives site and ask?

[Jim Garrett]

(05-27-2013 12:18 PM)Jenny Wrote:  I did not know the letter existed still in any form. Interesting - thanks for mentioning it, Jim! I'd love a digital copy of a photo copy - how should I go about inquiring about it? Go to the National Archives site and ask?

It may be on 3fold. If not, you can most easily check with the amazing librarian at the famed James O. Hall research center. Sandra is a great asset, as well as a wonderful person.

[Jenny]

I will look again on 3fold. I will ask Sandra (who is amazing) too!

[Jenny]

I did check Fold3 but didn't find anything (I could have missed it though - there is so much info there).

[Jenny]

I forgot to post this but I did find the copy of that note a while back. Here it is for those interested. Looks like it was "boy" and "E.S." as opposed to "baby" and "E.T."

Envelope:


Note:


Note that the "E.S." letters are identical to the letters of Ella's signature in her police statement.

Speaking of the police statement, I was actually showing it to a friend who noticed a potential mistake overlooked by historians. Ella Starr is often cited as "Nellie Starr" or "Ella Starr," "Ella Turner," and "Fannie Harrison." Well, my friend immediately pointed out that the "Fannie Harrison" signature is NOT the same handwriting as Ella Starr's nor the individual who wrote down most of the statement.

That means three people wrote on the document: the Justice of the Peace who wrote out the entire statement in bold, narrow lettering, Ella Starr who signs once in the middle as "Nellie Starr" and then writes the word "Washington" and again signs, this time as "Ella Starr," at the bottom. The third person? That would be whoever wrote the name "Fannie Harrison" next to "Ella Starr."

Check this out. I underlined Ella Starr's handwriting in red and the "Fannie Harrison" signature in blue (I didn't bother to mark the handwriting of the authority that takes the actual statement).


Closer comparison:


My opinion on this? I believe that Ella did not go alone when she was arrested the first time and gave this statement (apparently around six in the morning on the 15th before her suicide attempt later that day and her second arrest on the 17th).

If the police came to get her at five/six in the morning, everyone in the house was most likely asleep. I am sure the police probably woke everyone in the entire house up, and perhaps one of the other prostitutes/a boarder, a lady named Fannie Harrison, saw Ella in her distress and volunteered to accompany her to the police station. Thus when Ella gave her statement to police, the woman Fannie Harrison would have been with her. The Justice of the Peace would have had this woman sign the statement as well as Ella because she was a witness to the taking of the statement and Ella signing it. I don't really see any other explanation. Fannie Harrison was not an alias of Ella's. She was someone else entirely in my opinion.

Thoughts?

[RJNorton]

That's fascinating, Jenny. Have you tried to find a Fannie Harrison? As you say, maybe she was another person who worked at 62 Ohio Avenue.

[L Verge]

I think your assessment of who Fannie Harrison was is very likely correct. Good job of researching. I keep hearing from Terry Alford that he located Ella in later years, but he's not letting the cat out of the bag until his book comes out - hopefully in 2014.

[Jim Garrett]

Such a great thread and great work. Thank you Jenny for posting the copies. I can't wait to see what Terry has come up with.

[Jenny]

You're welcome, Jim! Glad to share!
Roger, I haven't had time to look up Fannie Harrison but she's who I'm going after next. I will let you all know if I find anything!

I too am VERY curious about what Dr. Alford has found - driving me nuts that I can't know now, but I completely understand why he's keeping completely quiet until his book comes out. No one would want someone else to claim his research and findings as his/her own. I'd be doing the same thing in his shoes!

[Jenny]

You guys are going to brain me for keeping this thread at the top of the forum. However I *think* I might have discovered something that might interest those of you who are curious about Ella Starr.

(Beware - this is long and image heavy. Note: I do not claim any of these images as my own and have tried to properly credit my sources.)

To my knowledge, a picture of Mollie Turner's bawdy house at 62 Ohio Avenue where Ella Starr would have resided in 1865 (and where she attempted suicide on April 15, 1865) has never been found.

Until, dare I get my hopes up, last night.

According to the late Mr. Hall and land records at the Surratt Society, Mrs. Ellen Starr (Ella's mother) purchased a lot on square 257 in Washington D.C.'s "Murder Bay" area.

This lot on 257 was lot B, subdivision of lot 1, in Washington D.C. Lot 1, you see, had been further subdivided in 1858. Lot A was vacant; no building stood there in the 1860s. That would have made the structure on lot B the literal "corner house" at the time.

(Image of squares 257 and 258 on an 1888 fire insurance map from Those of Little Note)

There has been some confusion about the actual location of this lot as one provost marshal's list of bawdy houses lists Mollie Turner's house as being "62 C Street" in (I believe) 1864. However the 1865 newspaper accounts that involve Ella Starr and her arrest etc. all indicate that the house was actually on the corner of 13 1/2 Street, facing Ohio Avenue. As Ohio Avenue was diagonal and actually crossed C Street at 13 1/2 Street, the provost marshal could easily have marked it by accident as "62 C Street."

According to The of Little Note: Gender, Race, and Class in Historical Archaeology edited by Elizabeth M. Scott, the 1865 city directory also indicates that that 62 Ohio Avenue was the corner house at the crossing of Ohio Avenue and 13 1/2 Street.

The number was changed from 62 to 1353 Ohio Avenue NW after the Civil War.

(Close-up of square 257 with 1353 Ohio Avenue in red)

(Another map from 1887 with lot B in red)

Well, while researching Ella Starr, I searched the wonderful online catalog of the Kiplinger Research Library at The Historical Society of Washington D.C to see if I could find an image of the house. Typed "Ohio Avenue" into their search engine, took a look at the images which popped up, and lo and behold before my eyes sat one picture of houses that looked like it might be interesting.

The picture in question is call number BI 117 from the Joseph E. Bishop Photograph Collection. It is titled "General view north down 13 1/2 Street NW from Ohio Avenue" and features "squares: 0257/0258."

Here is the link to the Historical Society of Washington D.C.'s page on the photo.
http://historydc.pastperfect-online.com/...0;type=102

(Image from the Historical Society of Washington D.C.)

The photographer was standing on Ohio Avenue and looking directly up (I don't know why it says "down" when he was looking north up the street) 13 1/2 Street.

(Location of photographer from photo description by me on unknown map. Note the location of the White House!)

Even the angle of the street matches up if you look at it from the photographer's perspective on the above map!

But wait! 62/1353 Ohio Avenue was the corner house in 1865 because it sat next to an empty lot (which was the actual corner lot). When this picture was taken between 1924 - 1928, a building had clearly been constructed on the empty lot. Thus Ella Starr's house is not the house closest to 13 1/2 Street in the picture on the left side but the second house closest to it.

This is where the trees get in the way. I personally cannot make out where the "new" corner house stops and the second house begins and then ends. It appears to be a very slender building as I think that's a third house/part of a third house at the extreme left of the photo.

I blew up the picture and started trying to distinguish building from building. Unfortunately my results are inconclusive... but I believe 1353 Ohio Avenue (Ella Starr's 62 Ohio Avenue) is between the purple and the yellow lines I marked.

Let me know what you all think!! I do have all images in larger sizes if wanted.

Sources:
Those of Little Note: Gender, Race, and Class in Historical Archaeology edited by Elizabeth M. Scott.
James O. Hall and his research on the Starr family and location of the lot.
The Historical Society of Washington D.C. (Kiplinger Research Library)