On the day of the execution, he stationed relays of cavalry all the way to the White House. Anna Surratt is remembered chiefly for her heartbreaking efforts to save her mother from being hanged by the U.S. government. The ceremony was kept private, and there were no bridesmaids. John Surratt (April 13, 1844 - April 21, 1916) was accused of plotting with John Wilkes Booth to kidnap U.S. president Abraham Lincoln and suspected of involvement in the Abraham Lincoln assassination. Sign Up For Our Email-List! For more information and to register, please click below! It was in one of the administrative buildings at the Penitentiary that the assassination conspiracy trial was held. John Harrison Surratt(1813 - abt. As a former postmaster, Surratt intercepted the letter of his impending arrest and fled immediately. Following Lincoln's assassination on 14 April 1865, Surratt denied any involvement with the murder plot, claiming at that time he was in Elmira, New York. Her mother had mortgaged the boarding house to pay her legal counsel. To make money, Mary started renting rooms and soon turned the large residence into a boarding house. By 1865, Mary Surratt, the matriarch, leased her tavern to a neighbor and opened a boarding house mere blocks from Fords Theatre in Washington, D.C. where Confederate agents met and conspired. On December 6, at a small courthouse in Rockville, Maryland, in a 75-minute speech, Surratt admitted his involvement in the scheme to kidnap Lincoln. Lemuel Surratt (1765 - 1820) Lemuel (John) Surratt. Her last words on the scaffold were Dont let me fall.. Black Women Writers of the 19th Century II, Mary Granville Pendarves Delany 1700-1788. She remained there until April 30, when she was transported to the Washington Arsenal Penitentiary. They ardently joined the war effort for the South. The boy was John Harrison Surratt. But there was one Surratt left--a boy of about 7 years old--named John Harrison Surratt. However, it was soon discovered that Lewis Powell had tried to kill Seward. His most common duty was relaying dispatches regarding troop movements in and around the nation's capital and delivering them to Confederate boats stationed on the Potomac River. Therefore, the defendants did not have the advantages of a jury trial, and were instead judged by a nine-member military commission. John Surratt would even be able to live to a ripe old age to tell and retell the tales of his time as a Confederate spy, his part in the plot to kidnap the president, and how he was a co-conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Anna Surratt F 17 DC His granddaughter, Bell Seaman, would later conduct a lively correspondence with her distant cousins, Anna and John Surratt, during the 1860s. He was in New York when he heard the news of Lincolns death and then he allegedly fled to Montreal rather than face prison. Mary Surratt is on the far left. I have not yet established the connection to my branch of the Surratt family but believe it may exist..The line might go through Mary the line I have has Jenkins tooI did a 30 generation comparison from me to John, Jr..nothing on the surface links us..but the namemy branch started in NC, and moved to VA. https://www.pgparks.com/3037/Surratt-House-Museum, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M69H-YQ3, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XLZH-XXW, Prince George's County, Maryland, Slave Owners, USBH Heritage Exchange, Needs Slaves Identified, "District of Columbia Marriages, 1811-1950," database with images, FamilySearch (, The Story of Mrs. Mary Surratt: A Lecture Delivered Before the Docents of the Surratt House. Son of John Harrison Surratt, Sr. and Mary Elizabeth Surratt He was sent home on the Swatara, which delivered John Surratt to the Washington Navy Yard in early 1867. Some testified that he was in New York on April 14, 1865. He farmed tobacco, taught at the Rockville Female Academy, gave public lectures, served as treasurer of the Old Bay Line steamship company on Chesapeake Bay, and became a teacher at the St. Joseph Catholic School in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Anna, their sister, ran the tavern in Surrattsville which became a meeting place for Confederate forces. John and Mary Surratt and their children moved back to John's childhood home in the District of Columbia in 1845 to help John's mother run the Neale farm. In fact, he was the only adult male Surratt listed in the entire state of Maryland. He served as a consultant for Ford, Bacon & Davis of New York City, working in the company's Monroe, La., office, and he later came to Suffolk as division superintendent of Commonwealth Natural Gas. On 7 November 1866, John Surratt was arrested and sent to Velletri prison. After Alphonsus died, the family apparently came upon hard times. John Jr. and Anna both left school to help their mother run the family's remaining farmland and businesses. Get updates on events and the latest Surratt news! Everyone in the United States knew who he was. One said, It seemed quite impossible to us to clear. Some believe he was dismissed for marrying Anna. Issac Surratt M 19 DC [11], Surratt later took a job as a teacher in St. Joseph Catholic School in Emmitsburg, Maryland. After the assassination of Lincoln, on April 14, 1865, Surratt denied any involvement and said that he was then in Elmira, New York. Tennessee freshman golfer Caleb Surratt has been named to the Arnold Palmer Cup. She and the other subversives were pro-slavery white supremacists. Her brothers John and Isaac lived nearby, they gradually let the conspiracy issue rest. John Sarratt, Sarah Surratt (born Talbert), illiam Harrison Surratt, Isaac Douglas Surratt, Elizabeth Susanna Surratt, Eugenia Susanna Tonry, Anna (born Surratt), John Harrison Surratt, Mary Elizabeth Eugenia Surratt (born Jenkins), on Surratt, Isaac Douglas Surratt, Elizabeth Susanna Tonry (born Surratt), Eugenia Susanna Tonry, Anna (born Surratt), John Harrison Surratt, Mary Elizabeth "eugenia" Surratt (born Jenkins), John William Harrison Surratt, Isaac Douglas Surratt, Eugenia Susanna "anna" Tonry (born Surratt), John Harrison, Jr Surratt, John Harrison Surratt, Jr, Isaac Douglas Surratt, Elizabeth Susanna Tonry, 1860 - 9th Election District, Prince Georges, Maryland, USA, Isaac Surratt, Anna Surratt, John Surratt, Saint Marys Catholic Church of Piscataway Cemetery Clinton Prince George's County Maryland, John Surratt, Jr. (Confederate courier and spy). Or, read about the Lincoln curse that befell the people who were in the same booth as the president when he was shot. One half went to the widow of Fielder Neale, one of the heirs, and the other half was sold to a neighbor. His own mother was hanged alongside three cohorts just three months after Lincolns assassination on July 7, 1865. He was one of the first people suspected of the attempt to assassinate Secretary of State William H. Seward, but the culprit was soon discovered to be Lewis Powell. In 1854, John built a hotel as an addition to his tavern, and called it Surratt's Hotel. Mary Surratt: The owner of a Washington boardinghouse, Surratt was a widow with connections in the pro-southern Maryland countryside. [4], Surratt would later serve for a time in the Ninth Company of the Pontifical Zouaves, in the Papal States, under the name John Watson. [7], On November 7, 1866, Surratt was arrested and sent to the Velletri prison. Variants of the name appear in France today, and it is generally assumed that the family originated in the area of France which lies close to the Spanish border. John Harrison Surratt implicated his own mother by associating with the various members of the conspiracy party which assassinated Abraham Lincoln allowing them to meet at her Washington D.C. boarding house. The Assassination Plot? Anna visited her mother on many occasions; she also spent a lot of time talking with Lewis Powell, trying to convince him to help pursuade the court that her mother was innocent. Richmond's Harry Hoover guarded her. When his father suddenly died in 1862, John Jr. was appointed the postmaster for Surrattsville, Maryland. Because of a cholera outbreak, officials quarantined passengers of the boat in Malta and it was there that American officials finally caught him. By 1864, Mary Surratt found that her husband's unpaid debts and bad business deals had left her with many creditors. An orphan, he was adopted by Richard and Sarah Neale of Washington, D.C., a wealthy couple who owned a farm. Anna Surrat was accused of removing a picture from a mantel at the boarding house during the police search of the premises, on the back of which it was said she had hidden a photograph of John Wilkes Booth. He was a bachelor and, belatedly, looked upon woman and found her fair! The Confederates met regularly there, until the afternoon of March 17, 1865, when Surratt and Booth heard that Lincoln was planning to attend a play. untimely request to spare mary surratt of the hanging. However, Lincoln had changed his mind and remained in Washington. Booth's most valuable conspirator was a Confederate spy with a college education. "I have spoken with great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren, and they tell us . He escaped and lived with the supporters of Garibaldi, who gave him safe passage. Please contribute to his biography. When the 1800 census was taken, however, Ann Surratt was listed as the head of the household, so Alphonsus must have died before 1800. He escaped and lived with the Garibaldians, who gave him safe passage. Have you taken a DNA test? The Surratts were in Oxon Hundred when the 1790 census of Prince George's County was taken. A second deed to this property was made on January 8, 1810, and signed by Henry B. and Samuel Surratt. (The Surratt tavern was being used as a "safe house" for Confederate spies, and at least one author concludes that Mary Surratt had "de facto" knowledge of this fact. The house was sold in November 1867, and the property in Surrattsville was sold in March 1869. [14], Surratt was portrayed by Johnny Simmons in the 2010 Robert Redford film The Conspirator. Anna was also taken into custody that night and kept at the Old Capitol Prison until May 11 when she was released. Surratt and Booth, in conjunction with six others, gathered their supplies, mounted their horses, and galloped to the scene. An orphan, he was adopted by Richard and Sarah Neale of Washington, D.C., a wealthy couple who owned a farm. Surratt retired from the Old Bay Line in 1914. John Surratt was born on April 13, 1844 in the Washington, D. C. district of Congress Heights. He served briefly as a papal zouave before his arrest and extradition. Descendants of the Banks-Surratt marriage have not been found. 2008 - 2023 INTERESTING.COM, INC. Surratt was the youngest child of John and Mary Surratt. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA. When the Civil War began in 1861 it was no secret that the Surratts favored the Confederacy. There is further evidence of later Surratts. However, by 1863, Louis J. Weichmann (a friend of John Jr.'s from St. Charles College) observed that the family had six or more slaves working on the property. Apparently they went west by the usual route in those days--across to the Ohio River and down it. The Mar./Apr. The statute of limitations on charges other than murder had run out, and Surratt was released on $25,000 bail. Within hours of the assassination detectives arrived at the Surratt boardinghouse. Johnson later said he never saw the clemency request; Holt said he showed it to Johnson, who refused to sign it. The next time the conspirators met in April, Booth insisted murder was the next best option. 2008 - 2023 INTERESTING.COM, INC. He was once arrested in 1863 but released without much trouble. IMPORTANT PRIVACY NOTICE & DISCLAIMER: YOU HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO USE CAUTION WHEN DISTRIBUTING PRIVATE INFORMATION. The jury couldnt decide. Other people, later identified as Booths co-conspirators, also visited the boarding house regularly. Mary Surratt was so ill the last four days of the trial that she was permitted to stay in her cell. In 1861, he was enrolled at St. Charles College, where he was studying for the priesthood[2] and also met Louis Weichmann. Federal officials arrested Surratts mother on conspiracy charges three days later. Wikimedia Commons A depiction of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Their improving financial and social position relieved some of the strain in Annas life, but she continued to suffer emotionally and physically. John Harrison Surratt Jr. (April 13, 1844 - April 21, 1916) was an American Confederate spy who was accused of plotting with John Wilkes Booth to kidnap U.S. President Abraham Lincoln; he was also suspected of involvement in the Abraham Lincoln assassination.His mother, Mary Surratt, was convicted of conspiracy by a military tribunal and hanged; she owned the boarding house that the . That is, almost all except John Surratt. 3. Wikimedia Commons A wanted poster from 1865 showing the bounty for John Surratt. He rose to freight auditor and, ultimately, treasurer of the company. Annas parents, Mary and John Surratt, were married in 1840, and lived on land John had inherited from his foster parents in what is now a section of Washington known as Congress Heights.