All Summer Long...

I have wanted to watch the movie about Abraham Lincoln..

 Now I have even more interest in doing so as I came across a story on my family tree that connects to it!

No! I did not find out I was related to President Lincoln but yes, I have an ancestor through marriage that witnessed the assassination for himself when he was five years old.

Samuel James Seymour
1860-1956

Samuel J. Seymour

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Samuel J. Seymour
Born	Samuel James Seymour March 28, 1860 Maryland, U.S.
Died	April 12, 1956 (aged 96) Arlington, Virginia, U.S.
Resting place	Loudon Park National Cemetery Baltimore, Maryland 39°16′49″N 76°40′31″W
Known for	Last surviving person to witness the assassination of U.S. President Lincoln

Samuel James Seymour (March 28, 1860 – April 12, 1956) was the last surviving person who had been present in Ford's Theater the night of the assassination of U.S. PresidentAbraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865. He was from Maryland and lived in Arlington, Virginiain his later years.

At age five, Seymour's godmother, Mrs. George S. Goldsboro, took him to see Our American Cousin. He claimed the two sat in the balcony on the side opposite Lincoln's box. Seymour reported that "I complained tearfully that I couldn't get out of the coach because my shirt was torn—anything to delay the dread moment—but Sarah (nurse Sarah Cook) dug into her bag and found a big safety pin. I shook so hard from fright, it caused Sarah to accidentally stab me with the pin. I hollered 'I've been shot! I've been shot!'"^[1]

Once in the theater, Seymour settled down. He saw the President across the balcony as he was waving and smiling at people. Seymour said "I began to get over the scared feeling I'd had ever since we arrived in Washington, but that was something I never should have done. All of a sudden a shot rang out—a shot that always will be remembered—and someone in the President's box screamed. I saw Lincoln slumped forward in his seat."^[1]Seymour did not actually see the assassination but did witness Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth jump off the balcony. In fact, he revealed that because he did not know Lincoln was shot or that Booth had shot him, his real concern was for Booth.^[1]

Just two months before his death, at age 95, he appeared on the February 9, 1956 episode of the CBS TV quiz show I've Got a Secretas a mystery subject, in an episode in which Lucille Ball made an unusual appearance as a guest panelist. Seymour incorrectly gave his age on the show as 96, although his 96th birthday was actually not until March 28, several weeks later. Seymour died at the home of Mrs. Irene (Horn) Hendley, his daughter in Arlington, Va. He had been in failing health since February when he fell in a New York City hotel while preparing to appear on "I've Got A Secret". He came on the show with his left eye swollen. Garry Moore had suggested he not appear, but Seymour insisted. In the episode, he was initially questioned by Bill Cullen but it was Jayne Meadows who guessed Seymour's claim to fame. Moore generously awarded Seymour the $80.00 he would have won had he stumped the panel, and a can of Prince Albert pipe tobacco rather than the usual prize of a carton of Winston cigarettes (Winston was the show's sponsor, but Seymour did not smoke cigarettes).

Samuel J. Seymour, who made his home in Baltimore, MD, for many decades, where he worked as a carpenter and contractor, was survived by five children, 13 grandchildren and 35 great-grandchildren. He was interred at Loudon Park Cemetery, in Baltimore, MD.

Seymour died 15 days after his 96th birthday, two days shy of the 91st anniversary of the Lincoln assassination, and 63 days after his appearance on I've Got A Secret.

Here is my connection...

Jean Gordon Muir

1882-1961

Jean was my 3rd cousin 2x removed grand daughter of John Muir and Sarah Craig

I wrote about them and their family back in March of this year.

Yesterday I found the pictures of Jean and her husband

.

Silas Martin Amrein

1876-1941

Jean and Silas

Stay with me almost there! Silas had a brother and sister in law..

Rudolph Junius Adolphus Amrein 1884-1910

Florence Louisa Seymour 1891-

Florence was the daughter of Samuel James Seymour

So it is a very distant connection but I enjoyed reading about it.

 My Craig/ Muir Line is amazing me on how many descendants came from them
 and how much information and how many photographs I have been able to add to my Tree.