Our American Cousin

Profile manager: David Randall [send private message]

Background

On 14 Apr 1865 President and Mrs. Lincoln attended an evening performance of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. Halfway through Act III Scene 2, actor Harry Hawk - playing the lead role of Asa Trenchard - uttered the comedic line: "Don't know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal - you sockdologizing old man trap!"

During the ensuing laughter, actor and Confederate sympathizer, John Wilkes Booth - who was not a part of the cast - raised a Derringer pistol and fatally shot the President in the back of the head. Booth then leaped from the President's box onto the stage and made his escape through the back of the theater to a horse he had left waiting in the alley.

Project Goals

The goal of this project is to create and develop profiles for each of the now mostly forgotten Our American Cousin actors, musicians, managers and crew members employed at Ford's Theater on the night President Lincoln was assassinated. In the days, weeks, and months that followed this tragic event, these individuals were caught up in a terrifying round of arrests and interrogation that, for many, would profoundly impact the trajectory of the remained of their lives.

If you would like to join this project, simply post a comment here on this page, in G2G, or send me a private message.

Plot

Our America Cousin was a three-act farce by English playwright Tom Taylor. Its story centers on an unrefined American named Asa Trenchard, who is introduced to his aristocratic English relatives when he travels to England to claim a large estate.

Profiles

(c) = Connected to the Big Tree

Management

John T. Ford, theater owner (c)

Harry Clay Ford, daily manager (c)

James R. Ford, business manager (c)

Henry B. Philips, acting manager

Thomas J. Raybold, house manager

Joseph S. Sessford, ticket agent

John S. Lutz, Laura Keene's husband-manager (c)

Cast

Laura Keene, Florence Trenchard (c)

John Dyott,* Abel Murcott

Willian Henry "Harry" Hawk,* Asa Trenchard

Thomas C. Gourlay, Sir Edward Trenchard

Edwin A. "Ned" Emerson, Lord Dundreary (c)

John Matthews, Mr. Coyle

William J. Ferguson, Lt. Vernon

Charles Francis Byrne, Capt. DeBoots

George Gaines Spear, Binney

John H. "Johnny" Evans, Buddicomb

John L. DeBonay, prompter, John Whicker

George A. Parkhurst, Bailiff

L. Johnson,** Bailiff - (profile needed)

Jeannie Gourlay, Mary Trenchard

Helen Muzzy, Mrs. Mountchessington

Helen Truman, Augusta

May Hart, Georgiana

Kate Evans, Sharpe

Maggie Gourlay, Skillet

Edwin Hunter Brink, uncredited

Courtland Van Rensselaer Hess, uncredited (c)

* Hawk and Doytt were members of Laura Keen's personal entourage. All other cast members belonged to Ford's stock company.

** There is not currently enough information to identify L. Johnson beyond his minor role with the Ford Theater Company.

Orchestra

(PARTIAL LIST)

William S. Billy" Withers Jr., orchestra conductor

Christopher P. Arth, violin

George M. Arth, double bass

Joseph A. Arth, drums

Isaac S. Bradley, violin

Samuel Crossley,* violin - (profile needed)

Henry Donch, clarinet

Scipione Grillo, baritone horn

Luke Hubbard, triangle and bells

William Musgrif, cello

Salvadore Petrola, cornet

Paul S. Schneider, possibly violin or trumpet

Henry Steckelberg, cello

Louis Weber, bass

Reuben Withers, drums

* In 1991, the National Park Service received a donation of a violin to the Ford’s Theatre collection. The violin was said to have been played at Ford’s Theatre on the night of Lincoln’s assassination. A label inside the violin identified its previous owner as a Union soldier by the name of Samuel Crossley. Crossley has yet to be further identified.

Crew

Catherine "Kittie" Brink, backstage helper

John E. "Buck" Buckingham, doorkeeper

Joseph "Peanut John" Burroughs, errand boy

Louis J. Carland, costumer

James Johnson Gifford, head carpenter

Edward Gorman, gasman

Joseph H. Hazelton, program boy

Henry M. James,* stagehand - (profile needed)

James Lamb, scenic artist

James L. "Jimmie" Maddox, head property man

John Miles,* stagehand - (profile needed)

William H. "Billy" Otis, Laura Keene's personal assistant

Jacob "Jake" Rittersbach, stagehand

John T. Selecman, property assistant

Joe Simms,* stagehand - (profile needed)

Edman "Ned" Spangler, stagehand

John Burroughs Wright, stage manager

* Stagehands James, Miles and Simms have not been further identified.

Sources

The management, cast, and crew lists above come directly from Thomas A. Bogar's terrific book, Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination: The Untold Story of the Actors and Stagehands at Ford's Theater (Washington, DC: Regenery History, 2013).

The orchestra list comes from Dave Taylor's 11 Aug 2018 blog entry, The Ford’s Theatre Orchestra at LincolnConspirators.com. As no list of orchestra members was ever compiled at the time of the assassination, Taylor cautions that evidence supporting the presence of each of these individuals "is, overall, extremely weak and varies greatly from man to man. Every name must be taken with a grain of salt and, aside from William Withers, we cannot guarantee that any of these men were actually present."