Born: September 4, 1834
Birthplace: Albany, New York
Birthname: Clara Hamilton Harris
Father: U.S. Senator Ira Harris 1802 – 1875
(Buried: Albany Rural Cemetery, Menands, New York)
Mother: Louisa Tubbs 1809 – 1845
(Buried: Albany Rural Cemetery, Menands, New York)
Step Mother: Pauline Rathbone(Married to her father Ira Harris on August 1, 1848)
Husband: Major Henry Rathbone 1837 – 1911
(Buried: Stadtfriedhof Engesohde, Hanover, Germany)
Married: July 11, 1867, at Albany, New YorkChildren:
Henry Riggs Rathbone 1870 – 1928
(Buried: Rosehill Cemetery & Mausoleum, Chicago, Illinois)
Gerald Laurence Rathbone 1871 – 1936
(Buried: Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, Colma, California)
Clara Pauline Rathbone Randolph 1872 – 1918
(Buried: Grace Episcopal Church Cemetery, Casanova, Virginia)
Antebellum History:
1848: When Clara was nearly 14 years old, her father married the widow Pauline Rathbone, making her son, Henry Rathbone, age 11, Clara's step-brother. They all began living in the same household after that. Soon, to their parents’ dismay, Henry and Clara fall in love and became engaged.
1861: The Harris / Rathbone family moves to Washington, DC, living just off Lafayette Square at 15th and H streets
Civil War History:When the war began, Henry enlisted as an officer in the 12th U.S. Infantry.
With Henry off to war, Clara had become a confident, cultured woman in the capitol, making friends with Mary Todd Lincoln, visiting the White House, and going to the Theater, all being part of her regular weekly routine.
1865: Attended the April 14, performance of Our American Cousin with her fiancé, Major Henry Rathbone, President Abraham Lincoln and First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, in the Presidential Box at Ford's Theater in Washington, DC.
That night, Clara Harris & Henry Rathbone Witnessed the Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth.
A few weeks after the assassination, Clara posed for photographer Mathew Brady, reportedly in the white dress she wore to Ford's Theater the night Lincoln was shot.
Postbellum History:
1867 – 1883: Wife of Major Henry Rathbone
1882: After husband is appointed U.S. Consul to the Province of Hanover, Germany by President Chester A. Arthur, Clara moves with the family to Germany.
1883: On Christmas Eve, afraid that he might harm the children, Clara coaxed Henry, who had never fully recovered from the Lincoln assassination, and was plagued with unexplained ailments and disorders, to the Master bedroom of their apartment in Germany, and closed the door. There, Henry shot Clara several times with a gun and killed her, before stabbing himself with a knife in an attempted murder-suicide.
Died: December 23, 1883
Place of Death: Hildesheim, Germany
Cause of Death: Murdered by Husband
Age at time of Death: 49 years old
Burial Place: Stadtfriedhof Engesohde, Hanover, Germany
(Grave disinterred and disposed of in 1952 due to neglect, and lack of interest from the family.)
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This is apparently a photo of "a Mrs. Harris" from the 1860s, not "the" Clara Harris of "Ford's Theater at the Lincoln Assassination" notoriety. It seems a small clerical error in the 1960's compounded by the power of the internet has made this one of the biggest mis-identified photos that you'll see.
Read All about The Mistake here...
Fellow Citizens: How Black Americans Reframed Citizenship — Ford's Theatre
At the time of the American Civil War, four million African Americans were enslaved in the United States. As President Abraham Lincoln and federal lawmakers legislated their way through emancipation and abolition, a question rose to the foreground: what would freedom mean for Black Americans...
www.fords.org
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