Life From The Roots: President Lincoln Died in Pvt. Clark's Room...See Clark's Unusual Shaped Tombstone

The Life From The Roots blog topics have changed several times since I began this blog in 2009. I initially wrote only about the family history I had been working on for 20 years. Years later, I was into visiting gardens, historical homes, churches, libraries that had genealogical collections, historical societies, war memorials, and travel/tourism places. I also enjoy posting autographs and photos of famous people I've met or have seen.

Along with my New England roots, other areas include New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada.

Please check out the labels on the right side for topics (please note, they need work). Below the labels and pageviews is a listing of my top nine posts, according to Google. Four of them pertain to Lowell, MA. These posts change often because they are based on what people are reading.

Thursday, July 20, 2017

President Lincoln Died in Pvt. Clark's Room...See Clark's Unusual Shaped Tombstone

President Abraham Lincoln died in a room that belonged to a Lowell, MA resident, Pvt. William Tilton Clark. When I discovered several years ago that Pvt. Clark was buried in Lowell, Massachusetts, I knew I had to locate his stone in the city I now live. Please read what was written on FindAGrave (below) for an interesting account, to see his photo and learn what Pvt. Clark took that belonged to President Lincoln. A link to a 2010 Boston.com newspaper article, "Lincoln’s boots made journey to Lynn," gives the history about all the artifacts that Clark took and what happened to them in Lynn, MA. Very interesting article.

I have taken several hundred cemetery photos for this blog, and there still can be surprises when I go searching for stone, but this one was among the most difficult to find.

What steps did I take to locate it?

1. Checked FindAGrave. Yes, nice write up and photo of stone. However, it was taken in 2005, and the photo was rather clear, so I thought it would be a piece of cake to find.

2. Went to the Cemetery, and met with a cemetery employee who told me where the burial site was. This is a huge cemetery, you always should try to get directions first. Map and photos of the Lowell Cemetery.

3. Couldn't locate it, went another day with husband, who usually has good luck, and better eyes. But had to go back to the office for the exact location drawn on a map (the plot number was of no use to me without the map).

4. Found it! So what was the problem? The shape of the stone determined what it looked like from two side views. The picture below shows the full design, and the following two photos show a shot from each angle. Figure 2 is the angle taken in 2005 by the FindAGrave photographer.