Samuel James Seymour (March 28, 1860 – April 12, 1956) was an American man who was the last surviving person to witness the
assassination of U.S. President Lincoln on April 14, 1865.
Personal life
Seymour was from
Talbot County, Maryland. His parents, George and Susan Seymour, had a farm near
Easton, Maryland. He later lived in
Arlington,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
. He worked as a carpenter and contractor, and lived most of his later life in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
. He married Mary Rebecca Twilley.
He died April 12, 1956, at the home of his daughter in Arlington, survived by five children, thirteen grandchildren and 35 great-grandchildren. He was buried at Baltimore's
Loudon Park Cemetery
Loudon Park Cemetery is a historic cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland. It was incorporated on January 27, 1853, on of the site of the "Loudon" estate, previously owned by James Carey, a local merchant and politician. The entrance to the cemetery i ...
.
Witness to Lincoln assassination
On April 14, 1865, when Seymour was five years old, Sarah Cook, his nurse, along with his
godmother Mrs. Goldsborough, who was the wife of his father's employer, took him to see ''
Our American Cousin
''Our American Cousin'' is a three-act play by English playwright Tom Taylor. It is a farce featuring awkward, boorish American Asa Trenchard, who is introduced to his aristocratic English relatives when he goes to England to claim the family e ...
'' at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., where they sat in the
balcony
A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor.
Types
The traditional Maltese balcony ...
across the theater from the presidential box.
He saw Lincoln come into the box, waving and smiling. Later, "All of a sudden a shot rang out... and someone in the President's box screamed. I saw Lincoln slumped forward in his seat." Seymour watched
John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838 – April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor who assassinated United States President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the prominent 19th-century Booth ...
jump from the box to the stage. He remembered that, not understanding what had happened to Lincoln, he was very concerned for Booth, who broke his leg, disputedly, in the jump.
In 1954, Seymour gave his account of the assassination to the journalist
Frances Spatz Leighton.
''I've Got a Secret'' appearance
Exactly nine weeks before his death, Seymour appeared on the February 9, 1956, broadcast of the
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
TV
panel show ''
I've Got a Secret
''I've Got a Secret'' is an American panel game show produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman for CBS television. Created by comedy writers Allan Sherman and Howard Merrill, it was a derivative of Goodson-Todman's own panel show, ''What's My Line ...
''. After arriving in New York City he suffered a fall, which left him with a swelling above his right eye. Host
Garry Moore
Garry Moore (born Thomas Garrison Morfit; January 31, 1915 – November 28, 1993) was an American entertainer, comedic personality, game show host, and humorist best known for his work in television. He began a long career with the CBS netwo ...
, after bringing Seymour on stage, explained that he and the show's producers had urged Seymour to forgo his appearance on the show; that Seymour's doctor had left the choice up to his patient; and that Seymour very much wanted to go on.
During the game, Seymour was first questioned by panellist
Bill Cullen, who quickly surmised from Seymour's age that his secret was somehow connected with the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
, then correctly guessed that it had political significance and involved a political figure.
Jayne Meadows
Jayne Meadows (born Jane Cotter; September 27, 1919 – April 26, 2015), also known as Jayne Meadows Allen, was an American stage, film and television actress, as well as an author and lecturer. She was nominated for three Emmy Awards duri ...
then guessed that the political figure was Lincoln, after a fellow contestant jokingly whispered "
McKinley," and finally that Seymour had witnessed Lincoln's assassination. The rules of the show were that he would win $20 for each of the four panellists who failed to guess his secret. Since the secret was guessed by Jayne Meadows, the second of four panellists, he would normally have won only $20 but the host decided to award the entire $80 jackpot to Seymour for his courage in appearing on the show. Also because Seymour smoked a pipe rather than cigarettes, the show's sponsor,
R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
The R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR) is an American tobacco manufacturing company based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and headquartered at the RJR Plaza Building. Founded by R. J. Reynolds in 1875, it is the second-largest tobacco comp ...
gave him a can of
Prince Albert pipe tobacco instead of the usual prize of a carton of
Winston cigarettes
Winston is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by ITG Brands, subsidiary of Imperial Tobacco in the United States and by Japan Tobacco outside the U.S. The brand is named after the town where R. J. Reynolds starte ...
.
See also
*
List of last survivors of historical events
A historical event can be defined as any occurrence from the past regardless of significance, with the term "history" an umbrella term relating to past events and any associated memories, discoveries, collections, organizations, presentations, ...
*
Joseph Hazelton, another famous witness to the assassination
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seymour, Samuel J.
1860 births
1956 deaths
Articles containing video clips
Burials at Loudon Park Cemetery
People associated with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln
People from Arlington County, Virginia
People from Easton, Maryland