Lincoln Assassination Large 1865 Lithograph Collection John T. Ford Family RARE For Sale

Lincoln Assassination LargeLithograph Collection John T. Ford Family

DIMENSIONS: 13.5 x 16.75 inches

DESC: A large display lithographic recreation of the LincolnAssassination. John Wilkes Booth on stage with saber, Mary Lincoln stands inthe Presidential Box. President Lincoln slumps over. This seems to be an illustration for print.The base image has highlights applied with white pigment. Similar to engravingby A. Berghaus, cited in the Ford’s Theatre historic structures report(National Park Service, 1963). This piece has been passed down through theFamily of John T. Ford for four generations.

PERSONS: President Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth

ORGANIZATION: Ford’s Theater D.C.

MATERIAL: Lithograph

CONDITION: Needs conservation, toning and staining. Bumps to corners. See images.

Sold with certificate ofprovenance from Rare Nest Gallery, Chicago -CATALOG #: PMK0004

COLLECTOR BIOGRAPHY: John T. Ford

1829, Baltimore – 1894,Baltimore

Ford was born on April16, 1829. After completing school, he left Baltimore to work for his uncle, atobacco merchant in Richmond, Virginia. Ford did not find the work to hisliking and soon found employment with a bookseller in the city. When he tired ofthat, he returned to Baltimore and found work as the road manager for GeorgeKunkel’s Nightingale Minstrels in 1851. Aftera successful tour with thecompany, Ford, Kunkel and another partner leased the Holliday Street Theatre inBaltimore and Ford was thereafter a theater owner, manager and promoter. Intime, Ford would own the Holliday Street Theatre as well as theaters inRichmond, Philadelphia and three in Washington, D.C., including the one towhich his name is most closely associated, on Tenth Street.

It was there that JohnWilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln. Ford knew most of the best stageperformers of his day and was well acquainted with the Booth family. Because ofhis association with the Booths, his management of the theater and perhapsbecause he was from Maryland, home of most of the assassination conspirators,Ford and two brothers were arrested in the wake of the assassination. TheFederal government held him for 39 days and seized Ford’s Theatre. His closeassociation with the events of the assassination would be linked to Ford forthe rest of his life. In the end, the Federal government compensated Ford forthe loss of his theater and fully exonerated him, so he was able to continuehis success in the theater world. Also, Ford was an active member of Baltimorecivic and business life. Ford married Edith Branch Andrews of Hanover County,Virginia, outside Richmond. They had eleven children who survived to adulthood.Ford died on March 14, 1894 and is buried in Loudon Park Cemetery, Baltimore.Source: Maryland Historical Society

We are selling severalhundred pieces related to John T. Ford, Ford’s Theater and Ford’s descendantswho were all figures in American theater from 1840 – 1970. See my store – category “AmericanTheater History” for updates.