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Henry Reed Rathbone ( July 1 1837 – August 14 1911 ) was present at the assassination of Abraham Lincoln , and was sitting with his Fiancée , Clara Harris , next to the President and his wife at the time of its occurrence. Henry R. Rathbone was born in Albany New York , and was the son of Jared L. Rathbone, a merchant and businessman, who later became Albany's mayor. At the time of his father's death, Rathbone inherited the very considerable sum of two hundred thousand dollars from his family's estate. His widowed mother, Pauline Rathbone, remarried Judge Ira Harris , who was appointed U.S. Senator from New York, after William H. Seward became Lincoln's Secretary of State. As a result of this marriage, Senator Ira Harris became Rathbone's Step-father , and his daughter, Clara Harris , became Rathbone's Step-sister . Rathbone pursued a military career, and by the end of the American Civil War had attained the rank of Major . On Good Friday , April 14 1865 , U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln , decided to attend a performance of the play, '' Our American Cousin '' at Ford's Theater . The Lincolns invited several people to accompany them, including General Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, but all of them declined for various reasons. Mrs. Lincoln finally invited Major Rathbone and Clara Harris, and they accepted. The young couple had recently become Engaged . Although technically brother and sister, they were not related by blood. During the play, 1865 . Rathbone recovered from his wounds and married Clara Harris on July 11 1867 . They had three children. In 1882 , Rathbone was appointed U.S. Consul to Hannover , Germany , and his family accompanied him there. For some time there had been signs of mental instability in Rathbone, which culminated in his murdering his wife, Clara, on December 23 1883 . The children, who were also almost killed by their father, went to live with their uncle, William Harris, in the United States. Henry Rathbone spent the rest of his life in the asylum for the criminally insane in Hildesheim , Germany . He was buried in Hildesheim, next to Clara. His grave, and his wife's, were destroyed in 1952, as they had been abandoned and unattended since her death in 1883, and his death in 1911. His eldest son, Henry Riggs Rathbone (1870-1928), was a U.S. Congressman , from Illinois . SEE ALSO |
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