Major Henry Rathbone (July 1, 1837 – August 14, 1911)Clara Harris(1834 - December 23, 1883)

Henry Rathbone was born in Albany, New York, in 1837. Rathbone joined the Union Army in 1861 and during the American Civil War reached the rank of major. After his father's death, his mother married the New York senator, Ira Harris. In 1865 he became engaged to his step-sister, Clara Harris, who was born in 1845. After her mother died her father married Rathbone's mother. On April 14, 1865, Clara and Rathbone accompanied President Abraham Lincoln and his wife to Ford's Theatre on and were present during his assassination. On that day, President Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, had invited several people to attend the play "Our American Cousin", including General Ulysses S. Grant and his wife. All had declined her invitation, for a variety of reasons. Mrs. Lincoln then asked the young couple to join the Presidential party and they accepted. During the play, the famous American actor, John Wilkes Booth, entered the Presidential box and shot the President in the back of the head with a derringer. Rathbone, who tried to thwart the assassin's escape, was severely wounded by Booth, who wielded a large dagger and attacked him. Rathbone was slashed and stabbed, primarily in his left arm, and collapsed from a loss of blood. Rathbone eventually recovered from his injuries and later married Clara on July 11, 1867. When Grover Cleveland became president he appointed Rathbone as his consul to Germany. Rathbone's behavior became more erratic and he appeared to become jealous of his wife's attentions to the children. On December 23, 1883, Rathbone murdered his wife and attempted to commit suicide. 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.