Petersen House

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( Lock Locked padlock icon ) or means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Sketch of the Petersen House from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, May 20, 1865. The house, owned by William and Anna Petersen, was a boarding house with rooms available for rent. One of the boarders living on an upper floor, Henry Safford, heard the commotion and came downstairs. Safford opened the front door and, on the front porch with a lighted candle in hand, said, “Bring him in here! Bring him in here!” Safford knew that a bedroom at the back of the house was available for the president, with the boarder living there, Willie Clark, gone for the evening celebrating the end of the war. Who were the Petersens? What happened to them during and after the assassination? William Petersen was an immigrant from what is now Germany. He became a United States citizen in 1844. He was a tailor whose shop was located near 8th and E Street, N.W. He and his wife Anna built their boarding house in 1849 to offer rooms for rent. The Petersens had 10 children, but only 5 were living in 1865. 15-year-old Fred, 13-year-old Pauline, and 9-year-old Charles were in the house when the president was brought inside. For unexplained reasons, William Petersen stayed at his shop on 8th Street that evening and only briefly visited the house while the president was there. The responsibility for dealing with the crisis at their home devolved upon 15-year-old Fred. William’s wife Anna was on Easter holiday in New York City with her sister and her daughter Louisa, who was 16. The oldest Petersen child was 20-year-old William Felix Petersen, who worked as a drug store clerk. His whereabouts on the night of April 14th, 1865 are unknown. Following the war, the Petersens faced financial difficulty as business for Mr. Petersen’s tailoring shop dried up. The family also lost most of their boarders following the assassination. None of the renters had privacy any longer, with a constant stream of visitors asking to see the room in which the president died. Many of these visitors were not respectful. Everyone wanted a souvenir, in some instances cutting pieces of carpet from the hallway floor or cutting a square out of the wallpaper from the room. By 1870, records show only two people boarding at the home. The Petersen House, circa 1900. At this time, the house functioned as a museum under the stewardship of Civil War veteran and Lincoln enthusiast Osborn Oldroyd. Oldroyd lived in the home and displayed his collection of Lincoln memorabilia for visitors. William and Anna Petersen owned the house and lived there, probably with four of their children: Charles, Pauline, Fred, and Louisa. Both Anna and Louisa were away in New York City at the time of the assassination. The oldest Petersen child, William F., was likely living elsewhere in Washington. William T. "Willie" Clark was a clerk in the adjutant general’s office originally from Lowell, Massachusetts. He resided in the room where Abraham Lincoln died. Clark was out celebrating the end of the war that night and did not return until the next morning, after Lincoln had passed away in his bed. Exhausted, he fell asleep on the sheets stained with the president's blood. Henry Safford, a 25-year-old War Department clerk, lived upstairs, likely in the front room on the second floor. He directed the men carrying the president across Tenth Street to bring him into the Petersen House. Thomas Proctor, a War Department clerk, was a roommate of Henry Safford’s on the second floor. George and Huldah Francis occupied the first floor's front and back parlors. They sold house furnishings, sewing machines, and hardware from a shop on 7th Street. The Francises vacated their quarters to allow Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and