Museum to hold tea, birthday celebration
Milford. The Historical Society will celebrate Jeannie Gourlay Struthers.
Milford /
| 22 Dec 2024 | 12:10
Jeannie Gourlay Struthers.
The Lincoln flag at the museum.
On Sunday, December 29, the Pike County Historical Society and Museum will hold a very special tea and birthday celebration in honor of the Scottish born actress who brought the Lincoln flag to Milford and was in the cast at Ford’s Theater the night President Lincoln was shot.
Jeannie Gourlay Struthers was born on December 27, 1844, in Edinburgh, Scotland. She was only 21 years of age when she appeared in the production of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., on that fateful night of April 14, 1865.
The actress, who had left the stage only moments before the shooting, later recalled that Booth ran towards them “waving a great knife. He dashed between us toward the stage door, thrusting me aside with one hand and slashing at Mr. Withers [the orchestra conductor] with the knife.” At this point, few people outside of the theater knew what had just happened inside. In the hours to follow, her father, Thomas, also an actor in the play, is believed to have taken the flag that was used to cushion Lincoln’s head while he lay dying in the Presidential Box. The flag ended up in Jeannie’s care and she brought the blood-stained relic with her to Milford when she moved here in 1888. She ran a boarding house called the Bonnie Burn Cottage and raised her family in Milford. She was known to enjoy her afternoon tea. Jeannie resided here until her death in 1928. The flag would eventually be donated to the Pike County Historical Society in 1954 by her son, Vivian Paul, along with a few of her stage costumes and other items related to her time in the theater. These items are on permanent display, along with The Lincoln Flag, at The Columns Museum in Milford — home of the Pike County Historical Society.
Historical Society President Liz Steen will bring some Scottish tradition to the guests as everyone celebrates Jeannie Gourlay — Milford’s first lady of the theater!
The event starts at 3 p.m. Tickets are $40. Reservations must be made by calling 570-296-8126 or emailing pikemuse@ptd.net.