Lincoln, Willie, and Mausoleums - History at Gawler's Funeral Home

Lincoln Group member Duane Hills, president of Gawler’s and Sons, will host a reception for a limited number of our members at the funeral home on June 28. This will be in-person only, no Zoom particiaption. Duane wrote a wonderful article in the Summer 2021 Lincolnian newsletter about the placement of Willie Lincoln’s body in the William Thomas Carroll mausoleum in the Georgetown Oak Hill Cemetery. Willie died from typhoid in 1862. Lincoln reportedly visited his son’s site of internment repeatedly. This inspired a bestselling novel, Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders. Hills’s article documented his successful efforts to install a marker commemorating the historic internment of Willie’s remains in the mausoleum, where they stayed until removed to accompany his father's body on the train back to Springfield.

Gawler’s has more Lincoln connections. Duane Hills will relate stories of their connections in burying two of the Lincoln conspirators. They also handled services for some of the physicians that attended Lincoln on his death bed. And then there is the actual casket that held Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, the last undisputed direct descendant of the Lincoln family. The facility also has a museum room displaying their history since their founding in 1850 and relationships with Lincoln and other presidents (not to mention Edwin Stanton and Gideon Welles).

This free event will feature a reception in the Sequoia Room on the second floor, where refreshments will be provided. Tours and stories will be followed by presentation of door prizes for attendees. The Gawler’s facility at 5130 Wisconsin Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20016, two blocks south of Maggiano’s. The Friendship Heights Metro is close. There is also ample free parking in Gawler’s lot behind the building. Enter the front door on the Wisconsin Avenue side of the building. RSVPs from dues-paid members will have their attendance confimed by email.