By Wendy Swanson
Washington, D.C.
Friday, June 17, 2022
Join the Lincoln Group of DC for a uniquely special reception at Joseph Gawler’s Sons LLC, a Washington, DC funeral services provider with historic connections to Abraham Lincoln and other presidents. This is an In-Person, Members Only Event.
Time: June 28, 2022, 6 pm – 8 pm
Location: Gawler’s Sons LLC, 5130 Wisconsin Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20016
This is a free event.
About the Event: The Lincoln Group of DC has been offered a unique perspective on Abraham Lincoln, and members are invited to join us for a free in-person event on June 28th. LGDC member Duane Hills, president of Gawler’s and Sons, will host a reception for the Lincoln Group at their facility on Wisconsin Avenue (a block or so south of our usual Maggiano’s dinner location). This event will be at no charge. This is an in-person only event with no Zoom link.
Members should recall that Duane Hills 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 Washington’s Oak Hill Cemetery following his death from typhoid in 1862. Lincoln reportedly visited his son’s site of internment repeatedly, visits which became the inspiration of the 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 traveling with Lincoln’s body back to Springfield in 1865.
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 Hills will provide hors d’oeuvres and premium wines and beers. Tours and stories will be followed by presentation of door prizes for attendees.
The venue is Gawler’s facility at 5130 Wisconsin Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20016. The Friendship Heights Metro is close by.There is also ample free parking in Gawler’s lot behind the building. Members should enter the front door on the Wisconsin Avenue side of the building.
All members will be receiving an invitation to this event via email or other communication. Please RSVP directly to that communication so we can give Duane an accurate head count.
Questions should be directed to Susan Dennis at 703 532-6188.
The Lincoln Group is excited to bring this unique perspective on Abraham Lincoln to our members. Please join us.