One of the four houses that comprise the Woodman Museum in Dover NH is the Hale House, Home of former U.S. Senator and Abolitionist John Parker Hale. Born on March 31st, 1806 in Rochester, NH, Hale would purchase the home in 1840 from the founder of the Dover Manufacturing Company, later known as the Cocheco Mill and Printworks, John Williams. Originally a Democrat in Congress, Hale was kicked out of the Democratic Party after he voted against annexation of Texas and the spread of Slavery. Hale would return later join the Free-Soil Party, a pro-abolition party, and run as a Presidential candidate in the election of 1852. He would ultimately lose to the election to his political rival in New Hampshire, Franklin Peirce. He would return to Congress in 1855 as a member of the Republican Party where we would serve until 1865.[1] Hale’s career is defined by his efforts to end the institution of Slavery in the United States, from introducing multiple legislative actions in Congress to serving as legal counsel for abolitionists and the Enslaved [2] However, there is a dark mark on the Hale family’s legacy.

Following the assassination of President Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth would be shot dead by one of the soldiers that found him.[3] Among the contents of his pockets, the soldiers would find a picture of Senator Hale’s daughter, Lucy. Why would the picture of the daughter of one of the most ardent abolitionist Senators be found in the pocket of a pro- Confederacy assassin? As historian E. Lawrence Abel argued, it was because the two carried on a secret love affair. Whatever the circumstances of their meeting were, Lucy Hale received a love letter on Valentine’s Day 1862 from Booth.[4] Despite attempts to cover up the discovery of Lucy Hale’s picture, word still got out.[5] In 1878, a series of news articles would accuse Lucy of the scandal and assert that she had been in a love triangle between Booth and Robert Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln’s oldest son.[6]

You can learn more about Senator Hale and Lucy Lambert Hale by visiting the Woodman Museum in Dover, NH. Click here to visit the museum’s webpage for hours and admission information.

[1] “Hale, John Parker (1806-1873).” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 2019. http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=h000034 Accessed 11 DEC 2019.
[2] Sewell, Richard H. “John P. Hale and the Politics of Abolition”. 1965. Harvard University Press. Pg. 152
[3] Abel, E. Lawrence. “John Wilkes Booth and the Women Who Loved Him”. 2018. Regnery History. Washington DC. Pg. 217
[4] Abel, E. Lawrence. “John Wilkes Booth and the Women Who Loved Him”. 2018. Regnery History. Washington DC. Pg. 177
[5] Abel, E. Lawrence. Pg. 219
[6] Abel, E. Lawrence. Pg. 248