William R. Rathvon
William Roedel Rathvon, CSB, (December 31, 1854 – March 2, 1939), sometimes incorrectly referred to as William V. Rathvon or William V. Rathbone, is the only known eye-witness to Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, of the over 10,000 witnesses, to have left an audio recording of his impressions of that experience in 1938, one year before his death. A graduate of Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and a successful businessman, he became a practitioner of Christian Science healing, served as a public lecturer, Church treasurer and director of The First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston, Massachusetts. He was treasurer from 1911 until he was elected to the Church's Board of Directors from 1918 until his death in 1939. He also served as Mrs. Eddy's corresponding secretary from 1908 to 1910 and is the author of "The Devil's Auction" often republished without attribution as "The Devil's Garage Sale".
Read more about William R. Rathvon: Early Years, Rathvon Hears Lincoln At Gettysburg, Education and Career, Marriage and Family, Rathvon's Recorded Reminicences of Lincoln's Address, Preserving The Recording, Rathvon's Recording Resurfaces, See Also
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“Here lies the body of William Jones
Who all his life collected bones,
Till Death, that grim and boney spectre,
That universal bone collector,
Boned old Jones, so neat and tidy,
And here he lies, all bona fide.”
—Anonymous. “Epitaph on William Jones,” from Eleanor Broughton’s Varia (1925)