A FUNERAL DIRECTOR FOLLOWS HIS HEART: The 2018-2020 Carroll Mausoleum Project Oak Hill Cemetery – Washington, D.C.

My friend, Duane Hills, president of Joseph Gawler’s Sons, a Washington, D.C., funeral home, has been fascinated with Abraham Lincoln since 4th grade.

After moving to Washington, Duane read the book, “Twenty Days,” which gave the full account of Lincoln’s funerals and burial. Included was the story of Lincoln’s son Willie’s passing and how his body was placed in the Carroll Mausoleum in Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown.

On his first visit to Oak Hill Cemetery, Duane found the Carroll family mausoleum.

Standing in front of the tomb’s iron gate, Duane peeked through the gate’s twisted iron design to see the crypts inside, but found nothing to explain the presence of Willie’s remains, which had so profoundly affected the emotions of a father, who happened to be the President of the United States.”

In the early spring of 2015, he could no longer sit silently. The funeral director wanted to help tell the poignant story of a father’s love and loss, so he approached the Oak Hill Cemetery board of directors, asking permission to place a marker.

It’s important to know the Carroll Mausoleum’s story from the beginning: William Wallace (Willie) Lincoln, age 11, died in the White House at 5 p.m., on Thursday, February 20, 1862. The cause of death: Typhoid fever.

Willie’s remains were placed in a metallic coffin that resembled rosewood. A silver plate inscribed with his name and dates of birth and death rested on top.

The mourners then moved, in a somber procession, to Oak Hill Cemetery in the Georgetown neighborhood. There Willie’s body was placed in the Renwick Chapel, located on Oak Hill’s grounds, for a brief service and prayer.

His remains were then carried down a steep embankment to the cemetery’s lower terrace, where they were encrypted inside the William Thomas Carroll mausoleum, erected in 1857 by the father of William Carroll, Clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court during Lincoln’s administration.

This temporary space was offered to the Lincoln’s by Carroll, who -- along with a political friend of the Lincoln’s from Illinois, Orville H. Browning -- went to the cemetery and inspected the mausoleum the day before Willie’s remains were placed there. The intention was, when Lincoln’s term as president ended, Willie’s remains would accompany his parents back to Springfield, Illinois for burial.

History records President Lincoln making several trips on horseback to the mausoleum in the days following Willie’s death. To accommodate the President, cemetery officials would bring the coffin out of its crypt and the President would spend time with his deceased son.

When President Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, Willie’s coffin was removed from the Carroll mausoleum and placed on the funeral train carrying Lincoln home to Springfield.

As he embarked on this two-year project, Duane’s first assignment was to find -- and then seek permission to place a marker from -- the survivors of William Thomas Carroll. With the help of the cemetery, he contacted a Carroll great grand-son who lived in Chevy Chase, Maryland. The director was surprised at the quick response.

With permission in hand, Duane went before Oak Hill Cemetery’s Board of Directors to offer his formal proposal, complete with a detailed drawing of a granite marker, crafted of Barre Gray granite from Vermont with a steeled finish. A bronze plaque would be attached to the marker’s sloped granite face.

On January 8, 2016, with much excitement, Duane Hills, funeral director and private citizen, placed the marker to the Carroll Mausoleum. The crew carefully and reverently placed the marker so visitors can look through the gate and read the inscription:

William Wallace “Willie “Lincoln

(1850 - 62)

“Third son of Abraham and Mary Lincoln rested here from 2/24/1862, until his remains accompanied his father’s casket to their final resting place in Springfield, Illinois, on 4/2/1865. William Thomas Carroll, Supreme Court Clerk and family friend offered Lincoln a temporary place of repose for Willie in the Carroll Family Mausoleum. The President, sad to leave his son cold and alone, made several trips to visit. During these visits, President Lincoln had cemetery personnel open the crypt and casket.”