Clara Harris

Clara Harris
Harris photographed by Mathew Brady (ca. 1860–1865)
Born	Clara Hamilton Harris (1834-09-04)September 4, 1834 Albany, New York, U.S.
Died	December 23, 1883(1883-12-23) (aged 49) Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, Germany
Cause of death	Murder by gunshot
Resting place	Stadtfriedhof Engesohde (disinterred in 1952)
Nationality	American
Spouse(s)	Henry Rathbone (m. 1867–83)
Children	Henry Riggs Rathbone Gerald Lawrence Rathbone Clara Pauline Rathbone
Parent(s)	Ira Harris Louisa Tubbs Harris

Clara Hamilton Harris (September 4, 1834 – December 23, 1883) was an American socialite. Harris and her fiancé, Major Henry Rathbone, were the guests of President Lincoln and First Lady Mary Lincoln when John Wilkes Booth fatally shot the President at Ford's Theatre in April 1865.

Harris was born in Albany, New York, one of four children of U.S. Senator Ira Harris of New York, and his first wife Louisa Harris (née Tubbs). Harris' mother Louisa died in 1845. On August 1, 1848, Ira Harris married Pauline Rathbone (née Penney), the widow of Jared L. Rathbone, a successful merchant who later became the mayor of Albany. Jared and Pauline Rathbone had four children (two of whom, Anna and Charles, died in infancy) including sons, Jared, Jr. and Henry Rathbone.

Although Harris and Henry Rathbone were raised in the same household and were related by their parents' marriage, they fell in love and later became engaged. Their engagement was interrupted when the American Civil War broke out in 1861. Henry Rathbone joined the Union Army that year and eventually rose to the rank of Major.

On April 14, 1865, Major Rathbone and his fiancee Clara accepted an invitation to see a play at Ford's Theatre from President Abraham Lincoln and his wife, First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln. The couple, who had been friends with the President and his wife for some time, were invited after Ulysses S. Grant and his wife Julia, Thomas Eckert and several other people had declined Mrs. Lincoln's invitation to the play.