NASHVILLE, Mich. – Today in 1865, Abraham Lincoln was laid to rest in his home state of Illinois. The former president was assassinated on April 14, 1865, by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C.
Lincoln was pronounced dead on April 15, 1865. The former president was 56. Booth was caught 14 days after Lincoln’s assassination.
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Twenty-seven men rode with two detectives as they were tracking Booth. According to the History Channel, the search for Booth was one of the largest manhunts in American history. There were 10,000 federal troops, police and detectives looking for the assassin.
Booth was hiding out in a barn at a Virginia farm.
Emory Pardy was one of the men who charged into the burning ban Booth was in to capture him.
What does this have to do with Michigan history?
Well, the man went into the burning barn and caught Lincoln’s assassin founded Nashville, Michigan.
The village is located in Barry County, right next to Hastings. According to the 2010 census, about 1,630 people live in the village.
Pardy founded Nashville in 1870, five years following Lincoln’s assassination. According to the Nashville, Michigan Historical Society, Pardy and his family lived in Nashville for almost 40 years. Pardy worked as a cobbler and the village’s postmaster for many years.
In 1906, Pardy and his family moved to Portland, Oregon, and lived there until he passed away.
In honor of the village’s founder, there’s a park dedicated to him along with a plaque.
Click here to learn more about Emory Pardy from Hastings Cable Access
The chair that Abraham Lincoln was sitting in when he was shot currently can be seen at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn.