John Scott Harrison is unique in American history.
The Vincennes, Indiana, native is the only man to be the son of one American president, William Henry Harrison, and the father of another.
But that’s not what makes his story so remarkable. It’s what happened to his body after his death, when he was laid to rest.
It’s a story of grave robbing, a big market for corpses, and a relentless search that ultimately found John Scott in the most bizarre of situations.
John Scott is among the Harrisons entombed in a vault underneath a massive memorial column to William Henry, high atop a hill overlooking the Ohio River, with views of three states. It’s where the patriarch and ninth president of the United States, chose to spend eternity.
William Henry was not a very admirable man — slave owner and responsible for the slaughter of countless Native Americans.
He served in a the presidency for only one month after being sworn in as president before dying of consumption or pneumonia, allegedly because he delivered his inaugural address in horrible weather in March 1841.
He was born in Virginia but settled in North Bend on Hamilton County’s far West Side, a hop, skip and jump from the Indiana border.
John Scott’s son, Benjamin, the 23rd president, is remembered mostly for filling the four years between Grover Cleveland’s non-consecutive presidential terms.
In that vault today, which is open for all to visit (I’ve done so many times), the remains of the three principles — William Henry, Benjamin and John Scott — lie in eternal repose.
Undisturbed now. That was not always the case.
What happened to John Scott Harrison's body in Cincinnati
John Scott Harrison died on May 25, 1878, at the age of 73. He was entombed with the rest of the family at North Bend.
But not for long.
Within days of his entombment, grave robbers struck and carried him away.
On the day of John Scott’s funeral, the family of Augustus Devin, buried in North Bend in a nearby grave, also had been snatched by grave robbers.
The next day, one of John Scott’s sons — likely Benjamin — and a friend of Devin set off for Cincinnati, armed with court-issued search warrants, to look for Devin’s body, going straight to the Ohio Medical College, which had a reputation for dealing with grave robbers.
What they found was more than they bargained for.
It was astonishing — the naked body of John Scott Harrison, hanging upside down in a chute.
The Ohio Medical College was busted.
Devin’s body was not there. It was later found in a vat of brine at the University of Michigan.
But there was general outrage among the public over the fate of John Scott’s mortal remains.
It led to the passage of the Ohio Anatomy Law of 1881, which gave medical school access to unclaimed bodies, which pretty much put the grave robbers out of business.
Tough luck.
You might want to stop by the vault if you are out in North Bend and thank John Scott for his contributions to medical science.
He’d be glad to see you.
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