Richard Mudd

Richard Dyer Mudd, M.D. (January 24, 1901, Washington, D.C. - May 21, 2002) was the grandson of Sarah Frances Dyer Mudd and Dr. Samuel Alexander Mudd who was convicted in aiding John Wilkes Booth upon the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
Richard Mudd attended Gonzaga College High School. He earned a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University in 1921, followed by a master's of art in 1922. He earned his medical degree from Georgetown in 1926, did his residency at Ford Hospital in Detroit, and was named the medical director for Chevrolet Saginaw Grey Iron Foundry in 1936.
"Dr. Dick", as he was known to his family, worked unsuccessfully throughout his life to try to clear his grandfather's name from the crime. His ultimate goal was to have the federal government refute the conviction made based on what he claimed was a lack of evidence that proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Samuel Mudd indeed recognized Booth when he treated broken leg after he shot Lincoln. He was happy to sign autographs for local children.
During his entire adult life, Dr. Mudd carried out extensive correspondence with members of the Mudd family. In 1951, he published his accumulated research in a two-volume work entitled "The Mudd Family in the United States." Twenty years later, in 1971, he published a second edition. This 1,835 page genealogy of the Mudd family is the most comprehensive genealogical study ever produced on any American family.
Between 1961 and 1989, he also published six editions of a small 57 page booklet, Dr. Samuel Alexander Mudd and His Descendants, through Bastion Brothers and Co. Publishing House.
After Dr. Mudd's death in 2002, the Family History Center in Salt Lake City, Utah microfilmed Dr. Mudd's genealogical files before the originals were donated to the Maryland State Archives. The resulting 36 reels of microfilm represent the largest single microfilm project ever conducted by the Family History Center.

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