Booth family - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Booth family were an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

-American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

theatrical

Theatre

Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

family of the 19th century. It's most famous and well known members were Edwin Booth

Edwin Booth

Edwin Thomas Booth was a famous 19th century American actor who toured throughout America and the major capitals of Europe, performing Shakespearean plays. In 1869 he founded Booth's Theatre in New York, a spectacular theatre that was quite modern for its time...

, one of the leading actors of his day, and John Wilkes Booth

John Wilkes Booth

John Wilkes Booth was an American stage actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. Booth was a member of the prominent 19th century Booth theatrical family from Maryland and, by the 1860s, was a well-known actor...

, who assassinated Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

.

The patriarch was Junius Brutus Booth

Junius Brutus Booth

Junius Brutus Booth was an English actor. He was the father of John Wilkes Booth , Edwin Booth , and Junius Brutus Booth, Jr., an actor and theatre manager...

, a London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

-born lawyer's son who eventually became an actor after he attended a production of Othello at the Covent Garden theatre. The prospects of fame, fortune and freedom were very appealing to young Booth, and he displayed remarkable talent from an early age, deciding on a career in the theatre by the age of seventeen. He performed roles in several small theaters throughout England, and joined a tour of the Low Countries in 1814, returning the following year to make his London debut.

Booth abandoned his wife and their young son in 1821 and ran off to the United States with Mary Ann Holmes, a London flower girl. Settling in Harford County near Baltimore, Booth and Mary had 10 children together, 6 of whom survived to adulthood. There he built a still existing house in 1847 naming it "Tudor Hall", and started a family with his mistress.

Junius Sr. and Edwin toured the Western United States during the Gold Rush

Gold rush

A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...

, performing plays by Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

for illiterate miners, who nevertheless had no tolerance for bad acting. Edwin Booth bought an interest in the Winter Garden Theatre at 667 Broadway in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

together with his brother-in-law John Sleeper Clarke

John Sleeper Clarke

John Sleeper Clarke , 19th century American comedian and actor, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and was educated for the law. In his boyhood he was a schoolmate of Edwin Booth who was born in the same year as he, and with whom he engaged in amateur dramatic readings as members of the Baltimore...

. The brothers John Wilkes, Edwin, and Junius Brutus, Jr. performed there in the play Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar (play)
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, also known simply as Julius Caesar, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It portrays the 44 BC conspiracy against...

at a benefit in 1864, the only time they were seen together on a stage, playing Mark Antony, Brutus and Cassius, respectively.

Notable members

Junius Brutus Booth
Junius Brutus Booth
Junius Brutus Booth was an English actor. He was the father of John Wilkes Booth , Edwin Booth , and Junius Brutus Booth, Jr., an actor and theatre manager...

(1796-1852), brought his mistress
Mistress (lover)
A mistress is a long-term female lover and companion who is not married to her partner; the term is used especially when her partner is married. The relationship generally is stable and at least semi-permanent; however, the couple does not live together openly. Also the relationship is usually,...

Mary Ann Holmes, who bore him 10 children, to the United States.
- Junius Brutus Booth, Jr.
  Junius Brutus Booth, Jr.
  Junius Brutus Booth, Jr. was an American actor and theatre manager.As a member of the illustrious Booth family of actors, Junius Brutus Booth, Jr. was overshadowed not only by his father Junius, Sr...
  
  (1821-1883), married to Agnes Booth
  Agnes Booth
  -References:* Asia Booth Clarke . The Elder and the Younger Booth, Boston: J.R. Osgood and Co.* McKay and Wingate . Famous American Actors of To-day, New York: T. Y. Crowell....
  
  . Junius Jr. never achieved the same fame as his brothers, but his third wife Agnes was popular.
  - Their son Sydney Barton Booth (1877-1937) was an actor well into the era of modern film
- Edwin Booth
  Edwin Booth
  Edwin Thomas Booth was a famous 19th century American actor who toured throughout America and the major capitals of Europe, performing Shakespearean plays. In 1869 he founded Booth's Theatre in New York, a spectacular theatre that was quite modern for its time...
  
  (1833-1893), came to be the foremost American Shakespearean actor of his day. He founded The Players, a New York City
  New York City
  New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
  
  actors' club which continues to the present day.
  - Edwin's grandson Edwin Booth Grossman was a painter of some note.
- Asia Booth
  Asia Booth
  Asia Frigga Clarke , was the youngest daughter in the family of ten children born to Junius Brutus Booth and his wife Mary Ann Holmes. Her famous brothers were Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth...
  
  (1835-1888), married John Sleeper Clarke
  John Sleeper Clarke
  John Sleeper Clarke , 19th century American comedian and actor, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and was educated for the law. In his boyhood he was a schoolmate of Edwin Booth who was born in the same year as he, and with whom he engaged in amateur dramatic readings as members of the Baltimore...
  
  , an actor/comedian who was briefly imprisoned in the aftermath of the assassination. They then emigrated to Britain where he became a successful theatre manager.
  - Creston Clarke and Wilfred Clarke, sons of John and Asia, were noted actors in their day.
- John Wilkes Booth
  John Wilkes Booth
  John Wilkes Booth was an American stage actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. Booth was a member of the prominent 19th century Booth theatrical family from Maryland and, by the 1860s, was a well-known actor...
  
  (1838-1865), a popular young star in less serious fare than his brother. A Confederate
  Confederate States of America
  The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
  
  sympathizer during the American Civil War
  American Civil War
  The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
  
  . During a play attended by Abraham Lincoln
  Abraham Lincoln
  Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
  
  , Booth took advantage of his access to the theatre to invade the President's box and assassinate him
  Abraham Lincoln assassination
  The assassination of United States President Abraham Lincoln took place on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, as the American Civil War was drawing to a close. The assassination occurred five days after the commanding General of the Army of Northern Virginia, Robert E. Lee, and his battered Army of...
  
  , but was killed days later by Union soldiers.

External links

A Brief Description of John Wilkes Booth's Family, from the Surratt
Mary Surratt
Mary Elizabeth Jenkins Surratt was an American boarding house owner who was convicted of taking part in the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. Sentenced to death, she was hanged, becoming the first woman executed by the United States federal government. She was the mother of John H...

House Museum
Tudor Hall, the Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

-area homestead of Junius Booth, Sr.
Ford's Theatre, where Lincoln was assassinated
Harper's Weekly contemporary account of the assassination
Death of John Wilkes By his killer
Family Plot at Green Mount Cemetery near Baltimore
Family history at their house
Letters of Edwin Booth to his daughter and friends
the memory palace podcast episode about Edwin, Junius Sr., and John Wilkes Booth

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Notable members

See also

External links