•
Junius Brutus Booth (1796–1852) brought his
mistress Mary Ann Holmes, who bore him 10 children, to the United States. • He also wrote many letters in fits of drunken anger and madness to President
Andrew Jackson threatening assassination. He requested that two prisoners who had been sentenced to death for piracy, named De Ruiz and De Soto, be pardoned, or else: "I will cut your throat whilst you are sleeping." This letter would later be recanted by Junius, stating, "May god preserve General Jackson and this happy republic." •
Junius Brutus Booth Jr. (1821–1883) was married to
Agnes Booth. 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 Thomas Booth (1833–1893) came to be the foremost American Shakespearean actor of his day. He founded
The Players, a New York City actors' club which continues to the present day. His second wife,
Mary McVicker, was an actress. • Edwin's grandson Edwin Booth Grossman was a painter of some note. •
Asia Frigga Booth (1835–1888) married
John Sleeper Clarke, 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 (1838–1865) was a popular young star in less serious fare than his brothers. • A
Confederate sympathizer during the
American Civil War, during a play attended by
Abraham Lincoln, Booth took advantage of his access to the theatre to invade the President's box and
assassinate the President. He was killed 12 days later by
Union soldier
Boston Corbett. •
Edwina Booth Grossman (1861–1938) daughter of Edwin Booth, and the author of
Edwin Booth: Recollections by His Daughter, Edwina Booth Grossman, and Letters to Her and to His Friends (1894). ==See also==