Izola Martha Mills

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With the recent inauguration of a new United States president, I was reminded of some of the odd bits of presidential history. I found once such story in my sister-in-law's family tree. Martha Lizola Mills; her daughter, Ogarita Elizabeth Bellows; and her granddaughter, Izola Louis Hills, all believed Martha was the secret wife of John Wilkes Booth, the person many witnessed assassinated then president Abraham Lincolon. They also believed Booth escaped and lived several more years and that he fathered a son with Martha Lizola after Lincoln's assassination. Izola Forrester’s book is filled with claims of gifts, letters, and money that flowed from Rose to Izola and her children. Edwin’s letter seems to corroborate the passage of a great deal of funds from Rose to the imposter. In the Forrester papers, there are no surviving letters from Rose. There is, however, a gift that Rose sent to Izola Mills. This gift takes the form of a book of poems, published in 1881, entitled, Donata and other Poems, by Adidnac. An inscription inside the book reads: The burial lot is in the southern end of the cemetery, to the right of the main entrance. Mr. Edwin Booth, upon whose left arm leaned Mrs. [Marie] Anderson, a bosom friend of his sister, and at whose house she died, took a position on the north side of the grave. Miss Marion Booth stood next. The other members of the party gathered near. Rev. Wroth recited the impressive funeral service of the Episcopal Church. Mr. Booth seemed much depressed. What is so frustrating to me is that (, just like Rosalie,) only ONE image of Blanche De Bar Booth is available, at least to my knowledge, and I have NEVER been able to locate an image of Marion Booth at all. One would think that of all the different museums involving the Booth family that at least a few photos of these rather obscure women in the family should be some where and made available.

However this story gives me a clue that what you say about Kate Scott may have some substance to it. The reason I question it is because she was connected to Andrew Potter in sharing a will ( supposedly found in a certain Bear Cave in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia?), most of it to be inherited by Sarah. Potter was supposedly deligated by General Lew Wallace under President Grant to investigate other murders surrounding Lincoln’s death and to possibly trace Booth. The Leader reports that Al Henderson and the couple’s young daughter were the only two people to follow the hearse to Glenwood Cemetary. She went on in 1937 to write “This One Mad Act” as seen in the Wiki link. Mr. Hulbert, and many of his family members, including his father, who is probably the man who placed Ogarita Booth Henderson in her grave, are all buried on a steep ravine in Glenwood Cemetery. Their plots are a stones throw from her grave. Random pieces of tombstones can be seen dotting the ravine, some of them working their way into a brook, washing away into a storm drain. Aswad, Ed; Meredith, Suzanne M. (2002). Broome County 1850-1940. Arcadia Publishing. p.115. ISBN 0-738-51075-0. A city inspector named George A. Lincoln was assigned to oversee the exodus to Glenwood Cemetery. He kept a diary of the goings-on. His March 6th entry is peculiar:

In October 1882, she appeared in the W. E. Sterling & Marie Wellesley Company and appeared on stage in such roles as Eliza in Uncle Tom's Cabin (also Izola's stage debut, as Little Harry). Another play Henderson was in at this time was The Old Cross! or The Dogs of the Forest. In the same play was Alexander Henderson (1850–1920), a London-born musical director and actor who grew up in Scotland and came to the United States in the 1870s. The two married around 1884. Henderson appeared on stage with Lillian Russell and Edward Solomon in their 1885 winter tour. [4] In 1885, the couple had a daughter, Beatrice Rosalie "Booth" Henderson, who followed the family tradition and became an actress, and later in life ran a summer theater in Keene, New Hampshire and directed plays in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in the winter. In 1884, Henderson began using the stage name "Rita Booth", which she did for the last eight years of her life. The Lincoln Murder Conspiracies: Being an Account of the Hatred Felt by Many Americans for President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and the First Complete Examination and Refutation of the Many Theories, Hypotheses, and Speculations Put Forward since 1865 Concerning Those Presumed to Have Aided, Abetted, Controlled, or Directed the Murderous Act of John Wilkes Booth in Ford's Theater the Night of April 14, by William Hanchett, 1983 Draft copy of “John Wilkes Booth’s Enigmatic Brother Joseph” by John C. Brennan provided by Art Loux. On March 18 th, 1868, Asia moved to England with her husband, John Sleeper Clarke, and her children. Though she wrote of her hope to return to America in a few years or so, only her corpse made the return trip to be buried in the family lot at Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore. With the main chronicler of the Booths across the ocean, the records dissipate considerably.

As to Izola at Harper’s Ferry this maybe true but i question she was Booth’s wife. In his letter to his mother he never mentioned a wife and she replied to him about being careful in his decision to marry. She seemed happy enough that he was thinking of marrying Lucy Hale the daughter of Senetor Hale however. Only a handful of known documents exist that prove a relationship existed between Rose and the con-artist Izola Mills. The most open and honest account of their relationship comes from a letter written by Mrs. Elijah Rogers. Mrs. Rogers was a neighbor of the Booths when they lived on their farm near Bel Air and is mentioned in a couple of Asia’s “Tudor Hall” letters. Mrs. Rogers apparently kept in touch with the Booths, to some extent, after they moved from Tudor Hall. In 1886, a Baltimore doctor by the name of William Stump Forwood was working on a biography of Junius Brutus Booth, the elder. He wrote to Mrs. Rogers, asking her about the life of the Booth family in Bel Air. She, in return wrote him six letters of her reminiscences. While her memories must be taken with a grain of salt, in a letter Mrs. Rogers wrote on August 16 th, she mentions quite openly Izola and her children: After she married Abram, mother and I had a new name. Mother became Izola Mills, and I became Martha Lizola Mills. Mother was relieved and believed we were now respectable, but the church and my mother’s neighbors could not forgive her for giving birth to me.Ogarita Elizabeth Booth Henderson (née Bellows; October 23, 1859 – April 12, 1892) was an American stage actress. Henderson maintained that she was the daughter of actor John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln in April 1865. John and I had a farm near Harpers Ferry. Two weeks after John shot Lincoln, he returned to our farm. I took care of him while his leg healed. Later, I helped him leave the country. Izola Forrester was born November 15, 1878, in Pascoag, Rhode Island. Her mother was Ogarita "Rita" Booth, a stage actress who believed herself to be the daughter of John Wilkes Booth, and used his last name. Her father was George Wallingford Hills, a Harvard College student. They never married. Ogarita Booth was briefly married to William Ross Wilson before marrying Alexander Henderson, who was a director of musicals and light operas. They had two children, Beatrice Henderson Clutts Colony (1885-1961) and Charles Henderson (1886-1888). Forrester often acted on stage with her mother, but for periods of her childhood, she lived with her maternal grandmother, Izola Martha Mills, her cousin, Hanson Pike Gilman, and with George and Harriet Forrester. Following Ogarita Henderson's death on April 12, 1892, Izola Forrester went to live permanently with the Forresters, who formally adopted her on January 6, 1893. John [Wilkes Booth] had one daughter Ogretia and one son Alonso. Ogretia was beautyfull. Alonso was very much like the old Mr Richard Booth. Johns wife is still living. her name was Izalia. I do not know her maiden name. John told Roslie he would give her two oil wells, and he wished her to take care of those two children, which she did, although they were with there Mother. Rosie calls them her Children. John was not married to there Mother. after Johns Death Izalia she went with the Children A way to the Ilenoiise. they the Children are both married now. poor Children… None of the family takes any account of John Wilks’ Children but Roslie. she is very kind to them: does not visit them, but sends them money every spring and fall. calls them her Children.”

As was discussed at the beginning of this biographical sketch, had Rosalie Ann Booth been born into a family other than the Booths, her life would have been considered a normal one for the time period. Though she did not marry and certainly had a prolonged period of loneliness after the death of her mother, descriptions of her as having perpetual “neurotic moodiness” or of being mentally inept, do not appear to be justified. In the light of family letters and memoirs, Rosalie is shown to be a devoted and caring soul. While she never achieved the fame (or infamy) of her parents and siblings, she clearly supported and loved them dearly. She was a witness to the darkest times in the Booth family, of which they had more than their fair share, but she was also a participant in some of the happiest moments in their lives. Though often forgotten or ignored today, Rosalie was a Booth and, therefore, an influential figure in American history. But think of it like this….as the years go by, what if SOMEONE who is currently looking into the subject of OGARITA BOOTH HENDERSON comes along. SHE is the obscure ITEM brought forth in some clarity here. WHAT if they BRING FORTH something NEW about HER.Rose was well loved by her siblings. In January of 1854, Junius Jr. was visiting from California with his wife and new baby, Marion. Junius gave Marion the middle name of Rosalie, in honor of the sister he was closest in age to. Edwin Booth made his return to the Booth family farm in 1856 after an absence of four years. During this time he had made a name and, more importantly, a fortune for himself by acting in California. He had also toured Australia and played before King Kamehameha IV in Hawaii. When Edwin witnessed the poverty that his family was living in on the farm, he whisked them away and put them up in a home in Baltimore. The family would never live at Tudor Hall again. As for Ogarita Booth being shown to claim relation to John Wilkes Booth before her death, there is this, which is from seven years before her death in Binghamton. This is from the New York Times in 1885, and though the meaning of the thrust behind the article is not explained, this article does show that she was able to present herself without apparent question as the daughter of John Wilkes Booth to at least one New York Times reporter.