Izola Martha Mills

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It is interesting that Mrs. Rogers supports the notion that Izola’s children are John Wilkes’ in this letter. In Ella Mahoney’s 1925 book, Sketches of Tudor Hall and the Booth family, she recounts that, “Mrs. Rogers did not believe her [Izola’s] story, and of course advised her against trying to get the girl’s interests advanced in that capacity, as the daughter of Booth.” Beyond the recollections of Mrs. Rogers, however, there are other, more personal, pieces of evidence that prove that Rose took an interest in Izola’s children and provided for them financially.

The handwriting of the inscription was looked at by a handwriting expert in 1988. Using a letter written by Rose housed in Edwin’s club, The Players, a comparison was made. The inscription in the book was authenticated to be from Rose. Two years before I was born, when my father was sixteen, he joined the merchant marines. Abram could be at sea for a year or more. When his ship returned to Massachusetts for its annual maintenance, he was able to pursue women until the vessel was seaworthy again.The plan to kidnap was proposed by Booth to John Surratt on his own responsibility. (See Surratt’s own lectures). No one else was involved except this little group. They all rejected it at first particularly Arnold and O’Laughlin but they did try once by scouting the Seventh Street Hospital but Salmon Chase was in the carriage, so they reneged.

Junius and Edwin knew their younger brother was popular with the ladies. As he toured around from city to city, he invariably left behind smitten and heartbroken girls. He was called the “handsomest man in America” by some and woman swooned over him. A letter to John from a female admirer found in his trunk at the National Hotel started with the words, “I am about your own age, possibly a few months younger, and you will probably wonder what a woman” before being conveniently torn off. Appropriately then, Junius and Edwin worried that some of John’s former admirers might attempt to take advantage of Mary Ann in her grief by claiming to be John’s fiancée or, worse yet, the mother of his children. BoothieBarn biography of John Wilkes Booth's sister, Rosalie, contains information about Ogarita's mother's claims of Booth paternity. I have written a book about Izola. I know many people will disagree with some parts of the book, but everyone reading the book should come away with the feeling that Izola was a good person. 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. The connection with the Catholics is because Surratt, Weichman and Herold attended St Charles College. They were simply Catholics and Baker denounced the Catolics of Southern Maryland in his book, ‘The United States Secret Service’.Rose subsequently wrote her own letter to Edwin, in part to thank him for the writing desk. Her letter, in full, is as follows: And come on- the most handsome man in America with gold teeth at 27 and in the flower of his youth ?

I must confess I am now beginning to think that Booth may have been murdered or indeed fled the country forever. Rosalie Booth met Izola when she came to see her newborn niece, Ogarita. They formed a friendship that would last their entire lifetime. Izola gave birth to Ogarita. John Wilkes Booth said Ogarita was his daughter. Ogarita said that Izola was her mother and John Wilkes Booth was her father. Father, Mother, and child all agree, there is no mystery here. The Binghamton LEADER reports on OHB’s death in much the same fashion as articles above but on April 15, 1892 it reports that it was not known who she was when buried. It reports that her husband Al Henderson was not working with the Floy Troupe and that he rushed to Binghamton from NYC, arriving just in time to be at the death bed. It is true that John Wilkes Booth was not shot and killed in Garrett’s Barn in Caroline County, Virginia. The man killed in the barn was an unknown Confederate soldier, shot and killed by Sergeant Boston Corbett under direct instructions from the NDP under Colonel Baker and Officer Conger (later promoted to Lt. Colonel for delivering the soldier’s out of date diary (1864) to Baker in Washington). For some nights past she [Mary Ann] insisted that Rose should sleep in the same bed with her – she felt too nervous to be alone, & Rose was asleep beside her, when the nurse woke her & informed her of Mother’s death.”Because of the inept method by which records were kept, hundreds of bodies were never identified,” the 1950 Press recounting says, “Graves were opened and bodies were found missing. Tombstones were found over empty graves.” I do have an increasing interest in two members of the Booth family that are very often left out of discussions regarding the family; Blanche De Bar Booth, and Marion Booth. As you know, both are daughters of Junius Brutus Booth Jr. I only know a few facts about Blanche such as her date of birth & death, and according to what I read she was J. Wilkes Booth’s favorite niece as she was considered to be rather a rebel sharing some if the same views as her uncle John. I read that Blanche was an actress and that she was considered to be one of the most beautiful actress at one point. My father was a sailor, and he was at sea most of the time. I would get to see him for one or two days a year. I hungered for and treasured the time I could spend with him. Yes, I adored him, but now, when I think about it, he was a stranger to me.