Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/371

 BOOTH.

BOOTH.

but on Jan. 3, 1866, at the urgent solicitation of his friends, he appeared at the Winter Garden theatre as Hamlet, and was received with great enthusiasm. In that month he took a lease of the Boston theatre, and after an extended engagement in that city he went to Philadelphia, where he interpreted Othello, Romeo, Shylock, Richard III., Ruy Bias, Don Csesar de Bazan, Hamlet, Richelieu, Petruchio, Sir Giles and others. On Feb. 1, 1866, he played Richelieu at the Winter Garden, and on Jan. 28, 1867, began a seven weeks' run of "The Merchant of Venice." The theatre was burned March 23, 1867, and Booth lost many articles of value, and all his properties. For two years he travelled to raise the money for "Booth's Theatre," which he erected on 23d street. New York, at a cost of over one million dollars, and which was opened Feb. 3, 1869, with " Romeo and Juliet," Booth playing Romeo to Miss McVicker's Juliet ; "The Moor of Venice" followed, with Edwin Adams and Booth alternating as Othello and Miss McVicker as Desdemona. After Miss Mc- Vicker's marriage to Booth, June 7, 1869, she retired from the stage. Edwin Adams was Booth's leading man during the season of 1869, Lawrence Barrett occupying the same position the following season. In 1873 the theatre was leased to J. B. Booth, Jr., who lost heavily on the venture. On Oct. 25, 1875, Booth produced for the first time " Richard II.,'" at Daly's Fifth avenue theatre, afterwards playing " King Lear." He travelled through the south and west until June, 1876, and in September went to San Francisco, where lie met with ex- ceptional success. He next visited New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and Boston.

In April, 1878, while playing in Chicago, a lunatic fired three times up- on him without effect. In the fall of 1879 he played at Balti- more, Philadel- phia and New York; in 1880 in Boston; in 1880- '81 in London as Hamlet, Oth- ello, Richelieu, Iago,Bertuccio, In 1881-'82 he was at the

THE PLAYERS CLUB

King Lear and Shylock Lyceum with Heniy Irving, and in the summer of 1882 played at the London Adelphi. In 1883 he played in German cities with brilliant results, speaking his part in English. Returning to the

United States he repeated his former successes. He toured the country with Madame Modjeska in 1890, and in April, 1891, retired to the Players' club, which he founded and to which he gave more than $250,000. He died in New York city June 7, 1893.

BOOTH, Henry Matthias, educator, was born in New York city, Oct. 3, 1843 ; son of William Agvir and Louisa (Edgar) Booth ; grandson of William and Mary Ann (Lewis) Booth, and of Matthias Baker and Catherine (Hetfield) Edgar ; and a descendant of Richard Booth who emi- grated from Cheshire, England, between 1G30 and 1640. He was graduated from Williams college in 1864 and from Union theological seminary in 1867 ; was licensed in April, 1867, by the Third Presbytery of New York, and ordained, Sept, 19, 1867, by the Fourth Presbytery of New York. He was pastor of a church at Englewood, N. J., 1867-'91 ; a member of the board of home mis- sions of the Presbyterian church, 1881-91 ; a trustee of Princeton theological seminary, 1890- '92 ; president and professor of practical theology at Auburn theological seminarj% New York, 1893-'99, and a member of the board of church erection, 1874-'79. He received from Williams college the degrees of D.D. in 1878 and LL. D. in 1893. He died at Auburn, N. Y., March 18, 1899.

BOOTH, James Curtis, chemist, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., July 28, 1810. He was gradu- ated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1829; studied chemistry in Europe ; opelied a laboratory in Philadelphia, and was professor of chemistry in the Franklin institute until 1845. He was super- intendent of the smelting and refining process in the U.S. mint 1849-87 and in 1857 at his sugges- tion nickel ore with other alloys was used in the coinage of cents of that year. He directed a geological survey in Delaware. He received the degree LL. D. from Lewisburg in 1867 and Ph. D. from Rensselaer polytechnic institute in 1884, and was president of the American Chemical society 1 883-84. He was assistant editor of the ' ' Encyclo- paedia of chemistry " (1850) ; edited and anno- tated Regnault's Elements of Chemistry, and pub- lished " Recent Improvements in the Cliemical Arts " (1852) and geological reports. He died March 21, 1888.

BOOTH, John Wilkes, actor, was born in Bel Air, Md., in 1838; son of Jimius Brutus and Mary Ann (Holmes) Booth, and the brother of Junius Brutus and Edwin Booth. He was edu- cated for the stage, but his erratic life pre- vented him from rising much above mediocrity. His first appearance on the stage was as Rich- mond in " Richard III.," at St. Charles theatre, Baltimore, in 1856, and his last as Pescara in "The Apostate," at Ford's theatre, W^ashing- ton, D. C, in 1865. In the civil war his sympa- thies were with the south. Early in 1865 he