Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/82

 JEFFERSON

JEFFERSON

in Philadelphia, Washington and Baltimore. In 1826 he was married to Cornelia Frances (Thomas) Burke, the widow of the actor Thomas Burke, and the daughter of a French refugee from the Island of Santo Domingo. For several years Mr. Jefferson was a man- ager in Washington and elsewhere, but re- turned to New York city in 1835, and was con- nected with the Franklin theatre at Niblo's garden. He was manager, scene painter and stage carpenter, being proficient in everything connected with the stage, and was also a very good actor in the roles of old men. He died in Mobile, Ala., Nov. 24, 1842.

JEFFERSON, Joseph, actor, was born in Phil- a'lelphia, Fa., Feb. 20, 1829; son of Joseph and Cornelia Frances (Burke) Jefferson. He was de- scended from a family of actors; his great-grand- father, Thomas Jefferson, was a comedian in the Drury Lane theatre, and subsequently manager at the thea- tre at Richmond. His grandfather, Joseph Jefferson, was the well-known come- dian and manager, and his father, Joseph Jefferson, was an ac- tor of note. His mo- ther was of French descent, and was a popular comic actress and vocalist. Joseph Jefferson, the third, was literally brought up on the stage. While in his infancy he acted as property baby; at three he was a living statue representing Hercules strangling a lion, and at four he was brought on the stage by Thomas B. Rice (Jim Crow), the negro comedian, who emptied him out of a bag. Joseph was dressed as a negro dancer, and went through various antics in imitation of Rice. He appeared at the Franklin theatre. New York city, when eight years old, and took part in a sword combat with " Master Titus," who impersonated a sailor, while Joseph appeared as a pirate. The Jefferson family left New York in 1838, and went to Chicago, where the father took charge of a theatre. After a short season there, with indif- ferent success, they led the life of strolling play- ers, Joseph and his father making a living by sign painting when there was no audience. In 1848 he was playing low comedy parts at the Amphitheatre in Philadelphia, and in 1849 he joined the company of the elder Booth. Under this management he appeared in New York city as Jack Rockville in "Jonathan Bradford," at

Chanfrau's New National theatre, Sept. 10, 1849. He first starred as Asa Trenchard in " Our Amer- ican Cousin," Oct. 18, 1858, which piece ran for one hundred and forty consecutive nights, and was the acknowledged success of the year. In 1859 he joined the dramatic company engaged by Dion Boucicault, and acted the part of Caleb Plummer in the " Cricket on the Hearth." The same year he appeared in "The Octoroon," and in 1860 wrote a new version of " Oliver Twist." He then decided to appear on the English stage, and accordingly, on Nov. 5, 1861, he sailed for Australia, where he remained until 1865, and won renown by his impersonation of Asa Trenchard, Caleb Plummer and the old version of " Rip Van Winkle." He went to England in 1865, and commissioned Boucicault to revise "Rip Van Winkle." Many of the suggestions for changes of this piece came from Jefferson; the third act ■was entirely his conception. The ending of the first act is wholly Boucicault's, and the recog- nition of Rip by his daughter, in the third act, is a modification of the recognition in Shakspere's " King Lear." Jefferson first played this piece in London at the Adelphi theatre, on Sept. 4, 1865, and it met with great success. He returned to New York, Aug. 31, 1866, and produced the play at the Olympic theatre, where it was received with delight. He appeared at McVicar's theatre, in Chicago, Aug. 31, 1868, and produced "Rip Van Winkle" for four weeks, and then substituted for it "The Rivals," in which he made a marked hit as Bob Acres. In 1869 he bought an estate near Yonkers, on the Hudson river, an estate at Hohokus, N.J., and a planta- tion on an island west of Iberia, La. On Aug. 15, 1869, he produced "Rip Van Winkle " at Booth's theatre, Washington, D.C., and remained there until December, 1870, during which time the play had been witnessed by over 150,000 per- sons. From 1880 Mr. Jefferson acted but part of each season, dividing his time mostly between Rip, Bob Acres and Dr. Pangloss. For many winters he spent his time on the plantation at Louisiana, and his summers at his farm in New Jersey; but later in life he made his principal residence his country place at Buzzard's Bay, Mass. He was twice rriarried: first, on May 19, 1850, to Margaret Clements Lockyer, an actress of ability, who died in March, 1861; and secondly, on Dec. 20, 1867, to Sarah Isabel, daughter of Henry Warren. His favorite avocation was painting in oils, and he won a reputation as an amateur landscape artist. In the fall of 1900 he withdrew temporarily from the stage, secured a studio in Washington, D.C., and there placed on exhibition a considerable number of his paint- ings, and his friends made the occasion a social ovation to the actor-artist.