"Booth" Was Not John Wilkes Real Last Name?

[L Verge]

I would trust Terry on this also. I do not know of any other historian who has so carefully and meticulously studied John Wilkes Booth for years as has he. Some of Izola's descendants are members of the Surratt Society. One is especially high-placed in the theatrical world and we have corresponded. If I remember and have time, I will contact her to see what her thoughts are. She was good friends with James O. Hall, and I know that he worked with the family to prove or disprove Izola's story.

[Christine]

Interesting discussion. I am always interested in Booth surname discussions since my husband's family are Booths from South Carolina and Alabama (before JWB's family was in America). I am a bit surprised, though, that no research has done on his family! Wish I could find our Booth's origin.

I just pulled up his record on familysearch and his pedigree chart stops with his grandfather Richard Booth. But those trees are only as good as the research. I did find a couple of records of his father and his first wife; according to the records her name was Marie Christine Adalaide Booth. Darn it, now I'm curious, but I still have the kitchen to clean

[marieandlouis]

Christine- I found on Facebook some Booth's. I don't know if you read my first post on this thread , but look up "Booth Family History" on Facebook and you can see if your husband's family are related to them. You never know.

[L Verge]

The earliest Booth that I have read about is John Booth, the silversmith father of Richard Booth, the father of Junius Brutus Booth and sister, Jane, and of course, the children sired by Junius with Adelaide Delannoy and then Mary Ann Holmes. That line, alone, should carry the name back to at least the early-1700s.

I had a visitor at Surratt House yesterday who said that she was related to JWB. Her only knowledge was that she was from Harford County, and somehow it was through her father's line. The name did not even come close to being "Booth." Unless Junius The Elder made the rounds of Harford County when not on an acting trip, I could not figure out where this woman's ancestors would fit in. I have never heard of him having eyes for anyone but Mary Ann after he met her.

[michael snyder]

Michael Kauffman is his book American Brutus and in the article on the Lincoln Assassination he did for Blue Gray in Apr. 1990 states that Booth's ancestors were expelled from Portugal for holding what he called "radical political views." He doesn't anything about the family being Jewish. It is also stated that Junius Brutus Booth, Sr. was proficient in many languages and could read Vasquez in Portuguese. Michael Snyder

[L Verge]

Michael Kauffman is his book American Brutus and in the article on the Lincoln Assassination he did for Blue Gray in Apr. 1990 states that Booth's ancestors were expelled from Portugal for holding what he called "radical political views." He doesn't anything about the family being Jewish. It is also stated that Junius Brutus Booth, Sr. was proficient in many languages and could read Vasquez in Portuguese. Michael Snyder

It has been stated by others that the Portuguese line was Jewish way back when, but I am not sure if that has been distinctly proven. Carolyn Mitchell on this forum might be able to help here. I have not read Steve Archer's great book on Booth, Sr. Does anyone know if Steve addressed this genealogical question?

The elder Booth was very well-read and also knowledgeable in a variety of religions and knew even the tenets expressed in the Koran.
He definitely appreciated liquor and was a tad "weird," but I think he would be interesting to talk with and analyze during one of his good days.

[Steve]

Michael Kauffman is his book American Brutus and in the article on the Lincoln Assassination he did for Blue Gray in Apr. 1990 states that Booth's ancestors were expelled from Portugal for holding what he called "radical political views." He doesn't anything about the family being Jewish. It is also stated that Junius Brutus Booth, Sr. was proficient in many languages and could read Vasquez in Portuguese. Michael Snyder

It has been stated by others that the Portuguese line was Jewish way back when, but I am not sure if that has been distinctly proven. Carolyn Mitchell on this forum might be able to help here. I have not read Steve Archer's great book on Booth, Sr. Does anyone know if Steve addressed this genealogical question?

The elder Booth was very well-read and also knowledgeable in a variety of religions and knew even the tenets expressed in the Koran.
He definitely appreciated liquor and was a tad "weird," but I think he would be interesting to talk with and analyze during one of his good days.

I haven't looked into the Booth family's lineage, but it actually seems kind of interesting so maybe that's something I should look into. (I have researched a little into Junius Brutus Booth's life and immediate family back in England, though.)

I do think everybody should be extremely skeptical of these stories of the Booth family coming from either Portugal or Spain without any documentation of it. First, Booth is a common English surname. Second, Junius Sr.'s ancestry can apparently already be traced at least to his grandfather, John Booth the Clerkenwell blacksmith without any records mentioning a Spanish or Portuguese family. Not any mention in Booth family correspondence, newspapers articles during Junius Sr.'s career, or government records. It could only take a few generations for something like that to disappear from oral family history. Genealogy and family history first became a hobby for non-nobility or royalty during the 19th century.

Also this link that might be of interest:
https://muse.jhu.edu/chapter/28589

Quick edit: I'm not Steve Archer, I thought I should make that clear in case anybody was confused

[Steve]

Just to add one more thing... In his 1817 memoir Junius Brutus Booth Sr. doesn't mention anything about having Spanish or Portuguese ancestry. Although he does mention a family connection to John Wilkes:

https://books.google.com/books?id=DjVAAA...&q&f=false

Either Junius Sr. wasn't aware of Spanish or Portuguese ancestry, or he wanted to suppress it for some reason. Although he doesn't seem to be the type who would suppress a dramatic family history. The link to the notes in Archer's book in my last post says that Edwin believed the family might be linked to theater manager Barton Booth and hired people to make a list of wills in the London archives with the last name of Booth (whether they were family or not). If Junius Sr. had related a family history of coming from Spain or Portugal, why would Edwin be doing this? If Junius Sr. or his father hadn't relayed a family history to the Booth children about the family coming from Spain or Portugal, then how would any descendants be aware of the story decades later?

[ELCore]

I am now wondering, for how many generations does a surname have to have been a certain name for it to be someone's "real" last name? Since JWB's paternal grandfather's surname was certainly and always "Booth" (which, I gather, can also be said of the great-grandfather), can it possibly be suggested that Booth wasn't John Wilkes's "real" last name?

[L Verge]

Good question. Those who claim the Booth line goes to Portugal (or Spain) show the spelling as Bethe or Bothe.

Sometimes clerical errors make a difference also. In my own family, my maiden name is "Mays." My father had four brothers, all of whom spelled their names that way -- that is until the U.S. Army intervened. All of the brothers joined the Army at various years, and all used the family spelling. However, somewhere along the line, one brother's name got changed to "Mayes" on service records.

After he got out of the service, it became so difficult to use "Mays" again on any application, etc. that required mention of his military records, that he just gave up and continued with "Mayes." How many times did such a thing happen on immigration records, military records, etc.?

Another personal example: I have the store records of my great-grandfather Huntt dating back to 1862. One day, I spotted the name "John Boothe" in the ledgers and was excited - until my mother told me that there had been a black family near T.B. that spelled their name that way even when she was a child in the early-1900s.

[Steve]

It has been stated by others that the Portuguese line was Jewish way back when, but I am not sure if that has been distinctly proven. Carolyn Mitchell on this forum might be able to help here. I have not read Steve Archer's great book on Booth, Sr. Does anyone know if Steve addressed this genealogical question?

In Archer's book, he skeptically describes the account of Ricardo Botha or Bethe, the Jewish lawyer in Madrid who fled Spain for Lisbon in the 1600's after the government confiscated his property in response to him publishing inflammatory pamphlets against the royalist government. Supposedly with his son then going to London to become a silversmith. Archer says that searches of leading Spanish and Portuguese archives have failed to find anything corroborating the story or any evidence of Ricardo's existence.

[Steve]

I couldn't find any family for John Booth, the silversmith who married Elizabeth Wilkes to see if I could independently trace his ancestry. His burial record didn't even have an age that I could've used as a clue. The only hint that I could find is that an Elizabeth Booth married a Thomas Goodchild at Mayfair Chapel (also called St. George's) on Feb 15, 1747. The same day John married Elizabeth Wilkes.

https://books.google.com/books?id=EiAXAA...&q&f=false

Has anybody ever heard of the Goodchilds or have heard of a Goodchild family associated with the Booth family in any way?

[L Verge]

Dave Taylor, where are you?

Several years ago, one of my former staff members did an overseas class in London for her Master's and was given an assignment by Dave to locate a single grave somewhere in that city. I can't remember which Booth it was about, but I'm sure that Dave will know if it is any connection to what you are searching for.

Carolyn Mitchell of Tudor Hall might have some deeper roots info on Booth genealogy too, if you have exhausted Steve Archer and Stanley Kimmel.

I'll also have our research librarian at Surratt House check the Hall files on the Booth genealogy. I know that Mr. Hall traveled to England and also that he had a paid researcher there that he worked with.

[Steve]

Dave Taylor, where are you?

Several years ago, one of my former staff members did an overseas class in London for her Master's and was given an assignment by Dave to locate a single grave somewhere in that city. I can't remember which Booth it was about, but I'm sure that Dave will know if it is any connection to what you are searching for.

Carolyn Mitchell of Tudor Hall might have some deeper roots info on Booth genealogy too, if you have exhausted Steve Archer and Stanley Kimmel.

I'll also have our research librarian at Surratt House check the Hall files on the Booth genealogy. I know that Mr. Hall traveled to England and also that he had a paid researcher there that he worked with.

David talks about the grave in this blog post:

https://boothiebarn.com/2013/07/22/the-s...kes-booth/

The grave was of Henry Wilkes Booth, the second cousin of John Wilkes Booth, who's father was also named John Wilkes Booth.

[L Verge]

Dave Taylor, where are you?

Several years ago, one of my former staff members did an overseas class in London for her Master's and was given an assignment by Dave to locate a single grave somewhere in that city. I can't remember which Booth it was about, but I'm sure that Dave will know if it is any connection to what you are searching for.

Carolyn Mitchell of Tudor Hall might have some deeper roots info on Booth genealogy too, if you have exhausted Steve Archer and Stanley Kimmel.

I'll also have our research librarian at Surratt House check the Hall files on the Booth genealogy. I know that Mr. Hall traveled to England and also that he had a paid researcher there that he worked with.

David talks about the grave in this blog post:

https://boothiebarn.com/2013/07/22/the-s...kes-booth/

The grave was of Henry Wilkes Booth, the second cousin of John Wilkes Booth, who's father was also named John Wilkes Booth.

Hang tight, Steve. Our research librarian just handed me a thick file entitled The Booth Family in England from the papers of James O. Hall. I'm working with the Travel Channel right now, but will peruse the papers within the week and pass on anything that may help you.