Booth's mistress, Ella Starr, and other "unknown" Booth ladies!

[BettyO]

Amen!

[Jenny]

Thanks, all! I love doing it and sharing anything I find! And Laurie and the sweet librarian at the Surratt House Museum have been invaluable sources of information!

[Cliff Roberts]

Hi Jenny, and congratulations on the impressive job of research you’ve done on the Starr family, including the discovery of a great photo of Ella Starr’s residence in 1865. According to the Historical Society’s description, the photograph by Mr. Bishop was taken between 1924 and 1928. He was positioned just south of C. Street, facing north down 13 ½ Street NW, with Ohio Avenue veering off to the left (west). The Starr house at No. 62 Ohio Ave in 1865 (changed to 1353 Ohio after 1868) is indeed the 3-story white brick building immediately adjacent to the 4-story dark brick building at the corner. It has long been suspected that the corner lot was vacant during the 1860’s, causing some to correctly describe the Starr home as being “on the corner.” Evidence that the corner lot remained vacant as late as 1877 may be derived from the obituary of Charles Fenton Spates, who died on January 29, 1877; the notice states that his funeral will take place “from his mother’s residence, 1353 Ohio avenue, corner of 13 ½ street.”

Below is an earlier street-level view of the house, this one taken on April 16, 1912, by noted reformer and photographer Lewis Wickes Hine.


Red light resorts on Ohio Avenue near 14th St. and young messenger who was showing me around. Original Hine caption. Library of Congress Photo Collection

In this view, the camera is facing east along Ohio Avenue, with the 3-way intersection of 13 ½ Street NW and C Street in the distance; you can just spot a trolley car beginning to head down C Street. Note the first-floor bay windows beneath a second-story balcony on the Starr house, which suggests structural changes were made to the building’s façade prior to the date of the Bishop photo. Also, the 3-story building on the north-east corner of 13 ½ and C streets does not appear in the Bishop photo. The messenger boy lounging against the fence is identified by Hine as 17-year-old Griffin Veatch, his guide on a tour through Washington’s notorious Hooker’s Division; the boy was pointing out various brothels where landladies would pay him for steering customers to their doors. Hine took a second photograph of Veatch that day, this one facing east on C Street, just around the corner from 13 ½ Street. The photographs were meant to document unsafe conditions under which children were forced to work at that time.

The 4-story residence next to the Starr house stands on property almost certainly once owned by well-known Washington madam Mary Ann Hall, the “M A Hall” shown on the 1887 Hopkins map you posted. According to reports, Mrs. Hall owned several properties in the city, including her large brick house at 349 Maryland Avenue. Located conveniently near the U. S. Capital Building, this was considered the finest brothel in the city, offering 1864 clients a choice of 18 ladies in sumptuous surroundings. She never married and died a wealthy woman in 1886.



Here’s another birds-eye view of the Starr house taken in the 1920s from atop the Washington Monument. This enlargement of a photograph found at the Library of Congress was used by archeologist Donna J. Seifert to illustrate the location of several of the properties along Ohio Avenue and 13 ½ Street which she and others excavated in 1989. In a report of the excavations, she devotes an entire chapter to “Mrs. Starr’s Profession,” using information provided by James O. Hall. This report and several others by Seifert can easily be found and downloaded from the Internet by Googling her name.

Finally, below is another illustration showing some of the active brothels and illegal saloons in Hooker’s Division, which appeared in print sometime around 1901. Grace Emerson is listed as operating an illegal house at 1353 Ohio; also listed are houses at 1355 Ohio and 1357 Ohio.



As noted earlier, this entire neighborhood south of Pennsylvania Avenue was razed in the 1930’s to make room for construction of government buildings in an area called the Federal Triangle. The spot where the notorious Starr house once stood is now part of the inner courtyard of the Ronald Reagon Building.

[Jenny]

Cliff, you are awesome! THANK you so much for this post!

Oh wow, I actually have the photograph from 1912 of the young man showing the photographer around the "red light district" saved in my files but I thought he was off by a street and cursed my "bad luck"!! How wrong I was!! Thank you, thank you for setting me straight on the picture! It is indeed the same houses from a different view!

So the house next door *did* belong to Ms. Hall! It indicated on my map (from a book on D.C. bawdy houses) that Mary Ann Hall owned more than one residence but did not list her as being the owner of that particular house even though the diagrams from My Those of Little Note book, which actually included the report Mrs. Starr's Profession at the beginning of the chapter, obviously said "M.A. Hall" on them! (Looking back, I can't believe I thought it was someone else. Duh, Jenny!)

Again, thank you!! (You wouldn't happen to know what happened to Miss Ella Starr Turner, now would you, Cliff? )

[Jim Garrett]

Cliff, welcome to the symposium. Your first post hit a home run out of the ball park. Absolutely great work. Hope to see many more posts.

[L Verge]

Welcome, Mr. Roberts. It's nice to have you joining our forum, and I hope you enjoy working with us.

[Cliff Roberts]

(08-16-2013 01:38 PM)Jenny Wrote:  Oh wow, I actually have the photograph from 1912 of the young man showing the photographer around the "red light district" saved in my files but I thought he was off by a street and cursed my "bad luck"!! How wrong I was!! Thank you, thank you for setting me straight on the picture! It is indeed the same houses from a different view!

Actually, Jenny, I should thank you. I found the photo by accident while researching Lewis Hine, figured it might be the right house but, like you, filed it away until I could confirm it. Donna Seifert's excellent report encouraged me to renew the search, especially the information about the vacant corner lot, but I wanted confirmation on the house. Seifert had retired from John Milner, but I tracked her down and phoned her. It had been 20 years since she wrote her report, and she had none of her files (they remained with Milner) so she really couldn't be much help. Again, my little project was shelved. Then, along came your great discovery, and out of the dust bin came my Hine photo! How's that for Serendipity!

---

Thank you Jim and Laurie.

[emma1231]

Welcome, Cliff Roberts! Great work. Great photos and map, folks!

[BettyO]

(08-16-2013 08:09 PM)emma1231 Wrote:  Welcome, Cliff Roberts! Great work. Great photos and map, folks!

I agree! Great sleuthing, everyone -

[Jenny]

How funny! Well, glad to help, Cliff! You certainly helped me!!
(I love this board...)

[Jenny]

Peeking in to share what I found tonight from the July 17th 1883 edition of The Inter Ocean newspaper from Chicago, IL. It's about Mollie Turner contesting her alleged brother's will again but I'd never seen these details before:



I doubt the "Booth's wife" part but maybe Ella was living in New York?
I also suspect Mollie Turner was probably a bit full of it (another sister who was the daughter of a US Senator?? Huh?).

[Ernesto]

(01-14-2013 07:37 PM)HerbS Wrote:  Hi Jenny,I know about the Albany incident.In Buffalo,Booth was arrested for smashing a window[$50 fine]as they walked by[he went nuts] with captured confederate military prizes in it.Henretta only beat him in a jealous rage.In Rochester,she beat him in a jealous rage.But,in Albany she stabbed him in a jealous rage! All of my research for Buffalo and Rochester came out of newspaper accounts,and the Erie and Monroe County Historical Societies.

---

(03-27-2014 12:03 PM)Ernesto Wrote:  

(01-14-2013 07:37 PM)HerbS Wrote:  Hi Jenny,I know about the Albany incident.In Buffalo,Booth was arrested for smashing a window[$50 fine]as they walked by[he went nuts] with captured confederate military prizes in it.Henretta only beat him in a jealous rage.In Rochester,she beat him in a jealous rage.But,in Albany she stabbed him in a jealous rage! All of my research for Buffalo and Rochester came out of newspaper accounts,and the Erie and Monroe County Historical Societies.

Hi, first time user. Can you give me the newspaper references (yr, p., column) for Henrietta
ernesto
eabel@wayne.edu

[Carolyn Mitchell]

Was there any truth to John Wilkes Booth's alleged romance with a prostitute named Louise Wooster in Montgomery, AL while he was in town performing at the theater in the 1860s?

Link: http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/stor.../27313491/

[Jenny]

Oh, Louise Wooster. I looked into her a while back and don't believe there is any evidence of an affair with Booth other than in her book called "Autobiography of a Magdalen" and a few interviews in the 1890s. Her autobiography seems to be very sensationalized (she claimed affairs with several famous men). She also seemed to think Booth escaped the barn.

Possible that she might have met JWB at one point or another, but what she said about him makes me doubt she knew him well if they ever did in fact meet up.

Here's some info on her here:
http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1862

Here are some book quotes about Booth:

"Poor Wilkes had foolishly expressed himself in regard to the rebellion, and I felt very uneasy about him. He loved the union, though from his mad act the world would judge that he did not. I knew him better, yes, even better than his own family, and I know his love for the union was one of his strongest passions. . . .

"He came in hurriedly one evening, and said: 'I must go home tonight, or I can not get away at all. I will let you hear from me soon, . . .This thing cannot last longer than a few weeks, or a few months at the longest. Such a glorious country as ours can not be broken up by a few fanatics. . . .'

"John Willkes Booth loved the union, though many think he did not. I knew him and know that he did. . . . He was as bitter against secession as he was against abolition. The union he loved. Had he never committed that terrible act, he would have been the greatest tragedian the world has ever known.

"The terrible news of the assassination of our President, Abraham Lincoln, by John Wilkes Booth was a terrible blow to me. I know he was impulsive, erratic, but I never believed him capable of murder. I believe he was a victim of circumstances. I do not believe he ever intended murder. . . . He could be led like a child by those he thought were his friends, but he could never be forced or driven. Drink had a peculiar effect on him, and I can only believe his brain was crazed by drink when he committed that dreadful act."

... yeah.
I know I have another quote "from Booth" that she either wrote or said in an interview that involved Booth wanting to go live in the North. Will see if I can find it.

EDIT: I was surprised to see Dr. Alford mention Louise in Fortune's Fool. Maybe he has some evidence that the affair was real that I haven't found.

[RJNorton]

Here is what Art Loux says in John Wilkes Booth: Day by Day:

"In an unconfirmed account Louise C. Wooster, a young lady then living in Montgomery, claimed she had a relationship with Booth during his stay in that city. She wrote:

“I was madly in love with J. Wilkes Booth. My love for him seemed to be reciprocated. He was my idol . . . He had advised me to adopt the stage as a profession, to enter upon a theatrical career. Then we would always be together. , , , He [Booth] came in hurriedly one evening and said: `I must go home tonight or I can not get away at all. I will let you hear from me soon, and you shall come to me. This thing [the national crisis] can not last longer than a few weeks or a few months at the longest. Such a glorious country as ours can not be broken up by a few fanatics."

On the same page right before the mention of Louise Wooster, Art wrote:

"Booth reportedly expressed Union sentiments while in Montgomery. John Ellsler, a theatrical manager and later a business partner of Booth, wrote: “Wilkes was leading man in the stock company at Montgomery and his sympathy for, and utterances on behalf of the Union were so unguarded in their expression that his life was in jeopardy, and it became necessary for the manager of the theatre to resort to strategy and spirit Wilkes Booth out of the city to save his life. This I had from the lips of the manager [Matthew Canning] himself."