John Wilkes Booth (1838-1865) assassinates President Abraham Lincoln and plunges his illustrious theatrical family into infamy.
London born Junius Brutus Booth (1796-1852) discovers acting at an early age and emigrates to Maryland seeking fame and finding success on the American stage. He settles on a Harford County farm he names Tudor Hall and sires 10 children. Due to drinking and bouts of madness, he has a run-in with the law when he threatens to “cut the throat” of President Andrew Jackson for not pardoning two men convicted of piracy.
The eldest son Junius B. Booth, Jr. (1821-1883) becomes an actor but is eclipsed by two brothers, Edwin Booth (1833-1893) who becomes the most famous Shakespearian actor in the country and John Wilkes Booth who becomes nationally infamous as an assassin. A sister, Asia Booth Clarke (1835-1888) flees to England after the Lincoln murder and writes a memoir about John Wilkes that is not published until 1938.
The Booth family farm, Tudor Hall, is open as a museum that interprets the many members of the family.
