Who were the Booths of Harford County, Maryland?
From 1822 until 1858, Harford County was home to the family of Junius Brutus Booth, one of the foremost actors of his day. For thirty years, he was America’s chief Shakespearian player. While he could be a ferocious figure on the stage, he was known as a kind hearted man who taught his children not to kill a living creature, even a rattlesnake. His children included not only Harford County’s most famous native son of the 19th century but its most infamous as well. Edwin Booth followed his father onto the stage and established a career that eclipsed his father’s. John Wilkes Booth followed his father and older brother onto the stage and was well on his way to establishing a career as illustrious as Edwin’s. However, the outbreak of the Civil War tragically intervened changing not only the course of his life but the lives of his family and the history of the nation as well. Born in London on May Day 1796, Junius Brutus Booth sailed for America in the spring of 1821 leaving behind a floun
