Izola Martha Mills

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a b Knibb, Joyce G.; Mehrtens, Patricia A. (1991). The Elusive Booths of Burrilville. Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books. p.146. Rita’s husband, Al Henderson, must be assumed to be the one to make the funeral decisions. All the early notices bear his name — and so do the articles about them signing together for various gigs. He would have probably seen the notices of the show, in the 4 days it was supposed to be in town, and also the suddenly added 5th day with a matinee and evening show. Some of these would have been interesting to him as a person involved in the show and how it was advertised. The advertisement for Glenwood Cemetery was always only a few inches away from any mention of the Floy Crowell show. If he and a non-ill Rita looked at the adverts as they arrived in town, they would have had within their vision adverts for Glenwood Cemetery, never knowing they would soon need the services of such. And if they followed the papers, they would also have seen the roots of the eventual abandonment of the City Cemetery, argued not for the first, nor the last time in print, but squarely in their time in Binghamton. I am happy that my input gives further insight into the question of whether Ogarita really was the daughter of John W.Booth the actor. Up till now I just had second hand accounts on this particular subject that tended to favour Ogarita’s claim.

Mary Ann Holmes Booth died on October 22, 1885 at the age of 83. Rose took the death of her mother the hardest, as Edwin recounted in a letter to his daughter Edwina: I am afraid there is not enough evidence to suggest these different women having Booth’s chidren. Potter was trying to claim inheritance for Kate Scott’s child; if you can believe any of these stories. Possibly politically motivated or indeed trying to claim inheritance if true? The Binghamton LEADER reports on OHB’s death in much the same fashion as articles above but on April 15, 1892 it reports that it was not known who she was when buried. It reports that her husband Al Henderson was not working with the Floy Troupe and that he rushed to Binghamton from NYC, arriving just in time to be at the death bed. The Leader reports that Al Henderson and the couple’s young daughter were the only two people to follow the hearse to Glenwood Cemetary. She went on in 1937 to write “This One Mad Act” as seen in the Wiki link. It was also generally believed that Andy Johnson (the Democratic Incumbant) was also on the list to be assassinated along with Secretary of State, William Seward you may recall ie nearly half the cabinet. That was the rumour put about the city that very night.

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The 1860 census indicated Martha Lizola was living in Boston with Ogarita and a son, Harry, aged five. Little Harry disappeared from the records after that; so I assume he died as a child. Martha's story was that she was a young actress and met John Wilkes Booth in Richmond in 1858 or 1859. It was love at first sight. She said she and Booth lived on a small farm in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley and that Booth would return to their home between acting engagements. Izola lived until 1887. The proceeds from Booth’s will were not distributed until 1896. Both she and Booth’s daughter, Ogarita were dead by that time and didn’t inherit any of Booth’s money. John and I had a farm near Harpers Ferry. Two weeks after John shot Lincoln, he returned to our farm. I took care of him while his leg healed. Later, I helped him leave the country.

Junius and Edwin knew their younger brother was popular with the ladies. As he toured around from city to city, he invariably left behind smitten and heartbroken girls. He was called the “handsomest man in America” by some and woman swooned over him. A letter to John from a female admirer found in his trunk at the National Hotel started with the words, “I am about your own age, possibly a few months younger, and you will probably wonder what a woman” before being conveniently torn off. Appropriately then, Junius and Edwin worried that some of John’s former admirers might attempt to take advantage of Mary Ann in her grief by claiming to be John’s fiancée or, worse yet, the mother of his children.

Mr. Hulbert tells the story of finding 66 bodies in a common pit. These were determined to have been pulled from the Potter’s Field portion of the Old Cemetery years earlier to make way for Liberty Street to be built. For nearly two decades the City had been publicly debating the abandonment of the Cemetery, and yet, they had been quietly doing it all along. Hi Dave , I want to thank you for all the hard work you’ve done on getting such great and helpful info compiled and put forth for the better understanding of this most fascinating family and the events that shaped our nation.

Wilkes Booth Came to Washington: The Story of the Confederate Intrigues that Sent Booth to Murder Abraham Lincoln--and the Government's Century-old Cover-up, by Larry Starkey, 1976 Having said this I realise the dilemma you might have by intimating ‘pool pollution’. Non the less I think you might allow that it could be justified under the general category of Ogarita Booth. If only to highlight other sources of information about her ‘father’. Booth was never married and never had a child.(See his own letters where he is asking his mother for advice about marriage; she seemed happy about Lucy Hale however). He was dating Lucy Hale at this time it is said. In December of 1885, an article was published in the New York Tribune and other newspapers debunking a previous article in a Boston paper that stated that John Wilkes Booth was still alive and well in Alabama. Edwin Booth read this article. Instead of being pleased that someone was discrediting yet another tale about his brother’s alleged survival, Edwin Booth was furious that the author claimed to have been John Wilkes’ widow and mother of his two children. Edwin wrote that same day to Edwina:And in every issue of the Binghamton Herald Republican during this period when the Floy Crowell troupe was in town, often only inches away from the show’s advert about their Opera House appearances, and including the issue that announced her death…there was also this advertisement for the cemetery that soon received her corpse. I have spent a lot of time on looking at Binghamton microfilm papers and I am not familiar with any other period in which the Glenwood Cemetery advertised so blatantly, expensively, or at all. The photo below is of an advert that was running daily during this period. This is shown at the end of the Rita Booth portion of this essay, but, those who intend to continue on to the coming information about the digging up of 1,330 bodies and their trek through town, should take note of the name HULBERT at the bottom of the advert. That is Hulbert SENIOR,..and we will meet his son at an elderly age when we take the bright lights off Miss Booth, and return to discussing both the missing and existing cemetery. Booth never planned to kill. Indeed it was a set up and a total illusion of the assassin jumping from the box. Lincoln was shot through the Spy-Hole according to James Gifford (theatre manager and designer) who said Fergueson the Restaurant owner could not have seen the flash of the pistol nor the assassin. This was stated by Fergueson himself in court and Gifford got 39 days in the Capitol Prison for saying it. April 15th is the 149th anniversary of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth. So it seems appropriate to write about Martha Lizola Mills again. I believe I could write about her for years to come. She, her daughter Ogarita Elizabeth Bellows, and her granddaughter, Izola Louise Hills, all believed Martha Lizola was the secret wife of John Wilkes Booth. They also believed Booth escaped and lived several more years and that he fathered a son with Martha Lizola after Lincoln's assassination. There seems to be much hatred for Izola on the internet and I hope you aren’t a victim. I recently read at the Boothiebarn.com “…was the fact that poor Rosalie Booth had fallen for Izola Mills’ claim to be the mother of her brother’s children. Only a handful of known documents exist that prove a relationship existed between Rose and the con-artist Izola Mills.” In their mind Izola is a con-artist. I wrote the following comment to Boothiebarn and had it promptly deleted. Censorship is alive and well there. Below you will see an advertisement for the Floy Crowell troupe from April 5th 1892. Although Rita and her husband Al Henderson are not mentioned, they were among the 19 players in the production of revolving plays that promised, “NO DULL MOMENTS.”

Martha Lizola Mills (Izola) lived with her mother aboard their father's ship. When her mother died, her father had Izola boarded with relatives or friends. When she was about twelve she ran away and was taken in by the Children’s Mission to the Children of the Destitute in Boston. A city inspector named George A. Lincoln was assigned to oversee the exodus to Glenwood Cemetery. He kept a diary of the goings-on. His March 6th entry is peculiar:

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But thankyou for your reply since it helps to have a good discussion and livens the mind into further work on the subject. In my futher work, I am now pursuing the subject of where John really disappeared to after leaving the Ford theatre that terrible night. And whether he left with Lucy Hale or not; as one witness said she saw them in the front of the theatre together at the intermission, just before Abe was shot.