Agnes Booth

Who was Agnes Booth?

Agnes Booth, born Marion Agnes Land Rookes, was an Australian-born American actress and in-law of Junius Brutus Booth, John Wilkes Booth, and Edwin Booth. She was born in Sydney, New South Wales, but migrated to California, United States, in 1858 at the age of 14.

She performed in California, attracting attention and gaining recognition, until 1865 when she moved to New York where she appeared at the Winter Garden. In 1866, she joined the Boston Theatre Company, of which she was a member for several years. In 1867, she was married to Junius Brutus Booth, Jr., its manager. Mr. Booth died in 1883, and in 1885 she remarried to John B. Schoeffel.

In 1878 she played Madeleine Renaud in the Union Square Theatre's production of "A Celebrated Case," the program noting that she had "kindly undertaken this part in order to strengthen the cast." From 1881 to 1891, she was with the Madison Square Company. After 1891, she went to Europe, then returned to the United States where she resided in the artist community of New Rochelle, New York and resumed her work on Broadway in nearby New York City. Booth gained fame for her role in the melodrama The Sporting Dutchess along fellow actress and New Rochelle neighbor Cora Tanner.