Izola Martha Mills

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Martha Lizola Mills was born at Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, in 1837 to Abraham Standish and Izola Maria (Mendosa) Mills. Her father was a sea captain. She married first Charles Still Bellows on 30 Jul 1855 at Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; second John H Stevenon on 23 Mar 1871; and third, according to her granddaughter, but no documentation has yet been found, Edwin S Bates two or three years before her death. She died in Nov 1887 in Canterbury, Windham, Connecticut and is buried in Plains Cemetery at Windham. She went to her death believing she had been married to John Wilkes Booth, that both her children were his, and he escaped capture at the Garrett farm and died in 1879. There was a Major Potter in the theatre that night according to Rathbone whom he asked to assist with Mary Lincoln because Rathbone was so ‘badly wounded’. I would have to take this story with a pinch of salt even though I know for certain that John Booth (publically known as John Wilkes Booth) was not killed in Virginia. However Izola’s story is quite possible for the following reasons and circumstances:

My interest in Izola begins with her marriage to John Wilkes Booth, but when you say that Izola was living with her son in 1860 and I say her son was born in 1861; the discrepancy in dates bothered me, so I decided to see what I could find out. The following is what I learned among the conflicting information.The above was not done out of sloth…but it provides the basic gist of her story and leaves us unencumbered to present the following unfiltered material, some of which probably contributed to that story. John [Wilkes Booth] had one daughter Ogretia and one son Alonso. Ogretia was beautyfull. Alonso was very much like the old Mr Richard Booth. Johns wife is still living. her name was Izalia. I do not know her maiden name. John told Roslie he would give her two oil wells, and he wished her to take care of those two children, which she did, although they were with there Mother. Rosie calls them her Children. John was not married to there Mother. after Johns Death Izalia she went with the Children A way to the Ilenoiise. they the Children are both married now. poor Children… None of the family takes any account of John Wilks’ Children but Roslie. she is very kind to them: does not visit them, but sends them money every spring and fall. calls them her Children.” John Booth disappeared when he knew about President Lincoln being shot in the theatre. Booth was at the Ford theatre the same night but had reneged in his plan to kidnap Lincoln. He was effectively framed by the NDP who had been informed of the kidnap plan by Captain Gleason from Louis Weichmann (a government clerk and friend of John Surratt). Henderson first appeared on stage in January 1875 at the Globe Theatre in Boston in support of the British comedian J. L. Toole. She was 15 at the time and appeared under the stage name "Ogarita Wilkes". A few months later, she appeared as Donalbain in Macbeth in the farewell engagement of Charlotte Cushman. From this point and for the rest of her life, Henderson travelled across the United States and Canada with various theater companies, except for brief periods away.

Forrester, Izola (1878-1944) This One Mad Act: The Unknown Story of John Wilkes Booth and his Family I asked the New York Post’s longtime gossip columnist Cindy Adams to throw some limelight on Ogarita for her 150th birthday, and it was very amusing to find out that she did “do” her in her October 28th 2009 column. I can’t help but feel that a showbiz gossip column is exactly where Rita would have liked to be.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. Edwin Booth made his return to the Booth family farm in 1856 after an absence of four years. During this time he had made a name and, more importantly, a fortune for himself by acting in California. He had also toured Australia and played before King Kamehameha IV in Hawaii. When Edwin witnessed the poverty that his family was living in on the farm, he whisked them away and put them up in a home in Baltimore. The family would never live at Tudor Hall again. Abram felt guilty about bringing this disgrace to my mother. He believed he could set things straight by marrying her and giving us his name. He asked Izola to marry him, and she answered with an enthusiastic, Yes. They returned to Baltimore and Stevenson was still planning to marry Izola, he gave the baby his name—John Stevenson. After Izola died, John read his mother’s diary that he was John Wilkes Booth’s son. He was so upset that he refused to be called John. From then on, he wanted to be called Harry.

In January of 1884, Mary Ann Booth fell at her and Rose’s shared home in New York. The accident resulted in a broken hip, the effects of which she would never recover. The only (uncertain) knowledge i have on Kate Scott an army nurse, is that she was involved with Andrew Potter who supposedly worked with the NDP and followed the trail to Harper’s Ferry but Booth was not there. I believe Potter’s trail was years later however, under Grant’s presidency. Though you also indicate that Izola and Ogarita (born circa 1859 and died on stage tragically (and suddenly?)age 32, were living there since or before May,1865. 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? She married Charles Still Bellows on the 30th of July, 1855. On December 21, 1856 three-year-old Harry Alonzo D’Arcy died. Izola was pregnant with Charles Bellow’s son and he was given the name Harry Alonzo Bellows. In 1860 Izola was living with a widow named Geneva Webster along with her children Harry and Ogarita. It is believed that five-year-old Harry died later that same year.

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However this story gives me a clue that what you say about Kate Scott may have some substance to it. The reason I question it is because she was connected to Andrew Potter in sharing a will ( supposedly found in a certain Bear Cave in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia?), most of it to be inherited by Sarah. Potter was supposedly deligated by General Lew Wallace under President Grant to investigate other murders surrounding Lincoln’s death and to possibly trace Booth.

We’ve taken it standing up for many years,” Mr. Hulbert said of the complaints, “we don’t want to shirk any responsibility, but since the bodies were reburied the City of Binghamton never has paid a penny for their upkeep. For the price we received we hardly could be expected to maintain the plot.” And ‘he’ was not dug up from Fort McNair (the Old Arsenal) till 1869… 4 years after Ogarita had sadly passed away. My father was a sailor, and he was at sea most of the time. I would get to see him for one or two days a year. I hungered for and treasured the time I could spend with him. Yes, I adored him, but now, when I think about it, he was a stranger to me. Rose even jokes with Edwin stating that he “won” their bet regarding Asia and, assumedly, her skills at motherhood. The 36 year-old also seems to make humorous reference to her continued unmarried status with her aside of, “unless I get married, and have a house of my own but I don’t think that there is any danger of that yet awhile.”I have used Izola as my first name for most of my life, but my mother named me Martha. I never got to know her. My mother died when I was three. Aswad, Ed; Meredith, Suzanne M. (2002). Broome County 1850-1940. Arcadia Publishing. p.115. ISBN 0-738-51075-0. As was discussed at the beginning of this biographical sketch, had Rosalie Ann Booth been born into a family other than the Booths, her life would have been considered a normal one for the time period. Though she did not marry and certainly had a prolonged period of loneliness after the death of her mother, descriptions of her as having perpetual “neurotic moodiness” or of being mentally inept, do not appear to be justified. In the light of family letters and memoirs, Rosalie is shown to be a devoted and caring soul. While she never achieved the fame (or infamy) of her parents and siblings, she clearly supported and loved them dearly. She was a witness to the darkest times in the Booth family, of which they had more than their fair share, but she was also a participant in some of the happiest moments in their lives. Though often forgotten or ignored today, Rosalie was a Booth and, therefore, an influential figure in American history. There is an interesting account by Charles B. Huppert titled ‘How Our Best Known Assassin Became A Hoosier’ on the Webb. Inside, it relates a story from an interview with John C. Shaffer supposed Editor of the ‘Terre Haute Star’ with Izola Martha Mills at ‘her home in Indianapolis’ but never published. Series VIII, OTHER FAMILY AND FRIENDS, 1860-1998 (#64.14-68.19), includes correspondence among several members of Forrester's family, including, Robert and Madeline Joslyn, Dorothy Merrifield, Emma Merrifield, Gladys Merrifield, and Harry Stevenson. Stevenson's files include letters from his sister, Rita Booth, which contain family news and accounts of her theater work with her husband, Al Henderson. There are also letters from family friends and several sketches by unidentified artists. Files are arranged alphabetically.