Binghamton, New York: Grave of John Wilkes Booth's Dubious Daughter

The inscription on the tombstone of Ogarita Booth Henderson proclaims she was the daughter of Izola Mills and John Wilkes Booth. After the Lincoln assassin's death, twenty women wrote Edwin Booth claiming to be his brother's secret widow. Edwin dismissed all of the claims out-of-hand. He was dismayed years later when his sister Rosalie was convinced by a woman named Izola Mills that John had fathered her daughter Ogarita in 1859. Rosalie Booth gave some $10,000 to Mills, according to Edwin.

It is unknown whether Ogarita Henderson truly believed that Booth was her father, or if she conspired with her mother for money. But as evidenced by contemporaneous newspaper mentions, her claims brought some attention to her career as a stage actress -- the same occupation held by John Wilkes Booth. Henderson died of pneumonia in 1892 while with a traveling acting troupe in Binghamton, New York, and she was buried there in Glenwood Cemetery. Her gravestone proclaiming the John Wilkes Booth connection came much later -- placed by her descendants in 1972.