Edwina Booth Grossman

Edwina Booth Grossman (1861–1938) was an American writer and the daughter of Shakespearean actor Edwin Booth. In 1894, she published the book Edwin Booth: Recollections by His Daughter, Edwina Booth Grossman, and Letters to Her and to His Friends in an effort to protect her father's legacy after the 1865 assassination of Abraham Lincoln by Grossman's uncle, John Wilkes Booth.

Edwina Booth Grossman
Oil portrait of Edwina Booth Grossman by Eastman Johnson, 1885
Oil portrait of Edwina Booth Grossman by Eastman Johnson, 1885
BornEdwina Booth
(1861-12-09)December 9, 1861
DiedDecember 26, 1938(1938-12-26) (aged 77)
Notable worksEdwin Booth: Recollections by His Daughter, Edwina Booth Grossman, and Letters to Her and to His Friends (1894)
Spouse
Ignatius R. Grossman
​
​
(m. 1885)​
Children2
Relatives
This article is about the 19th-century writer. For the 20th-century actress, see Edwina Booth.

Early life and education

Grossman was born Edwina Booth on December 9, 1861.[1][2]

Mary McVicker Booth, Edwin Booth, and Edwina Booth (right)
Edwina Booth Grossman as a child in the lap of her father, Edwin Booth, ca. 1864.

Members of the prominent Booth family, Grossman's parents, Edwin Booth and Mary Devlin Booth, were well-known Shakespearian actors.[2][3] Grossman's paternal grandfather was Junius Brutus Booth and John Wilkes Booth was her paternal uncle.[2][3] Mary Devlin Booth died in 1863, when Grossman was two years old. Edwin Booth married actress Mary McVicker in 1869.[4]

Career

In 1894, Grossman published a book about her father, Edwin Booth, reportedly concerned that his legacy as an actor would be marred by his brother's assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865.[2] The volume was titled Edwin Booth: Recollections by His Daughter, Edwina Booth Grossman, and Letters to Her and to His Friends.[5] As the title suggests, the book describes Grossman's memories of her father and contains edited transcripts of letters written by him.[5][3]

Private life

On May 16, 1885, Edwina Booth married banker Ignatius R. Grossman (sometimes spelled "Crossman").[1][6][7] The couple had two children, Clarence Edwin Booth Grossman, who became an artist, and Mildred Booth Grossman.[2] Grossman's granddaughter, Edwina Booth Waterbury, eventually married actor Richard H. Cutting.[4]

Grossman was reportedly at her father's side at the time of his death in June of 1893.[8]

Edwina Booth Grossman died on December 26, 1938.[2]

References
  1. "Edwina Booth, 1885 (Hills no. 31.3.6) | Catalogue entry | Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné". www.eastmanjohnson.org. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
  2. "Booth, Mary Devlin, 1840-1863 - Social Networks and Archival Context". snaccooperative.org. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
  3. "archives.nypl.org -- Booth-Grossman family papers". archives.nypl.org. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
  4. "The Edwin Booth Family Collection". CSUN University Library. 2014-09-11. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
  5. Booth, Edwin; Grossman, Edwina Booth (1894). Edwin Booth: Recollections by His Daughter, Edwina Booth Grossmann, and Letters to Her and to His Friends. Century.
  6. "MARRIAGE OF EDWINA BOOTH". The New York Times. 1885-05-17. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
  7. "Person Information | Seward Family Digital Archive". sewardproject.org. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
  8. Bleyer, Jennifer (2007-02-11). "A Finale, Frozen in Time". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
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