Mary Louise Booth

1831 - 1889  (57 years)

• Name	Mary Louise Booth  [1]
  Birth	19 Apr 1831	Yaphank, Brookhaven, Suffolk, NY   [1]
  Gender	Female
  Death	5 Mar 1889	Brooklyn, Kings, NY   [1]
  Burial	8 Mar 1889	Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States
  Person ID	I7987	My Genealogy
  Last Modified	17 Sep 2023

  
  

  Father	William Chatfield Booth,   b. Jun 1801, Southold, Suffolk, NY d. 24 Jun 1876, Brooklyn, Kings, NY (Age 75 years)
  Mother	Nancy Munsell,   b. 13 Jun 1802, Middle Island, Brookhaven, Suffolk, NY d. 20 Jul 1887, Greenport, Southold, Suffolk, NY (Age 85 years)
  Marriage	Abt 1830  [1]
  Family ID	F3740	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  A native daughter of Yaphank who became famous for her literary accomplishments was Mary Louise Booth, who was born at Yaphank on April 19, 1831. She was born in a small story-and-a-half house on the north side of the road running east from the postoffice, a house which, is still standing in a well-preserved condition. Mary's father, William Booth, was the village miller and schoolteacher, and a direct descendant of the first Booth who came to Southold in 1640. Her mother was a daughter of a refugee of the French Revolution. Her father had a small woolen mill and dye house, which he operated in Yaphank, and also was schoolteacher during the winter months when he taught the few children of the village in a small building. Mary Booth received her early education in Yaphank and when she was 14 years old her family moved to Williamsburg [Brooklyn, NY], where her father opened a school and she assisted him in teaching. Later, she devoted her time to study and literature and during this time Miss Booth started work on her "History of the City of New York," the first edition of which was published in 1859. An enlarged edition was published eight years later, and in 1880 a third one was published. By this time the author had become one of the leading writers of the country. Miss Booth was strongly opposed to slavery, and with the out-break of the Civil War began a series of translations of French writers of that day who favored the Union cause. These appeared in 1861 and her work was praised by President Lincoln. In 1867, when Harper's Bazaar was first published, Miss Booth was chosen as its first editor, and held the position until her death. She grew up during the years when whale fishing was at its height, and it is said that she fell deeply in love with a young man who was son of a whale ship captain. He sailed for the Arctic and his ship and all on board were lost. It is believed that this tragic incident of her early life prompted her to devote her life to literature. She died on March 5, 1899 and was buried in the family Plot in Cypress Hills Cemetery. This article, authored by Thomas R. Bayles, originally appeared in the Patchogue (NY) Advance, December 6, 1951. It was transcribed by the students of the Longwood Middle School as part of their Longwood's Journey Project.

  
  

• Sources

  [S13] Long Island Genealogy Surname Database, online [http://longislandgenealogy.com ].