Asia Booth Clarke (1835–1888)

Asia Clarke, née Booth, was born to a theatrical family. Her father Junius Brutus Booth was an English-born actor who emigrated to the USA. Her older brothers were Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth. In 1859, she married John Clarke, a professional comedian, with whom she had eight children. They moved to England after John Wilkes Booth shot President Lincoln in 1865. Asia Clarke became a poet and the author of three volumes of biography of her celebrated family members. Her book Unlocked Book: John Wilkes Booth, a Sister's Memoir was written in 1874 but remained unpublished at her death in 1888; the manuscript passed to friends, and eventually appeared in print in 1938.