Margaret Julia Mitchell
(June 2, 1832 – March 22, 1918) was an American actress, born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
.
She made her speaking debut as Julia in ''The Soldier's Daughter'' at the
Chambers Street Theatre in 1851. The parts in which she earned the greatest fame were
Jane Eyre
''Jane Eyre'' ( ; originally published as ''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'') is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The firs ...
, Mignon, Little Barefoot, and Fanchon the Cricket.
Mitchell was at the outset of the Civil War a Confederate sympathizer, but later moderated her views. She reportedly danced on an American flag while performing in Montgomery, Alabama, but later denied doing so. Her southern sympathies, charismatic personality and profession made her a warm, close friend of
John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor who Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, assassinated United States president Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the p ...
, but also earned her the admiration of Abraham Lincoln, who invited her to tea in the Executive Mansion and enjoyed her performances at
Ford's Theatre
Ford's Theatre is a theater located in Washington, D.C., which opened in 1863. The theater is best known for being the site of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. On the night of April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth entered the theater box where ...
.
Family
She was married to Henry Thomas Paddock (1836–1896), a Cleveland haberdasher who then became her manager, in 1868, and they had (i) a daughter, Fanchon Maria Paddock (1869–1940), who married Harry Paddock Mashey (1878–1960), and (ii) a son, Harry Mitchell Paddock (1872–1938). Maggie and Henry divorced twenty years later; and – on October 12, 1889, in Boston – she married her co-star Charles Abbott (''stage name'' of Charles Abbott Mace; 1852–1927). She retired from the
stage
Stage, stages, or staging may refer to:
Arts and media Acting
* Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions
* Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage"
* ''The Stage'', a weekly Brit ...
to live in New York in 1892. Maggie, by way of one of her half-sisters – Sophia Dodson Lomax (1826–1894) and husband, Charles Alfred Mitchell (1817–1864) – was an aunt of
Julian Bugher Mitchell (1851–1926), a musical comedy director associated with
Weber & Fields and
Florenz Ziegfeld
Florenz Edward Ziegfeld Jr. (; March 21, 1867 – July 22, 1932) was an American Broadway impresario, notable for his series of theatrical revues, the ''Ziegfeld Follies'' (1907–1931), inspired by the '' Folies Bergère'' of Paris. He al ...
.
''Maggie Mitchell''; North American Theatre Online
/ref>
Maggie's mother was Hannah Dodson (''maiden''; 1805–1869), born Knaresborough
Knaresborough ( ) is a market and spa town and civil parish on the River Nidd in North Yorkshire, England. It is east of Harrogate and was in the Borough of Harrogate until April 2023.
History
The Knaresborough Hoard, the largest hoard of ...
, Yorkshire. She married – on February 24, 1824, in Manchester
Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
– John Lomax (1803–1832), a native of Bolton, and emigrated to the US in 1830. In 1832, they were preparing to return to England to escape an epidemic of cholera, but Lomax died before they sailed. Hannah afterward married Maggie's father, Charles S. Mitchell (1805–1886), to whom Lomax's bookbinding business had been sold. Mitchell's 1st cousin, Joseph Dodson Greenhalgh (1821–1886), recalled stories that circulated in the English side of the family about the actress's salary, her servants, accouterments, and jewelry. The actor and author Dodson Mitchell
Dodson Lomax Mitchell (1868-1939) was an American stage and screen actor and author. He was a nephew to actress Maggie Mitchell and cousin of theatre director Julian Mitchell
Charles Julian Humphrey Mitchell, FRSL (born 1 May 1935) is an Englis ...
was still another relation.
Maggie's mother was a sister of Ann Dodson (''maiden''; 1788–1863), who, with her husband Thomas Greenhalge (1780–1859), was a grandmother of Frederic Thomas Greenhalge
Frederic Thomas Greenhalge (born Greenhalgh) (July 19, 1842 – March 5, 1896) was a British-born lawyer and politician in the United States state of Massachusetts. He served in the United States House of Representatives and was the state's 3 ...
(1842–1896), the 38th Governor of Massachusetts. Maggie's maternal half-sister, Mary Mitchell (''née'' Lomax; 1833–1908) – also an actress – was married to John William Albaugh, Sr. (1837–1909), an actor and theater operator, notably, from 1884 to 1894, proprietor of Albaugh's Grand Opera House (2,000 seats) in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
Death
After her death on March 22, 1918, in New York City, one of the wealthiest actresses in the world (primarily in Manhattan and Long Branch, New Jersey, real estate), Mitchell was interred in Green-Wood Cemetery
Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope, Brooklyn, South Slope/Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn, Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, Win ...
in Brooklyn.
References
External links
*
*
Maggie Mitchell and her son Julian circa 1879
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Margaret
19th-century American actresses
American stage actresses
1832 births
1918 deaths
Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery
Actresses from New York City