Mary Humphrey Corss Booth ( – ) was an American poet and

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

. She published the collection ''Wayside Blossoms Among Flowers from German Gardens'' (1865). Mary Humphrey Corss was born in in Connecticut, the daughter of John and Adelaide Corss. She was visiting relatives

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

when she met

Sherman Booth Sherman Miller Booth (September 25, 1812August 10, 1904) was an American abolitionist activist, newspaper editor, and politician in Wisconsin. He was instrumental in forming the Liberty Party in 1840, the Free Soil Party in 1848, and finally the ...

, the recently widowed abolitionist journalist and speaker. Over the objections of her parents and only two months after the death of his first wife, the 18-year-old Corss and the 36-year-old Booth married in 1849. They had three daughters: Mary Ella, Alice, and Lillian May. Alice died in infancy. In February 1859, Sherman Booth was accused of rape by a fourteen-year-old babysitter. The resulting trial ended in a

hung jury A hung jury, also called a deadlocked jury, is a judicial jury that cannot agree upon a verdict after extended deliberation and is unable to reach the required unanimity or supermajority. A hung jury may result in the case being tried again. Thi ...

, and the Booth marriage was functionally over. The next March,

was arrested for assisting in the escape of

fugitive slave In the United States, fugitive slaves or runaway slaves were terms used in the 18th and 19th centuries to describe people who fled slavery. The term also refers to the federal Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850. Such people are also called fre ...

Joshua Glover Joshua Glover was a fugitive slave who escaped from the United States to Canada in the 1850s. His escape from recapture was part of the chain of events that led to the Civil War and the end of slavery in the U.S. Originally from the state of M ...

. Mary Booth helped organize two failed attempts to forcibly free Sherman Booth from prison before leaving him and the United States in June 1860. Booth moved to

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

with one of her daughters and the German writer, radical, and feminist

Mathilde Franziska Anneke Mathilde Franziska Anneke (née Giesler; April 3, 1817 – November 25, 1884) was a German writer, feminist, and radical democrat who participated in the Revolutions of 1848–1849. In late 1849, she moved to the United States, where she campaign ...

. Booth and Anneke enjoyed a romantic relationship, the exact nature of which has been debated. They worked as freelance journalists and collaborated on an unpublished anthology of abolitionist stories. In June 1864, Booth and her daughter returned to the United States due to Booth's worsening tuberculosis and desire to be reunited with her family. Booth lived in a New York City boarding house and died on April 11, 1865.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, Mary Created via preloaddraft 1831 births 1865 deaths American women poets American abolitionists