Asia Booth Clarke (1835 – 1888) was as shocked as the rest of the nation when she read the newspaper on April 15, 1865 to learn that her brother John Wilkes Booth, was wanted for assassinating President Abraham Lincoln. Living in Philadelphia, she was pregnant with twins and confined to bed.
Soon detectives appeared at their door. Asia’s husband John Clarke was taken to the old Capitol and detained.
When Clarke was released, he asked for a divorce, not wanting to be associated with the family of an assassin. The divorce didn’t happen, but the marriage remained strained forever.
The family never recovered their formerly good reputation. Asia and her family moved to England. She lost three more children, her husband was unfaithful, she had health issues and she missed her country.
Asia was an author and poet, and wrote John Wilkes Booth: A Sister’s Memoir, a book that explored Booth’s childhood and personality. It is prized as the only account of Lincoln’s assassin that gives some insight into his upbringing.
Asia Booth Clarke is buried in the family plot at Greenmount Cemetery in Baltimore.