BOOTH, Miss Mary Louise, author, translator and editor, born in Millville, now Yaphank, N. Y., 19th April, 1831. On her father's side she is descended from John Booth, who came to the Colonies in 1649. Her mother was the granddaughter of a refugee of the French Revolution. Mary's talents were displayed in childhood, and she was yet only a girl when her first contributions were published. Her father was a teacher, and in 1845 and 1846 she taught in his school in Williamsburg, L. I. Her health failed and she was obliged to abandon teaching. She then turned to literature. She wrote many stories and sketches for newspapers and magazines, and translated from the French "The Marble-Worker's Manual" (New York. 1856), and "The Clock and Watch Maker's Manual." For "Emerson's Magazine " she translated Mery's "Andre Chenier" and About's "King of the Mountains," and for that journal she wrote a number of stories. She translated Victor Cousin's "Secret History of the French Court; or. Life and Times of Madame de Chevreuse" (1859). The first edition of her "History of the City of New
MARY LOUISE BOOTH.
York" appeared in 1S59. It is a work embodying the results of much study and research. She next assisted in making a translation of the French classics, and she translated About's "Germaine" (Boston, i86ot. During the Civil War she translated the writings of eminent Frenchmen who favored the cause of the Union. Among these were: Gasparin's " Uprising of a Great People"
and "America before Europe" (New York, 1861), Edouard Laboulaye's "Paris in America" (New York, 1865), and Augustin Cochin's "Results of Emancipation" and "Results of Slavery" (Boston, 1862). Her work in that field won the commendation of President Lincoln, Senator Sumner and other statesmen. Among others of her translations
at that time were the Countess de Gasparin's "Vesper," "Camille" and "Human Sorrows," and Count de Gasparin's "Happiness." Her translations of French documents were published in pamphlet form by the Union League Club, or
printed in New York City newspapers. Her next translation was Henri Martin's "History of France. " In 1864 she published two volumes treating of "The Age of Louis XIV." In 1866 she published two others, the last two of the seventeen volumes, under the title of "The Decline of the French Monarchy." In 1880 she published the translation Of Martin's abridged "History of France." Her later translations from the French include Labonlaye's "Fairy Book" and Mace's " Fairy Tales." In 1867 she published an enlarged edition of her "History of the City of New York," and in 1880 a second revision brought that valuable work down to date. Miss Booth was the editor of "Harper's Bazar" from its establishment in 1S67, until the time of her death, 4th March, 1889,