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I was born at Doncaster, England in 1847. In 1850, about the latter part of January, I sailed from England on the vessel “The Prince Regent.” This was the first vessel to start out when the seas were opened. The vessel was fitted for first and second class passengers. On the return trip it was to take a load of lumber back from Canada to England. When we started many people said we would be lost, and although we had many thrilling experiences, we arrived safely in America.

We took the Northern route and made good time until a calm overtook us. This lasted for four days, then a storm arose and carried us in sight of some American Islands. Soon after, the wind changed and blew us back in sight of the British Isles. Another calm occurred and during this time the people on board the ship amused themselves by dancing. My father furnished the music with his violin.

Again the wind changed its course and we made rapid progress until we ran into a sea of ice. This happened at night and the vessel couldn’t be turned around. We had to saw our way out as the ice was six or seven feet thick. We worked for four days and nights sawing our way out. The captain ordered all the people to get out on the ice and take exercise. He made sleds so the larger children could pull the smaller ones on the ice.

When we were clear of the ice, we started for Greenland to get provisions and repairs for the vessel. Here all the passengers were landed for recreation. We then started for the Gulf of St. Lawrence. On account of the fog, wind and currents, we remained here for three days. After leaving here we went through what the people called “The Thousand Islands” to Quebec.

It took us thirty-two weeks to get from England to Quebec. During the wind storm on the sea many incidents took place. The vessel was arranged with berths according to the size of the family. The baggage was arranged to form compartments. When the vessel went into a trough in the sea all loose articles rushed to one end- then when the vessel reached the crest they rushed to the other end. People were kept busy dodging so they wouldn’t be hit by the flying articles. The cooking utensils were made of tin and were so badly damaged they couldn’t be used. The cooking of the food was done on deck where they had a large fireplace.

From Quebec we started for Plymouth, Ohio in Huron County. Part of the way we went in horse cars to Sandusky. From there we took the Sandusky Mansfield Railroad, now called the Baltimore Railroad. This was the first railroad built in Ohio. From there we went to my mother’s brothers. There were three of them- Joseph, John and Thomas Downend, also one sister whose name was Sarah Hutchinson.

My father, being a florist and landscape gardener, went to Mansfield, Ohio to superintend some landscape work for private families. After this was completed he superintended the laying off and beautifying of the Ladies Seminary at Mansfield. After this my father bought some property of his own and built greenhouses and began the floral business. While there he experimented with different flowers and fruits. By experimenting, my father finally produced a perfect white rose and also a green one. The green rose came from a bud the same as other roses and resembled the rose in all ways but the petals- instead of having delicate petals it was simply leaves formed like a rose. It was about two inches in diameter.

My father and Burbank were very good friends, both being interested in experimenting. Burbank came to my father to see a plant in bloom which was the first of its kind to come from England to the United States. This plant was called “The Bleeding Heart”.

After Father sold out his property in Mansfield he bought property in Marion County, Ohio, about three miles from Scott. The Tymoctia Creek ran through the place. This creek used to overflow and destroy crops. Father cleared the drifts, plowed and scraped a channel in order to make a clear passage for the water, and in so doing we plowed up a great many muskets, bayonets and swords, besides a great quantity of bullets. This place, as we were told, was supposed to have been the place where Colonel Crawford was captured by the Indians and taken to Upper Sandusky and burned at the stake. Upper Sandusky was twelve miles from our place. There was one relic found here which was a part of a sword with a bronze handle. This contained inscriptions in foreign language. My father took it to the city of Marion to the printer. He printed the inscription in the paper, and either the inscription was reprinted in another paper or the paper was passed on, for it got into Vermont. Some gentleman there saw the inscription and wrote father about it. He later came to see it. This inscription was in French and proved to be the name of a distant relative of his who had been in the army.

My father sold his property and went to Jefferson County, Iowa in 1862. Here I bought my first violin which I have yet. I paid twenty-two dollars in gold when gold was worth two dollars and sixty cents. From Iowa we went back to Mansfield, Ohio. Here I was married to Anne Brook. From here I moved with my family, and father and mother to Kansas in 1878. We lived in the Crabtree School house until we could get our buildings put up.

We arrived at Bunker Hill, Kansas, May 28, 1878 and on the 30^th of May I played for a picnic dance in Hutchinson Grove, south of Dorrance. From that on I’ve been playing for dances. My accompanists for a long time were Bill Shell and Annie Wranck and I have played all over Russell, Ellsworth, Barton, Ellis, Rooks and Osborne counties.  I’ve also played in every town on the Union Pacific Railroad from Ellsworth to Denver, also in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

After living near the Crabtree School house we bought a piece of railroad land southeast of Bunker Hill. We sold this and moved on land just across the road. After selling this we moved to our present home three miles southwest of Paradise, Kansas.

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Conclusion by his daughter,

Mary Lieuticcia (Booth) Marsh Huffman

of Casper, Wyoming, Nov. 30, 1928

I think this story, or history is very good only it is very brief, there being so many things left out that would have been very interesting. I cannot tell these as they should be told but will relate a few things to the best of my ability.

When I was back to Kansas six years ago my father told me that when we was about twelve years old he went back to England with his uncle Sir William Pigat. In their travels abroad they went to the City of Jerusalem and in one of the shops there was man selling little cubes of wood supposed to have been cut from the cross that Jesus was crucified on. These cubes were sold for 25 cents each and father, child-fashioned, got to prospecting around and went into a room back of the shop. There were several men there sawing up any kind of wood into these cubes to be sold. Father made the return trip to America with some friends of his Father and Mother.

In the fall of 1911 Father went to Oregon staying nearly two months. On his return home he stopped off at Laramie, Wyoming and played for a dance at my home on November 15, 1911.

In the fall of 1913 Father and Mother spent two months visiting in and around Mansfield, Ohio.

Father was a carpenter by trade having spent three years as an apprentice. He also worked as a bridge-builder and general repair man on the Union Pacific Railroad between Bunker Hill and Denver, Colorado. He also did considerable Mill Wright work. He told me about doing some repair work in a chocolate mill or factory and it was very hot weather. He said the chocolate melted and ran and stuck all over everything. The sight of it and working in it sickened him so that he could never bare to eat anything that had chocolate in it.

Father was raised according to the rules of the Church of England but I do not know whether he ever joined the church or not.

He was a member of the Natoma Lodge, no. 390 A.F. & A.M. of Natoma, Kansas, the Isis Shrine, Salina, Kansas, Topeka Consistory no. 1 A. & A.S.R., Topeka, Kansas and of the A.O.U.W. of Paradise, Kansas. He enjoyed the activities of the order very much.

To him were born six children, four boys and two girls.

During his life he was called upon to make six almost impossible sacrifices- that of those preceding him to their Heavenly Home. First his mother at the age of 72, his father at the age of 75, his three children and his wife, John Benjamin 2 years, Nina Elizabeth in infancy, William Arthur 23 years, and my mother Anne 51 years old.

John Edwin Booth passed away March 15^th, 1928 at the age of 81 years, 1 month and 1 day. He was survived by a brother H.A. Booth of Mansfield, Ohio, two sons, Charles Edwin of Paradise, Kansas and Frank Henry of Fairport, Kansas and one daughter, Mary Lieuticcia of Casper, Wyoming, also twelve grand children and ten great grand children.

“We cannot say and we will not say

That he is dead. He is just away.

With a cherry smile and a wave of the hand,

He has wandered into an unknown land,

And left us dreaming how very fair

It needs must be, since he lingers there.

And you- Oh you, who the mildest yearn

Think of him faring on, as dear

In the love of There as the love of Here;

Mild and gentle, as he was brave,

When the sweetest love of his life he gave

To simple things; where the violets grew

Pure as the eyes they were likened to,

Think of him still as the same, we say;

He is not dead- he is just- away.”

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