Mary Louise Booth was born at Yaphank in 1831. She was the daughter
of the village miller and school teacher. Mary Booth was a writer, translator
and magazine editor. She began to translate French works at a young age and
completed about forty in all, including books that were sympathetic to the
Union cause, which won praise from Abraham Lincoln. At the same time, Booth
wrote her own book, "History of the City of New York" (1859), which won
great praise and commercial success. Booth fought for women's rights alongside
Susan B. Anthony and served as secretary at the conventions in Saratoga
in 1855 and New York City in 1860. She was also an abolitionist. In 1867
Booth was named editor of the Harper Brothers' new magazine, "Harper's Bazar,"
a family and fashion magazine. Booth combined the skills of a shrewd businesswoman,
intuitive knowledge of the tastes of conventional Victorian ladies, and
the literary judgment of a writer, making the "Bazar" a great financial
success. Booth built a magazine that continued more than a century after
her death (although its name was changed to "Bazaar" in 1929).
She died on March 5, 1899
and was buried in the family Plot in Cypress Hills Cemetery.
Some of her
translations were: About's King of the Mountains; Cousin'sSecret History
of the French Court, (1859); Pascal's Lettres Provinciales (Provincial Letters);
Gasparin's Uprising of a Great People, (1861), America Before Europe, (1861);
Laboulaye's Paris in America, (1865); Cochin's Results of Emancipation, (1862),
and Results of Slavery, (1862). She also wrote a comprehensive History of
New York, (1861, revised 1880).
