n. She died in 1881.

[Signature of the author.]

JOSEPH JEFFERSON[16]

[Footnote 16: Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.]

By CLARENCE COOK

(BORN 1829)

[Illustration: Joseph Jefferson.]

Joseph Jefferson, distinguished, among his other brilliant successes
as an actor, as the creator for this generation of the character of
Rip Van Winkle in the play dramatized from the story in Washington
Irving's "Sketch Book," was the third of his name in a family of
actors. The first of the three was born at Plymouth, England, in 1774.
He was the son of Thomas Jefferson, a comedian of merit, the
contemporary and friend of Garrick, and came to this country in 1795,
making his first appearance in New York on February 10, 1796, in the
part of Squire Richard in "The Provoked Husband." Dunlap says that,
young as he was, he was already an artist, and that among the men of
the company he held the first place. He lived in this country for
thirty-six years, admired as an actor and respected as a man. He died
at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1832.

Joseph Jefferson, the second, was born in Philadelphia in 1804. He
inherited the laughing blue eyes and sunny disposition of his father,
but he had not his talent as an actor; he is said to have been best in
old men's parts. His taste, however, led him to scene-painting rather
than to acting; yet his skill in either direction was not enough to
win success, and, in spite of well-meant efforts, he lived and died a
poor man: ill luck pursuing him to the end of his days, when he was
carried off by yellow fever at Mobile in 1842, just as his
unprosperous skies were brightening a little. His son bears
affectionate witness to the upright character of the man and to his
indomitable cheerfulness in the most adverse circumstances. He spared
no pains in bringing up his children in good ways, and he was
earnestly seconded by his wife, a heroic figure in her humble sphere,
whose tact and courage not seldom saved the family bark when it was
drifting in shoal water. Mrs. Jefferson came of French parents, and
was a Mrs. Burke, a widow with one child, a son, when she married Mr.
Jefferson. Her son tells us that she had been one of the most
attractive stars in America, the leading prima donna of the country;
but she bore her changed fortune, as the wife of an unsuccessful actor
and manager, with no less dignity on the stage of real life, where no
applause was to be had but what came from tho