Agnes

Source: Library of Congress. 1897.

My previous post looked back at the family of my 3rd-great-grandfather John O'Brien. I'm now turning to the enigmatic Agnes Gillette mentioned in John's obituary in 1901. While I cannot guarantee this is 100% accurate, my strong belief is that Agnes was married to Alfred M. Gillette, a famous circus performer and actor. She appears in the Cook County, Illinois Death Index as Agnes Atherton Gillette, who died in Chicago on 7 November 1910.

Variety. 20 November 1910.

Before her move back to Chicago, Agnes was living in Cincinnati, Ohio. In the 1910 US Census she was sharing a household in Cincinnati with Alfred M. Gillette. Agnes appears in hundreds of articles in the New York Clipper, a well-known trade paper for theater, vaudeville and the circus community. The clipping below shows a farewell party for Agnes as she moved from Cincinnati to Chicago:

NY Clipper, 2 April 1910.

I don't know if Atherton was an early married name, old family name, an adopted name or a stage name. I'm leaning toward a stage name. After seeing Agnes connected to A. M. Gillette, I ran some old newspaper searches and found a ton of articles and clippings referencing them together. Agnes appeared in performances with the Gillette family and others as early as 1879, which would put her about 20 or 21 then if her age in the 1860 US Census is accurate. In 1860 she appeared in the convent/school/orphanage in LaSalle County, Illinois at St. Patrick's Church run by the Sisters of Charity.

St. Paul (MN) Globe, 28 Nov 1879

Agnes reappears in the 1880 US Census in Hancock, Houghton County, Michigan (on Michigan's Upper Peninsula), as a "performer in theater". The census was taken 3-4 June 1880. She is listed as 20 years old, although I think she was closer to 22 then.

It appears that Agnes was constantly on the road, traveling from city to city performing in a variety of shows. One article below features Agnes in a performance with Alfred Gillette's troup of acrobats.

Detroit Free Press, 8 Feb 1887

Minneapolis Star Tribune, 7 Nov 1886

Brooklyn (NY) Times-Union, 9 Dec 1890.

Agnes was known as a talented singer and dancer. She later managed her own shows, and was also a dress and costume designer for the clothes worn in these performances.

Given my great-grandfather Harry O'Brien's connection to the music business, I'd really like to think he inherited some of his musical talent from Agnes.

I'll have much more on Agnes in further posts. There are quite a lot of articles to dig through during her active performing years.