Another performer in the family?

 

Walt Kuhn. Young Woman.

For Isabella O'Brien, sister of my 2nd-great-grandfather John O'Brien, I only have a few records. I previously shared these in a post back in October 2023. There is a long gap in the records between her appearance in the 1860 US Census in La Salle County, Illinois at the age of 7, and her death record in 1893. Her younger sister Agnes was a noted performer and actress who spent quite a bit of her time in the Chicago theatre. 

While I do not have verification of this, there is a possibility that Isabella, or known as Belle, was also acting in the Chicago theatre in the mid-1880s. A Belle O'Brien appears in the obituary for a notorious actor who committed suicide in Chicago in February 1885. This Belle is listed as his wife, although it is not clear they were actually married.

Extract from Chicago Tribune, 7 Feb 1885.

According to the lengthy biography for Edward Arnott on the website for the historic New York theatrical club The Lambs, in early 1885 Arnott was living "with actress Belle O'Brien; she was billed as Belle Arnott. The couple told everyone they were married." His story is crazy, and reads like a mini-series. Arnott lived a life full of experiences. 

The newspaper entries on this Belle are very limited and she is only briefly mentioned in the articles about Arnott's death. I'd like to think Isabella and this Belle may have been the same person, but it's impossible to know.