Jefferson, Joseph

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

Joseph (1829-1905), a noted American actor. He was born in Philadelphia, February 20, 1829, and died at Palm Beach, Florida, April 24, 1905. On his father's side he came of an old and honorable theatrical family. His great grandfather was a well known London actor in the time of the noted Garrick. "Joe" Jefferson's association with the stage began in early childhood. In an autobiography published in 1890 he says of himself, "I may almost say I was born in the theater." As a child he appeared first in the character of Jim Crow, a negro minstrel. He traveled in the West with his father. Lincoln, then a struggling young lawyer, did them a good turn once by securing the repeal of a prohibitive license imposed by the authorities of Springfield. Jefferson's first great success was in the role of Irving's Rip Van Winkle . He was a capital Caleb Plummer in Dickens' Cricket on the Hearth. He personated other characters well, but the public never wearied of hearing Rip. So Rip he represented season after season for forty years. In all these long years of public life Jefferson was regarded not only as an actor but as a gentleman. No American actor has been more popular. None has exerted a greater influence for good. He inherited a genial, happy manner and natural ability. Industry and economy brought him wealth. Correct habits and good health brought him on to a ripe old age in which he continued to bear an untarnished reputation. He was dubbed affectionately "the dean of the American stage." He died at his winter home in Florida asking that his head bee raised that he might look out on the unresting sea.