Booth was born in Bel Air , Maryland , into the English American theatrical Booth family . He was the illegitimate son of the famous actor , Junius Brutus Booth , an Englishman , who named Edwin after Edwin Forrest and Thomas Flynn , two of Junius ' colleagues . He was the elder brother of John Wilkes Booth , himself a successful actor who gained notoriety as the assassin of President Lincoln
assassin
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Edwin Booth