Actor, Oilman, Assassin

Illustration by Venango Museum Staff.

John Wilkes Booth in Venango County

In 1864, actor John Wilkes Booth left the stage behind and traveled to Venango County, drawn by the promise of wealth in Pennsylvania’s booming oil fields. His venture on the Fuller Farm Lease near Franklin ultimately failed, leaving him disillusioned and drained of much of his fortune. Only weeks after leaving the Oil Region, Booth became embroiled in the Lincoln assassination, forever linking this brief chapter in Venango County to one of the most infamous moments in American history.

This article draws from county histories and national historic records documenting John Wilkes Booth’s oil venture in Venango County.

In 1864, John Wilkes Booth left his acting career behind and went to Venango County, Pennsylvania, hoping to find wealth in the area’s busy oil fields. Booth was already a famous actor from a well-known theatrical family. Like many people during the oil rush, he thought making money in oil would be faster and more secure than staying in show business.

Once in the Oil Region, Booth joined with other actors to start the Dramatic Oil Company, combining his theater background with the excitement of the oil rush. He obtained land under the Fuller Farm Lease near Franklin and began drilling his first well in the summer of 1864. At first, things looked good. The well produced about twenty-five barrels of oil a day, which was a solid start for a new business.

Despite this early success, Booth quickly encountered the harsh realities of oil production in Venango County. Drilling costs rose, equipment failures mounted, and transportation challenges cut into profits. As production declined, Booth and his partners turned to a risky and increasingly common practice known as “shooting” the well. This technique involved detonating explosives inside the borehole to fracture oil-bearing rock formations and increase output. When successful, shooting could revive a struggling well—but failure often destroyed it entirely.

Booth’s risky move failed. The explosion ruined the well, and it stopped producing oil. With growing bills and no money coming in, Booth lost much of what he had made as an actor. His oil business fell apart, leaving him broke and frustrated. The hope for wealth that brought him to Venango County ended in disappointment.

When Booth left the area later in 1864, he was a different person. He was no longer the hopeful businessman he wanted to be. Instead, he left as a failed oilman, weighed down by debt and anger. His time in Venango County became a turning point in his life, marked more by disappointment than by new chances.

Just weeks after leaving, Booth took part in events that changed American history forever. In April 1865, he shot and killed President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., using a Baby Philadelphia Derringer. Booth escaped by jumping from the presidential box onto the stage, hurting his ankle as he landed. While reports vary, many people say he shouted the Latin phrase “Sic semper tyrannis!”—“Thus always to tyrants.”

Booth stayed on the run for only a few days. He was found in a tobacco barn in Virginia, far from Venango County and the oil well that had cost him so much. Union soldiers surrounded the barn and set it on fire to force him out. When Booth came out, he was shot and killed. He was only 27 years old.

Booth’s short but important time in Venango County is a lesser-known part of his story. It was shaped by his ambition, his failure, and the restless energy of the Oil Region just before one of America’s darkest times.

Sources

Bell, James H., and William A. Brown. History of Venango County, Pennsylvania. Chicago: Brown, Runk & Co., 1890.

Kauffman, Michael W. American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies. New York: Random House, 2004.

National Park Service. “John Wilkes Booth.” Lincoln Home National Historic Site. n.d.

Swanson, James L. Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer. New York: HarperCollins, 2006.

Waugh, John C. Reenacting the Lincoln Assassination. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994.