Kate Claxton

Kate Elizabeth Cone was born on August 24, 1848, in Somerville, New Jersey, to Spencer Wallace Cone and Josephine Martinez. She died on May 5, 1924, of a cerebral hemorrhage at her New York City apartment and was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.

Claxton began her stage career in Chicago in 1870, appearing alongside Lotta Crabtree. That same year she joined Augustin Daly's Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City, and by 1872 she had become a member of A. M. Palmer's Union Square Theatre, where she performed primarily in comedy roles.

Her Broadway work included the plays The Two Orphans and Rose Michel, with her first Broadway appearance occurring in 1874. She originated the role of Louise in The Two Orphans, a performance that established her reputation as one of the leading emotional actresses of her era. Her first starring tour followed in 1876.

On December 5, 1876, Claxton was performing The Two Orphans at the Brooklyn Theatre in New York when a fire broke out during the production, resulting in the deaths of 278 people.

In her personal life, Claxton first married Isadore Lyon in 1865; the marriage ended in divorce. On March 3, 1878, she married Charles A. Stevenson, and they divorced in 1911. Her son Harold Stevenson died by suicide in 1904. Some local historians hold that the city of Claxton, Georgia, was named in her honor.