Agnes Thatcher Lake: A Life of Performance and Tragedy

In this installment of ‘Profiles in History,’ we meet a famous circus equestrienne who became even more famous for her ill-fated marriages.

Circus performer and owner, Agnes Thatcher Lake. Public Domain

Agnes Louise Mersman possessed an affinity and gift for horseback riding, and became one of America’s most famous equestriennes. She performed for some of America’s most famous circuses and later successfully ran her own. Her fame reached its pinnacle for one of the most famous murders in American history.

A New Country

Early 19th-century France was a country of political and social instability thanks to the ongoing power struggle between the Monarchist and Republican factions. Shortly after the July Revolution of 1830, in which Charles X abdicated the throne, Frederick Mersman came to America with his 4-year-old daughter, Agnes Louise Mersman (1826–1907). His wife, Anna, had died only a few months prior.

The father-daughter duo moved to Cincinnati, where Agnes Mersman developed a gift for horseback riding. Her father helped develop her skill into a circus routine, and it was in the circus where Mersman would make her name.

Love and the Circus

William Lake Thatcher began his circus career as a show horseman, but an injury relegated him to being a circus clown. When Thatcher and Mersman met in 1841, he helped get her a job in the Spalding and Rogers North American Circus. Thatcher and Mersman’s business relationship developed into something much more lasting. Around her 16th birthday in August 1842, despite her father’s disapproval, Thatcher and Mersman eloped while with the circus in Louisiana. The match proved successful in both love and business. In order to fit their name on the billings for shows, Thatcher dropped his last name, and the two were advertised as Bill and Agnes Lake.