Alexander A. Boothby (1852-1922) – 52 Ancestors # 32, Youngest

Interestingly, I have two great grandfathers who were the youngest child in their family, one paternal and one maternal.  On my maternal side, F A Denman, was the youngest child.  On my paternal side, Alexander Boothby was.  I have already written things about F A Denman so this will be about Alex Boothby.

Alex Boothby was born October 3, 1852 in Brown County, Ohio.  He was the youngest of ten children born to James and Elizabeth Divers Boothby.  I really don’t know anything about his early life.  His parents lived in the same place from his birth (and before), in Scott Township, Brown, Ohio.  His father owned about 100 acres of farm land.  Alex learned farming and that is what he worked at for almost his entire life.

Alex married Mary E. Earhart in October 1873, the day before his 21st birthday.  I have written before about Mary or Elizabeth as she was also known at times.  I don’t know how they met but I wonder if they met at school or from social events.  I’m not aware of either of them belonging to a church although it seems most likely that they would have, so it is possible that socializing with a church group was how they met.

There was a period of time, I don’t know for exactly how long, that rather than farming, Alex lived and worked in Cincinnati.  The 1910 federal census listed his household, and Alex was listed as working as a laborer in a lumber yard.  City directory listings I have managed to find show that he and some of his children were in Cincinnati from at least 1908-1917.  Since his daughter, my grandmother Carrie, met and married my grandfather in Cincinnati in 1913, that would suggest at least a five year period of time that the Alex Boothby family was in Cincinnati.  Alex never owned his own farm and it may be that he couldn’t find one to rent or couldn’t afford to during this time.   It is also possible that between the censuses he and the family moved back and forth.

In 1920 Alex and his wife were living with daughter Carrie and my Salt grandfather on the Salt family farm.  The only picture I have that might include Alex was taken from that period as they were all working to get tobacco leaves to the drying sheds.  The snapshot is not dated, but would most likely have been between 1918 and 1921.  (My guess for a date is 1919, since my father was born in late 1918 and the year fits other pictures in the album that were dated.)  I’m fairly certain that the woman in the picture is great grandma Mary Elizabeth and the man is not my grandfather, so I’m guessing it was great grandpa Alex.

In June 1922, Alex Boothby died in Clark Township, Brown, Ohio having left the Salt family farm after his son-in-law died.  His death certificate says he died of apoplexy.  He was just 4 months shy of his 70th birthday.