In my first blog I wrote about who we were reputed to be related to which included two infamous men with the last name of Booth. This article will follow up on what I actually discovered of our Booth ancestors. We knew the Booth family was in New York. So working backwards as good genealogist are all taught, our maternal great grandmother was Ada Jane Booth. Her father was Joseph Booth and her grandfather was Joseph L. Booth, born about 1802 in England.

So lets start at the end and work backwards.

On Joseph Booth’s Certificate of death  his father is listed as Joseph L. Booth born in England and his mother is Alice Robinson also born in England.

We know Joseph L. Booth  is buried in the Fairview Cemetery, on Staten Island, Richmond county, New York from the book Staten Island and Its People A History 1609-1933 By Charles W. Leng, BS and William T. Davis. (See the end of this blog.)

The US Census in 1880 shows the wife of Joseph L. Booth, Alice Booth (73)  living with her married daughter Alice Taylor (34) in Castleton, Richmond County New York, Alice Taylor is shown as born in Mass.

I have been unable to locate Alice and or Joseph Booth in the 1870 US Census.

The 1860 US Census  is shown below.

Joseph Booth (58), Dye Printer born in England. Alice (52), b. England, Isacc (17) b. in Pennsylvania, Sarah (16) works in Dye house b. Pennsylvania, Alice (15) works in Dye house is shown b. New York.

Our next scrap of information is the Passenger List.

List of Manifest of all the passengers taken on board the ship Garrick Sept. 17, 1842

whereof Wm Skiddy is Master, from Liverpool Burthern 895 5/95

Another poor quality copy from old microfilm. You can see the 14th name down is Jsh. Booth (age 29) occupation (not legible) , Alice Booth (27) , Mary Ann (11), Jsh.(9), Walter (5), and Nancy (2).

The next item I was able to locate was the 1841 UK Census.

Again I have to apologize for the poor quality on this copy. It shows Joseph Booth (35 yrs old) calico printer, his wife Alice (30) and on the next page Mary Ann (12), Walton (8) and Joseph (5), and Nancy (8 mos.).

The Unitarian Church records in Padham show the following:

Joseph Son of Joseph and Alice Booth baptized 25 March  1836 Accrington, occupation of father Printer.

Walton Son of Joseph and Alice Booth b. 23 June 1833 Accrington, occupation of father Printer.

Servetus Son of Joseph and Alice Booth b. 14 June 1831 Crowshaw Booth, occupation of father Printer.

Mary Ann Daughter of Joseph and Alice Booth b. 8 March 1829 Padaham, occupation of father Printer.

 

The oldest record I have found to date for Joseph Booth is the above Unitarian church marriage record in Padham, Lancashire England. It states that;

Joseph Booth and Alice Robinson both of this township and chapelry were married in this chapel by banns on this tenth day of October in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty five by me Lanford (unledgible). This Marriage was solemnized between us (signed) Joseph L. Booth, Alice  Robinson In the presence of  (signed) Wm. Robinson and James Kelly.

It appears that they and the couple before them had the same witness and the marriage was preformed by the same person. The witness Wm. Robinson may or may not be a relative.

Lancashire was the center of the English Textile industry. There were many mills in and around this area. Many people migrated to this area from all of England to work in the Mills. With the common name of Joseph Booth it has become one of my brick walls. Booth is a very common name not only in Lancashire but also in neighboring Cheshire county.

When Madeleine and I were in England we tried to find the Padham Unitarian church that would have been there when Joseph and Alice were married and where all the births of their children in England are noted. But alas no luck, we did find the present church but it was closed on the day we were there and were unable to ascertain if they held the records from the 1820~ 30’s. The other missing bit is a death record for Joseph. I have Alice’s (his wife’s) death certificate but have been unable to locate Joseph’s death record. With that we might find his fathers name and his mothers maiden name.

The above history  may or may not be correct. We have found errors in much of the information but it was one of our starting places for information. We have often used these little biography’s for clues. Many communities have this type of book on their pioneering families. So I always like to look for them and see If there are family members in them that might give us clues.

I would love to know more about the business that Joseph L. Booth was supposedly to have started. Was it on Staten Island, in Pennsylvania where Isaac and Sarah were born, or in Mass. where Alice may or may not have been born?