Born 29 Sept. 1868 at Alpine, Utah Co., Utah Territory.[1] Daughter of Richard Thornton Booth and Elsie Edge.[2] Baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by David Adams, 2 Aug. 1877.[3] Married James Edward Talmage, 14 June 1888, at Manti, Sanpete Co., Utah Territory; eight children.[4] Served on the executive board of the Utah Territorial Woman’s Suffrage Association.[5] Charter member of the Reapers’ Club with EBW, 1892–1893.[6] Served on the general board of the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association, 1892–1930.[7] Appointed as a delegate from Utah Territory with EBW to the World’s Congress of Representative Women held at the Columbian Exhibition in Chicago; presented a paper titled “Literature and Art,” 19 May 1893.[8] Charter member of the Author’s Club, 1893.[9] Vice president of the first Free Kindergarten Association in Utah, 1895.[10] Edited the Young Ladies’ Journal, 1901–1902.[11] Served with her husband as he presided over the European mission, 1924–1928.[12] Died 6 Apr. 1944 at Ogden, Weber Co., Utah.[13] Buried at Salt Lake City.[14]
[1] Record of Members Collection, 1836–1970, Alpine Ward Part 1, 1907–1956, p. 2, line 12, Mary May Booth, CR 375 8, box 89, folder 1, image 93/562 (restricted access), CHL. “Family Tree,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org, accessed 11 Oct. 2019), Merry May Booth (KWC2-KSV).
[2] Record of Members Collection, 1836–1970, Alpine Ward Part 1, 1907–1956, p. 2, line 12, Mary May Booth, CR 375 8, box 89, folder 1, image 93/562 (restricted access), CHL. 1880 U.S. Census, Alpine Precinct, Utah Co., Utah Territory, ED 86, p. 21C, Mary M. Booth.
[3] Record of Members Collection, 1836–1970, Alpine Ward Part 1, 1907–1956, p. 2, line 12, Mary May Booth, CR 375 8, box 89, folder 1, image 93/562 (restricted access), CHL. “Merry May Booth Talmage,” Go Ye into All the World (https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/missionary/?lang=eng, accessed 15 Oct. 2019).
[4] Sanpete Co., UT, County Clerk, Marriage License Records, 1888–1966, p. 87, James Edward Talmage and Merry May Booth, microfilm 481123, DGS 4624219, image 220/292, FHL. Utah Co., UT, County Clerk, Marriage Records, 1887–1966, p. 87, James E. Talmage and Merry May Booth, microfilm 488399, DGS 4624274, image 92/808, FHL. “Hymeneal Consummation,” Utah Enquirer (Provo, Utah Territory), 15 June 1888, 3. Merry May Booth Talmage, Diary, 13 June 1888, pp. 150–151, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University. 1910 U.S. Census, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Co., UT, ED 138, p. 1B, May Booth Talmage. Salt Lake Co., UT, Birth Records, 1890–1915, vol. 1, 1890–1903, p. 113, no. 2779, Zella Talmage, DGS 4121037, images 227, 228/405, FHL. Salt Lake Co. Management and Archives, Death Records, 1849–1966, p. 8, no. 290, Zella Talmage, DGS 4139834, images 17–18/490, FHL. Utah State Archives and Records Service, Utah Birth Record, 1911, Series 81443, file no. 281/452 (1911), John Russell Talmage, DGS 7031651, image 16/538, FHL.
[5] “N.A.W.S.A. of Utah Ter.,” Woman’s Exponent, 15 Apr. 1891, 158. Susan Young Gates, History of the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1911), 195. “LDS Church Worker Dies at Ogden,” Salt Lake Tribune, 7 Apr. 1944, 11.
[6] EBW, Diary, 3 and 17 Oct. 1892. Reapers’ Club, Papers, 1892–1912, Treasurer’s Book, 1892–1911, MS 2410, images 6, 12/138, CHL.
[7] Susan Young Gates, History of the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1911), 195. “Widow of Apostle in LDS Church Succumbs at 75,” Salt Lake Telegram, 6 Apr. 1944, 17.
[8] The World’s Congress of Representative Women (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1894), 82. “Attainments of Western Women, Young Ladies’ National Improvement Association Holds Its First Session,” Chicago Daily Tribune, 20 May 1893, 2. Woman’s Exponent, 15 June 1893, 3. EBW, Diary, 28 May and 3 June 1893.
[9] “May Booth Talmage, Widow of Late LDS Apostle, Dies at Ogden Hospital,” Daily Herald (Provo, UT), 6 Apr. 1944, 7. Carol Cornwall Madsen, “The Mormon-Gentile Female Relationship in Nineteenth-Century Utah,” Utah Historical Quarterly 63, no. 4 (Fall 1995): 307–308.
[10] Susan Young Gates, History of the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1911), 195. “The Free Kindergarten,” Salt Lake Herald, 7 Apr. 1895, 11. “Widow of Apostle in LDS Church Succumbs at 75,” Salt Lake Telegram, 6 Apr. 1944, 17.
[11] Susan Young Gates, History of the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1911), 114.
[12] “Merry May Booth Talmage,” Go Ye into All the World (https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/missionary/?lang=eng, accessed 15 Oct. 2019). British Mission Manuscript History and Historical Reports, 1841–1971, vol. 43, 1924–1926, Part 2, 1924–1925, LR 1140 2, box 28, folder 1, image 1/94, CHL. British Mission Manuscript History and Historical Reports, 1841–1971, vol. 44, 1927–1930, Part 1, 1927–1929, LR 1140 2, box 28, folder 3, image 89/173, CHL.
[13] “Utah State Archives Indexes,” database and images, Utah State Archives (https://archives,utah.gov, accessed 15 Oct. 2019); Utah Department of Health Office of Vital Records and Statistics Death Certificates, series 81448, file no. 186/212 (1944), May Booth Talmage.
[14] “Mary May Booth Talmage,” Salt Lake City Cemetery, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Co., UT; Find a Grave, posted 21 June 2007, memorial no. 20011943 (http://findagrave.com, accessed 16 Oct. 2019).