George Boothroyd was born in July of 1836 to Michael and Nancy (Beavers) Boothroyd in Snaith,York,England in August of 1836. At the age of 14 he immigrated to the United States and lived temporarily in New York City before eventually finding his was to the Goodhue, Minnesota area where he married Elizabeth Bevers on October 12, 1859. In 1860 they welcomed a baby girl, Marietta, but she unfortunately passed away in 1863. A second daughter, Eva, born in 1863 died that same year as well.

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On August 15 of 1862, George joined up with the Union forces and became part of the 6th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, Company F. ​On September 23 the Sixth (consisting of companies A, B, F, and G) fought in the Battle of Wood Lake. This victory for the U.S. forces ended the U.S.-Dakota War. Following this battle, the regiment spent the winter of 1862–1863 on frontier duty. The next summer, the Sixth took part in Sibley's successful 1863 campaign against the Dakota Indians. The troops pushed the them all the way to and across the Missouri River.

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By the spring of 1864 the members of the Sixth Minnesota were very frustrated that they had not yet been sent south. Unfortunately, when orders eventually came to move, the men were directed to proceed to Helena, Arkansas, on the Mississippi River. Colonel Crooks's protests and attempts to change the regiment's orders were to no avail. The Sixth, 950-men strong, arrived in Helena on June 23, 1864, and spent the next four months in what Private Charles W. Johnson of Company D called "a series of swamps, bayous and flat lands, overflowed from the Mississippi in high water, reeking with miasma and covered with green scum in dry weather." By the end of October, two officers and fifty-eight enlisted men had died from disease, most from malaria. On September 30, 654 members of the Sixth were reported as sick, with only 140 men reporting for duty. By now, 461 men had been sent to hospitals in the North. The situation was so severe that Dr. Levi Butler, a commissioner appointed by the state to report on the condition of troops in the field, admitted in a letter that he did not want to report the true condition of the regiment to the public.

Finally in November the regiment was moved to St. Louis, then to New Orleans in late January 1865. In March and April of that year the Sixth took part in General E.R.S. Canby's campaign against Mobile, Alabama, and was in reserve during the April 9 capture of Fort Blakely. The Sixth Minnesota had fought the Confederates at last. The regiment was moved to Montgomery, Alabama, and eventually back home. They mustered out at Fort Snelling on August 19, 1865.
Sixth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment | MNopedia

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George returned home to Goodhue and he and his wife moved from there to Red Wing, Minnesota where they took up farming. In December of 1870, they welcomed Ida May, in 1871 Cora Ella was born, and in 1874, their only son, George Arthur was born. George and his small family moved across the state line to White, South Dakota. Unfortunately, their son George also died at a young age (October, 1892). The 1900 Census for Afton Township, Brookings County, South Dakota lists his occupation as Landlord. Both George and his wife Elizabeth died in August of 1911 and are buried in Fairview Cemetery, White, SD.

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