Alexander P. Keith hailed from Eaton, Massachusetts, coming to California for the gold mines and then making his big strike in Nevada in 1859-60. He used his newfound fortune to continue his vision of his airplane invention. His invention deviated from the then accepted flapping wing devices that were of the time.

He later married Anna Hicks in Boston and moved to San Diego in the early 1880s where they had two daughters, Mabel M. and Elizabeth. Only after Keith’s death did his family learn of his invention and patent. It is said in the few articles on Keith’s invention, that the only things lacking was the aid of a perpetual moving machine, at which time had not yet been discovered. Mr. Keith died on May 3, 1930 in Wynola, CA and is buried at Nuevo Memory Gardens, in Ramona, CA.

Link to the collection's Descriptive Finding Guide.

Link to images from the collection on Flickr.