|
Pioneer Profiles Edmund Augustus Boyer: Pioneer Physician & Entrepreneur
Edmund Augustus
Boyer
was
born 13 Mar 1816 to a prosperous family in Uniontown, Frederick Co. (Carroll Co)
MD. In 1832, his father, French-born
Thomas
Boyer,
believing slavery to be wrong, freed his own slaves, then moved the family to
Ohio. Here Edmund studied
medicine and married
Mary Rebecca
Wiley
in 1840. She was born in 1821 at White
River
Junction, Windsor Co, VT (d. 6 Jan 1917). Together
they moved to Van Buren Co., IA in 1840, where they remained for three years and
Edmund Boyer practiced medicine.
With the opening of Mahaska Co. for settlement on 1 May 1843, Dr. Boyer moved his family to their new home, a bark-floored cabin on 325 acres in Sec. 28, Scott Twp. The early days were difficult ones— the nearest grist mill was 80 miles away, and primitive trails were often impassable. Starvation was a real threat. At one time, with the last barrel of meal consumed, friend and neighbor Van DeLashmutt set out up river with a few bushels of wheat, hoping to have it ground at a rustic hand-grist reported to be operating some distance away.
Finding the mill
broken, the situation became critical. Dr.
Boyer
determined to hail a passing riverboat, laden with a cargo of flour for soldiers
garrisoned upriver. When the riverboat
ignored his calls from shore, he and two other men manned a large canoe and were
soon alongside the boat, demanding two barrels of flour, and offering to pay for
it. The captain refused the request,
insisting the flour was government
property and not his to sell. Dr.
Boyer
told him it made no difference; his family was starving
and he would have the flour or sink the boat.Thinking better of the situation, the captain lowered two barrels of
flour into the canoe, for which he was reimbursed $15. Dr.
Boyer and his
neighbors were able to feed their families once more.
Always concerned for the well-being of his neighbors,
he was respected and appreciated for his services within the community. Before
the area opened for settlement, a Fourierite Phalanx had located itself
on what became Dr. Boyer’s land claim. This early experiment in communal
living failed, but the kindness and assistance of Dr. Boyer towards the
struggling communists was never forgotten.
During his first winter in Scott Twp, Dr.
Boyer is
reputed to have shot ninety-three wolves.
An avid hunter, he raised fine dogs and horses. Perceiving a market for lumber,
he harvested and sold $12,000 worth of black walnut lumber from his land. He
entered into a merchandising
business in Rochester and Bellfountaine with E. H.
Thisselle about 1849, and the enterprise soon thrived. About
1860, he gave up his practice of medicine to devote his energies to his
expanding farm and businesses.
Edmund and
Mary Wiley Boyer
raised a family of nine children: five
boys and four girls.
Mary R.
(abt.
1840-25 Feb 1910), married
John Robertson
Barnes
27 Dec 1858. He joined in the mercantile company,
known as Boyer & Barnes, and later was one of the organizers of the Mahaska Co.
Bank. His career included serving as County Treasurer and Commissioner.
William E.
(b.
abt. 1842) continued the family merchandising business at Tracy, IA.
Richard M.
(8 Aug
1844-14 Dec 1920) served in the Civil War, Co. E, 33rd IA Vol. Inf. Upon his
return to Iowa, he took on the management of the family farm.
Frank D.
(abt.
1849-30 Dec 1931) joined the family business in Oskaloosa.
Ella
(b.
abt. 1854)
married
Dr. Eph B.
Young. They resided in Red Oak, IA.
Edmund A., Jr.
(b.
abt. 1855) became a real-estate dealer in Dodge City, KS.
Anna E.
(d.
bef. 1878)
married
Dr. David E. Scott.
Frances H.
(b.
abt. 1858)
married
Smith McPherson
2 Oct 1879.
He served as Attorney
General of the State of Iowa for four years.
Thomas H. (b.
abt. 1861) a United States Mail Messenger on the Chicago & Northwestern
Railroad, resided in Belle Plaine, IA.
Upon his death on 6 Feb 1886, the following was
written about Edmund Boyer’s life: “Strong in his beliefs, he made both friends
and enemies, but all respected him as a man of sterling worth, true to his
friends, kind and provident in his family, and always ready to extend a helping
hand to the unfortunate.” —Oskaloosa
Herald Thursday, 11 Feb 1886.
Resources consulted for this profile
include:
Wm. Sunstrum, Oskaloosa, IA: Family Records and
Research
Federal Census: Mahaska Co, Scott Twp, IA 1850, 1870
History of Mahaska Co, IA 1878, pb
Union Historical Co, Des Moines, IA
Directory of Mahaska Co, IA 1878
Portrait and Biographical Album of
Mahaska Co, IA 1887
A Narrative History of the People of
Iowa
by Edgar Ruby Harlan, pub American Historical
Society, 1931 | ||||
.jpg)
|
| Home | Cemeteries List | Cemeteries Map | MCCPPC News | Restoration Gallery | Pioneer Profiles | Resources | Site Map | Contact Us | Mahaska County Commission
for the Preservation of Pioneer Cemeteries Send mail to
webmaster with questions or comments about this web site.
|
