Page 591

 

L. C. BOLTINGHOUSE

 

L. C. Boltinghouse, a successful farmer and extensive landowner of Grove township, whose well-directed efforts in agricultural lines are meeting with substantial success, was born in Monroe county, Indiana, on the 23d of May, 1854.  He is a son of Isaac Boltinghouse, who was born in Tennessee and removed to Indiana with his parents when a boy.  His occupation is farming.

 

No event of special importance came to vary the routine of life for L. C. Boltinghouse during the period of his boyhood and youth, which were spent on his father's farm in Indiana amid the scenes and environment of rural life.  Although he attended the district school for a brief period, he is mostly self-educated, having acquired a broad knowledge through extensive reading and observation in later years.  His practical training, however, was thorough and comprehensive and he early learned the best methods of plowing, planting and harvesting, giving his father the benefit of his assistance until he reached manhood.  He was married on the 6th of August, 1874, to Miss Sarah Freeman, a native of Greene county, Indiana, who was reared in Nebraska until eleven years of age, after which she returned to Indiana and in Monroe county gave her hand to our subject.

 

(Page 592)  After his marriage Mr. Boltinghouse entered the business world on his own account, wisely choosing as his life work the occupation to which he had been reared.  The young couple began their domestic life on a farm in Rock Island county, Illinois, where they remained for three years, and then, in 1879, they came west to Iowa, locating in Grove township, Taylor county.  Here he purchased eighty acres of his present farm which, when it came into his possession, was but slightly improved.  He at once took up the task of its further development and under his careful management and wisely directed labor the fields were brought under a high state of cultivation.  During the first few years, however, the work of progress was very slow for he was handicapped by sickness and many hardships and privations, but his indomitable energy and determination would brook no obstacles in the path to success and with the passing of the years he became very prosperous, from time to time being able to add to his original purchase until today his farm consists of six hundred and forty acres, constituting him one of the large landowners of the locality.  The farm is all in one body located on sections 18 and 19, Grove township, and has become one of the valuable and desirable properties of the locality.  In 1905 Mr. Boltinghouse erected a comfortable and attractive residence, while in the rear he has built two substantial barns and commodious outbuildings.  He has set out a good orchard and grove, and everything about the place indicates that he has kept in touch with the modern spirit of progress which is manifest in agricultural lines.  In connection with general farming he engages in raising and feeding stock, fattening from one to two carloads of cattle and hogs annually.  His business interests are all wisely and carefully managed and he is enjoying a most gratifying measure of success from the fact that both branches of his business -- the raising of grain and the raising of stock -- are proving sources of an excellent income.

 

As the years have come and gone the home of Mr. and Mrs. Boltinghouse have been blessed with eleven children, seven sons and four daughters.  The sons are: Joe, who is married and carries on general farming in Grove township; James, also married and farming in this township; Charles, who is married and is engaged in agricultural pursuits in North Dakota, being an extensive wheat grower, raising sixteen thousand bushels of wheat in the year 1909, his entire grain crop aggregating thirty thousand bushels; A. L., who is married and follows farming in Holt township; Orville L., who is married and resides with the father and operates the home place; and Walter and Floyd, who are still under the parental roof.  The daughters are as follows: Bertha, the wife of Claude Carter, of Grove township; May, who married A. Murray, of North Dakota; Eva, the wife of Clarence Armstrong, of Grove township; and Ethel, residing at home.  All of the children were born in Taylor county with the exception of two.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Boltinghouse hold membership in the Christian church, in which he is serving as deacon, and are people who are highly thought of throughout the community by those who recognize and appreciate true worth of character.  Politically he has voted the republican ticket since age conferred upon him the right of franchise, and has ever been a stalwart supporter of the principles of that party, although he has never sought nor desired public office as a reward for party fealty.  He was, however, identified with the school system (page 593) for several years, the cause of education finding in him a warm champion.  A resident of Taylor county for over thirty years, he has, during this period, seen wild lands reclaimed and new farms opened up, and has ever taken his part in the work of development and improvement which has been carried forward since his arrival here.  Early trained to habits of industry, thrift and integrity, these characteristics have proven salient elements in his business career and have been the means by which he has attained to the high degree of prosperity which is today his.  He has made many acquaintances throughout the district and is popular with a large circle of warm friends who greatly admire and respect him for his many excellent traits of character.