Bossler, Charles E.

BOSSLER, BARNACLE, SEARL, REARICK, JUDD, TERABERRY

Posted By: Gary Norris (email)
Date: 11/30/2012 at 08:12:02

Much credit is due Charles E. Bossler for attaining the position he holds in the agricultural community of Poweshiek county, as he has been entirely dependent upon his own resources since he was a mere lad. He was born in the vicinity of Davenport on the 8th of July, 1865, is a son of Samuel K. and Mary (Barnacle) Bossler, the father of German and the mother of German and Irish descent. The parents were born and reared in the vicinity of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and they were also married in the Keystone state. They came to Iowa at and early age, locating in Scott county, nine miles north of Davenport, where the father purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land. They resided there until 1867, in which year they removed to the farm of Mr. Bossler's sister Sarah, southeast of Malcom. After cultivating this for ten years they decided to try life farther west and so removed to Nebraska, where they filed upon a homestead. Disposing of this in 1887 they migrated to southeastern Kansas, settling in the vicinity of Oswego, where Mr. Bossler passed away. His wife died in the western part of the state.

Charles E. Bossler was a child of two years of age when his parents came to Poweshiek county, whose district schools he attended in the acquirement of his education at such times as he could be spared from the work of the farm. He remained a member of the paternal household until he was eleven years of age when he left home to work for strangers. From that time until his marriage, at the age of twenty-five years, he worked as a farm hand. In 1890 he rented a farm in Malcom township for one year, at the expiration of which time he settled upon his present homestead of one hundred and sixty acres in Sheridan township. Here he engages in general farming but makes a specialty of feeding sheep, having a flock each year of from five to nineteen hundred, and several winters he has fed a thousand. He always buys western sheep and sends them to the Chicago market. Besides his sheep, Mr. Bossler also raises a few cattle and hogs while his fields are given over to the cultivation of such grains as he deems best adapted for the feeding of his stock. He owns one of the excellent farms of the vicinity, the general appearance of which bespeaks the capable supervision of a competent and progressive agriculturist. The land, all of which is under cultivation, is tiled and well fenced, while his improvements are superior to those to be found on the average farm.

Mr. Bossler was married on the 24th of July, 1890, to Mrs. Emma L. Searl, a daughter of Eli P. and Sarah (Rearick) Judd. Mr. Judd was born near Rutledge, Vermont, but Mrs. Judd is a native of the state of New York, having been born and reared in the vicinity of Mill Grove, Cattaraugus county. They were married on the 31st of October, 1837, in Erie county, New York. Mr. Judd who was a farmer, had removed to Illinois the previous year. Their domestic life began on a farm near Princeton, Bureau county, Illinois, where Mrs. Bossler was born on the 2d of November, 1847. In 1869 they migrated to Iowa, settling on a farm north of Brooklyn, in the cultivation of which Mr. Judd engaged until he retired to Malcom, where they were living when Mrs. Searl and Mr. Bossler were married. Mr. Judd passed away in Chicago on the 9th of May, 1894, on his way home from Florida, where he had been spending the winter. His wife, who passed her ninety-second anniversary on the 5th of June, 1911, has very good health for one of her years and makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Jacob Teraberry of Malcom. Mr. and Mrs. Bossler had one child, which died in infancy.
His political allegiance Mr. Bossler accords the democratic party and has served on the district school board for twelve years. Both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church of Malcom and are well and favorably known in the community where they have spent a large portion of their lives.

History of Poweshiek County Iowa
- A Record of Settlement, Organizations, Progress and Achievement, Vol. II
written by Prof. L. F. Parker.
Published by The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., in 1911
Pages 698-701