Boyer, Joseph L.

BOYER

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/28/2021 at 23:02:10

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.473

JOSEPH LYBRAND BOYER
Joseph Lybrand Boyer is now living retired in Indianola, for his business activity and perseverance in former years secured him the measure of success which now enables him to enjoy the comforts of life without further recourse to labor. He was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, January 8, 1842.
His father, Jesse Boyer, was a native of Chester County, Pennsylvania, and a son of Andrew Boyer, who was of German lineage. That the family was founded in America at an early period in the colonization of the new world is indicated by the fact that Andrew Boyer lived here prior to the Revolutionary War and at its outbreak espoused the American cause, joined the army and was in camp during the memorable winter at Valley Forge. Jesse Boyer learned and followed the carpenter's trade and also engaged in farming. He became one of the pioneers of Michigan, settling in that state in 1834, after which he devoted his attention to farming, his brother having entered land for him there. He was for eighteen years a resident of that
state and in 1852 removed to Wisconsin, where his last years were passed. He married Elizabeth Richards who was born in New Jersey, January 13, 1814, and was of English descent. They became the parents of six children: Andrew, who is now deceased; Susannah, Mary, Rebecca and Elizabeth, all of whom have departed this life; and Joseph L., whose name introduces this review. Mr. Boyer was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, while his wife belonged to the Society of Friends. He originally supported the Democracy but voted for Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and afterward was identi­fied with the Republican Party. He died in 1870, in his sixty-fifth year, while his wife died in 1887, at the age of eighty-three.
Joseph Lybrand Boyer acquired a common-school education and was reared to the work of the farm, which he followed for many years. In 1869 he arrived in Iowa and settled in Belmont Township, Warren County, upon a tract of land which he purchased. There he resided until 1874, when he removed to Des Moines, where he was engaged in the lumber business. Upon his return to this county he took up his abode upon a farm in White Oak Township, which he cultivated and improved until 1892. He was energetic and capable in his farm work, bringing his fields under a high state of culti­vation and thus as the years passed he prospered in his labors. He afterward lived for four years in Indianola and then returned to the farm where the succeeding four years were passed. In 1901, however, he determined to put aside active business cares and again established his home in Indianola, where he has since resided, enjoying the rest which he has truly earned and richly deserves.
In 1866 Mr. Boyer was married to Miss Elizabeth Treadwell Goodhue, whose birth occurred in Boston, Massachusetts, November 24, 1844, her par­ents being William Perley and Sarah Elizabeth (Fletcher) Goodhue, who were of English ancestry, Mrs. Boyer, however, being of the ninth generation of the family in America. Among her ancestors were those who fought for inde­pendence in the Revolutionary War. One of her uncles, Daniel Goodhue, was a member of the American army and being captured was taken to England as a prisoner of war. With others he sailed from Salem with an armed priva­teer named Fancy, to attack British commerce and after some success in that undertaking their ship was captured and all on board were made prisoners and sent to Plymouth, England, where they were incarcerated until the close of hostilities. Several of the number died before the war was brought to an end but Daniel Goodhue surviving, returned to the United States. While in England he found and copied the coat of arms granted to Lord Viscount Goodhue in 1556. William P. Goodhue, father of Mrs. Boyer was a shoe mer­chant of Boston and in 1857 became the first freight agent at Janesville, Wisconsin. He was afterward connected with the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroad in Missouri, as bookkeeper in the purchasing department until 1880, and his last years were spent in the home of his daughter, Mrs. Boyer, where he died in 1901, at the advanced age of eighty-three years. His wife passed away in 1877, at the age of fifty-eight years.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Boyer have been born three sons: Guy Taylor, who is engaged in the ice business in Glenwood, Minnesota; Clay F., an engineer of Nevada; and Jesse William, who is acting as manager of the Woody Supply Company, at La Crosse, Wisconsin.
There is in the life record of Mr. Boyer a chapter well worthy of mention as it regards his military history. He was among the first to respond to the country's call for aid, enlisting on the 14th of May 1861, as a member of Company C, Third Wisconsin Infantry, with which he served until mustered out in 1865, at Baltimore, Maryland. He was wounded at the battle of Antietam in 1862 by a gunshot in the leg. His first term expired in 1864 and he afterward reenlisted as a member of Company E, of the One Hundred and Forty-seventh Illinois Infantry for a year. When the war was over he returned to his home at Broadhead, Wisconsin, was married the following year and in 1869 came to Indianola, since which time he has been a resident of Warren County. He is a Republican, interested in the success of the party but without desire for office. He belongs to James Randolph Post, G. A. R. [Grand Army of the Republic], and his wife has long been a member of the Woman's Relief Corps, in which she has served two years as president and four years as treasurer. Both are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and are people of the highest respectability, enjoying the unqualified confidence and good will of their fellow townsmen and many who know them throughout the county.