Andrew A. Boss
For the past seven years the agricultural skill of Andrew A. Boss has been expended in the cultivation of a farm of one hundred and sixty acres located on section 36, Iowa township, the general appearance of the property being a tribute to his well directed efforts.
Mr. Boss was born in Guttenberg, Clayton county, Iowa, on the 12th of January, 1865, and is a son of the late John and Agatha (Veonberell) Boss, natives of Germany. The father came from Lichtenstein to the United States in 1848, first locating in Dubuque, Iowa, where he remained for two years, and then removed to Guttenberg, where he met the lady whom he subsequently married. They became the parents of three children besides our subject, who is the third in order of birth: John, who is living near Casey, Iowa; Matthias, deceased; and Sophia, the wife of Martin Peterson, of Carroll county, Iowa.
The father passed away in Guttenberg in 1893. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity, having joined that organization in the fatherland, and he was also a veteran of the Civil war, having enlisted as a private in Company D, Twenty-seventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry. On the 9th of April, 1864, while in discharge of his duties at Pleasant Hill, he was captured by the enemy and sent to Fort Tyler and Hampton, Texas, where he was retained for eight months and then exchanged, returning to his command on the 27th of December, 1864. He saw much active service during the war, participating in many of the notable battles, but was never wounded but once. Mrs. Boss survived her husband two years, her demise occurring in Pottawattamie county, Iowa, where she was buried, in 1895.
The common schools of Guttenberg provided Andrew A. Boss with an education, which was acquired before the age of fourteen years, at which time he left the paternal roof to begin his business career. For several years after leaving home he worked for various farmers in the neighborhood and then removed to Walnut, Iowa, where he continued to follow the same occupation for six years longer. At the expiration of that period he leased land. in the cultivation of which he engaged for four years, coming to Crawford county about 1893. During the first five years of his residence here he lived about a mile and a half north of his present homestead. He subsequently rented this property and removed to Carroll county, where he farmed for three years, and then went to Audubon county, remaining there for five years.
Returning to Crawford county seven years ago, he purchased a quarter section of land in Iowa township, upon which he continues to reside. He has made practically all of the improvements upon this property, and they are all substantial structures and well kept. General farming and stock-raising absorb his attention and he makes a specialty of breeding shorthorn cattle and other graded stock.
In 1895 Mr. Boss was united in marriage to Miss Helen Sanders, and they have become the parents of four children: Alfred, George, William and Edna, all of whom are at home.
The religious views of the family coincide with those of the Lutheran denomination with which they affiliate. The fraternal relations of Mr. Boss are confined to membership in the Modern Woodmen of America, his identification being with Manilla Camp, while in politics he is a stanch democrat. He takes an active interest in local affairs and was at one time road supervisor, while for the past year he has served as president of the school board of Iowa township, but he prefers to concentrate his energies upon the development of his private pursuits.
Source: History of Crawford County, Iowa. Vol. II. Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1911.