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1907 Past and Present Biographies
Charles Bofink Click photo to enlarge Mr. Bofink is a native of Prussia. He was born in the year 1851 and when two years of age was brought to the United States by his father, Jacob Bofink, also a native of that land. The family home was established in Jackson, Michigan, and from the age of six years Charles Bofink was more or less actively employed, his earnings contributing to his support from that early period of his boyhood. When he was thirteen years of age he became a news agent on the railroad. He early learned to correctly value enterprise and diligence, realizing that these were the basis of success and advancement. Carefully saving his earnings, when he was seventeen years of age he engaged in the lumber business on his own account. He was connected with the lumber trade in Boone, Carroll and Dunlap, Iowa, and thoroughly acquainted himself with the business, so that he became an excellent judge of lumber and was thus enabled to make judicious purchases and profitable sales. He removed from Boone county to Greene county in the year 1866 and here established a lumberyard. He was not long in securing a liberal patronage and he continued in the business for several years, or until he sold out to Mr. Milligan. He then turned his attention to the furniture business, conducting a store of that character for a year, when he again sold out to Henry Bowman and at this time became proprietor of the hardware and implement store which he purchased from the firm of Jones & Northway. He has since managed the business with constantly increasing success, carrying a full line of shelf and heavy hardware, agricultural implements, buggies, carriages, etc. His trade has increased year by year until the volume of business transacted over his counters has reached considerable magnitude. Constantly watchful of opportunity Mr. Bofink has extended his efforts into various fields of activity and is today a prominent factor in the financial circles of Greene county, being president of the City Bank of Jefferson and also of the Bank of Scranton. He is interested extensively in farm property and in city real estate and in this way has contributed in no small degree to the improvement and upbuilding of Jefferson, having erected three substantial business blocks on the north side of the square and also the City Bank block, which is used for bank, oflice, and store purposes. He is well known as a buyer and shipper of livestock and has built and owned stockyards at this place on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, dealing extensively in cattle and hogs. He is seldom, if ever, at error in matters of business judgment. On the contrary, his ideas and opinions are widely recognized as sound and trustworthy and his endorsement of an investment seemed to guarantee its prosperous outcome. In 1884, in Omaha, Nebraska, Mr. Bofink was united in marriage to Miss Eliza Ann Towne, who was born in Steuben county, New York. Theirs is the most  Click photo to enlarge Mr. Bofink belongs to the Masonic fraternity, in which he has attained the Knight Templar degree. In politics he is an active republican and few men outside of political circles have more intimate knowledge of the questions and issues of the day than he. In his home locality he has served as school director and was city treasurer for a number of years. His wife has found great enjoyment and needed rest and recreation in travel and has visited many points of modern, historic and scenic interest in European countries. Perfectly satisfied with the land of his adoption, he recognizes the superior advantages here offered in. a country where labor is unhampered by caste or class. His life record seems almost phenomenal when we realize that Charles Bofink. now one of the most successful and prominent men of this part of the state, was largely earning his own living when a little lad of six years and went upon the railroad as news agent when he entered upon his ’teens. He has certainly displayed great strength of character, an indomitable will, a resolute purpose and laudable ambition and the combination of these characteristics has made him today one of the strongest business men of Greene county, while the methods that he has ever followed in all business trans actions have gained for him the respect and honor of those with whom he has come in contact. |
Transcribed from "Past and Present of Greene County, Iowa Together With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Prominent and Leading Citizens and Illustrious Dead," by E. B. Stillman assisted by an Advisory Board consisting of Paul E. Stillman, Gillum S. Toliver, Benjamin F. Osborn, Mahlon Head, P. A. Smith and Lee B. Kinsey, Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1907.  Site Terms, Conditions & Disclaimer |