Biography - CHARLES EDGAR BOSTON

Charles Edgar Boston, one of the proprietors of the Girard Planing Mill, was born in Nilwood township, Macoupin county, Illinois, on the 6th of May, 1878. He is a son of Benjamin F. and Tabitha (Dalton) Boston, the father, also a native of this county, while the mother was born in Kansas. Benjamin F. Boston, the son of Reuben Boston, learned the carpenter’s trade in his early manhood, following it in connection with the cultivation of his farm. He resided in Nilwood township and vicinity until 1905, when he removed to the southern portion of the state where he continues to live.

Reared on a farm Charles Edgar Boston obtained his education in the country schools of Nilwood township, after which he learned the carpenter’s trade. Leaving home in 1893 he went to Arkansas, where he spent two years in a lumber camp. He then went west for a year, returning to Macoupin county in 1896 and devoting his energies to the cultivation of the home farm until 1898. In the latter year he went to Kansas where he remained for a time and went from there to North Dakota. He returned in 1899 and spent two years in agricultural pursuits, subsequently coming to Girard, where he and Charles Gates were associated in the carpentry trade for seven years. In 1908 he became associated with C. H. Corey and together they purchased the H. K. Young planing mill, which they have ever since operated under the name of the Girard Planing Mill. This venture has proven to be very successful and they are doing a good business.

Nilwood township was the scene of the marriage of Mr. Boston and Miss Virginia L. Campbell on the 16th of April, 1902. Mrs. Boston is a daughter of Louis and Sarah (Hayward) Campbell, natives of Virginia. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Boston, Carroll Edwin and Stanley Dale Boston.

Mr. and Mrs. Boston affiliate with the Baptist church, and he also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being a member of Girard Lodge, No. 192, I. O. O. F., in which he has filled all of the chairs and is now deputy. He is a member of Carpenter’s Union, No. 1234 of Girard, of which organization he is financial and recording secretary. His political prerogatives he exercises in support of the democratic party, and is now alderman from the first ward of Girard, to which office he was elected in 1910. The various official positions to which he has been elected in both the municipality and private organizations manifest the regard in which Mr. Boston is held generally in his community, among whose citizens he numbers many loyal friends.

Extracted 17 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from History of Macoupin County, Illinois: Biographical and Pictorial, by Charles A. Walker, published in 1911, Volume 2, pages 557-558.