THOMAS BOULDEN was born in Elizabethtown, Hardin County, Ill., in 1823. His father, John Boulden, was a native of Bourbon County, Ky., having been born near Millersburgh in 1794. He was a son of Thomas Boulden, also probably of the same county, and reared four sons and two daughters. He was a mechanic and well-to-do for those times, and died in Millersburgh, Bourbon County, Ky. The children of Grandfather Boulden were Jesse, John, Ephraim, Nathan, Sarah and Cassandra.
John Boulden, the father of Thomas, was a tanner by trade, following his trade during his life. When a young man he removed to Indiana and there he married Mary Benard, of Virginia, in which State she was born in 1788. She was the daughter of Frederic and Dorotha (Helms) Benard, who removed to Indiana and thence to Pope County, Ill., in 1817. They were prosperous farmers and reared two sons and five daughters. They died on their own farm, two miles east of Eddyville. He died at about eighty years of age, and she some ten years afterward, also at about eighty years of age. Mr. Benard was born in Germany and came to the United States at an early day, settling in Virginia, where he was married. The parents of our subject and one daughter came from Indiana to Illinois in 1821, two years after their marriage, making the trip by teams. They first lived at Elizabethtown until our subject was born, when they removed to Ford's Ferry, near Cave in Rock, on the Ohio River, where the father had a farm and a tannery. He died in October, 1830, leaving his widow and six children, three sons and three daughters. Only two of these six children are now living: Thomas and a sister, Sarah, widow of Harry Morse, living near by and in her seventy-third year.
Thomas Boulden was reared to the life of the farm and received but little education. When he was twenty-one years old he left home, and in October, 1844, he was married to Miss Martha Tomlinson (Linson, as they call it now). They have lived on their present farm since March, 1848. He bought at first eighty acres of Government land at $1.25 per acre in the woods, and built a log house, 18x20 feet in size. This old relic is still standing and is used as a hay barn. From time to time he bought more land, adding to his first purchase until at one time he owned four hundred acres, but he has deeded to his children, until now he owns but two hundred and twenty acres. In 1872 he built his present large frame house. He carries on general farming, raising corn, wheat, oats and clover. He firmly believes in fertilizing his land and also believes that clover is the best fertilizer. He keeps a few horses and mules for his own use and also a few cattle and hogs. Mr. and Mrs. Boulden buried two sons and two daughters in infancy, and also Sarah Ann, wife of Samuel Lauderdale, who died at the age of thirty-three, leaving one son and three daughters. The children living are: John H., a widower with two sons, living in Golconda; and Mary Elizabeth, wife of James McDonald, a farmer on a part of the old homestead, and who has three sons and three daughters. Mr. Boulden is a Mason of the third degree and is a charter member of Eddyville Lodge. In politics he is a Democrat.
Extracted from Biographical Review of Johnson, Massac, Pope, and Hardin Counties, Illinois, published in 1893, page 498
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| Livingston KY Crittenden KY | ||
