Benjamin Booher
 

BENJAMIN BOOHER - The subject of this sketch is a German by lineage, but an American by birth, education and life. His grandparents came from Germany to this country in the latter part of the seventeenth century, and settled first in the western part of Pennsylvania, and afterward in Virginia. Their son Jacob, the father of the subject of this sketch, married Elizabeth Barnet in the early part of the present century, and settled in Sullivan County, East Tennessee. Jacob Booher was the father of twelve children, of which Benjamin, the subject of this sketch, is next to the youngest. He is also one of the three surviving children. Benjamin Booher was born in Sullivan County, East Tennessee September 1,1821, and when he was thirteen years old his father moved, with his family, to Montgomery County Indiana, and settled two miles east of the present site of Darlington, where many of his descendants yet live, an honored and well-to-do people. Much credit is due the Booher families for making the country in that immediate vicinity what it now is-productive beautiful, and possessing all the qualities of a good neighborhood. Benjamin Booher received his education when there were not such facilities as we now have. The school building that he attended was an open log cabin without any floor but the earth. The benches were made of round logs split once, with diverging pins in the ends for supports. The chimney occupied one entire end of the house. The writing desk was a wide board laid on sloping pins in a log on one side of the cabin. The pens used in writing were made from the large feathers of geese and buzzards. The teacher and the methods of teaching were as novel as the house. Such is a brief description of the school that Mr. Booher attended. Although his education was limited, yet he so improved it that with the good native talents with which he is blessed he is fully qualified for the transactions of the ordinary business of life. He is a good reader, and keeps himself well informed on the various subjects pertaining to the interest of the common citizen. He is a pioneer, and one of the leading citizens of Boone County.

On the 20th day of October, 1842, Mr. Booher was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Beeler, whose parents came from East Tennessee to Indiana only a few weeks before Mr. Booher arrived. Mrs. Booher was born in East Tennessee, January 11, 1823. Her grandparents on her father's side came from Switzerland; on her mother's side from Ireland. Mrs. Booher's advantages for an education were similar to those Mr. Booher, for they attended the same school. The result of their marriage is twelve children, in the following order:

Martha, Margaret E., William J., single and at home; Albert L., departed this life at the age of 4 months; Benjamin C., married to Miss Martha J. White, November 4, 1870; after her decease he was married to Miss Clara M. Dooley, November 21, 1886. He resides near Zionsville, Ind. He was elected County Commissioner in November, 1884. Sylvester C., single, resides in Kansas City. Vando L., married to Miss Elma O. Schooler, resides in Perry Township, Boone County, Ind. Ada, married to S. N. Cragun, resides in Lebanon, Ind. Mark A., married to Miss Elma F. Hoggins, resides in Worth Township, Boone County, Ind. Emma R., single, at home. Daniel W.V., married to Miss L. Elsie Barb, resides one mile east of Whitestown, Ind. Minnie M., married to Leander W. Tomlinson, resides one mile south of Whitestown, Ind. Mr. and Mrs. Booher are still living and enjoying good health.

Mr. Booher is one of the early pioneers of this country. He endured the hardships and privations common to the early settlers of a country. When he and Mrs. Booher started out to battle with the realities of life they had but little of the necessaries to make life comfortable. Their culinary department was not filled with such things as we find in a pantry of today. They had one oven, one iron pot, three pewter plates, three knives and forks, two cups and saucers and a few other things common among the pioneers of this country. In the year 1845, Mr. Booher moved to where he now resides: one-half mile south of Whitestown, Boone County, Ind. This country was then, to a great extent, a wilderness and much of it under water. Mr. Booher killed wild ducks in a pond where Whitestown now stands. He purchased ninety acres of land which, at the time, was covered with a dense forest hitherto unmolested by the woodman's ax. He could see nothing before him but a life of toil, but with that determination that characterizes the successful man, he entered upon the arduous task of felling timber, clearing land, rolling logs and cultivating the soil, laboring from early morn until dewy eve under the disadvantages incident to all the early settlers.

Mr. Booher, by industry, perseverance, economy and good management, accumulated a considerable amount of wealth He owns several farms, aggregating several hundred acres of productive land. He ranks with the leading financial men of the county. For his success in this particular he deserves much credit. He was not a lazy loiterer, who expected a streak of good luck to come to him. He knew that honest endeavor weaves the web of life, turns the wheel of fortune, amasses wealth and keeps one permanently rich, Mr. Booher's indomitable will and inflexible purpose, linked with courage to work for an honest living, led to his financial success. Men who do not go out into the great field of human exertion, but wait for success to come to them, are the men who, for the most part, are at the bottom of dishonesty and corruption. Lazy men hate the rich and always have hated them. They never emulate their energy, industry and economy and hence deserve no help from them, Laziness has cravings for vices which lead to untold misery.

Mr. Booher did, until late years, vote with the Democratic party. His first vote for president was cast for James K. Polk. He is now in sympathy with the National party. He became somewhat disgusted at the management and the political machinery of the two leading parties, and like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, he refuses to bow to the images they set up, or to dance to their music. He protests against the despotism of American polities, and claims that at conventions, at the ballot-box and everywhere, without hindrance and without malediction, men shall vote as they think best, keeping in view the common interest of the people of the nation. He does his own reading and thinking, and votes and acts accordingly. As a financier Mr. Booher has but few equals, as is evidenced by his financial success and history. He never made a mistake in his judgment as to his own financial affairs. His judgment in regard to the finances of our great nation has not as yet been fully tested. He has a right to his opinion and to the advocacy of it both by speech and ballot. In another part of this work will be found a portrait of Mr. Booher.

Submitted by: Jane A. Heine
Source: "Early Life and Times in Boone County, Indiana," Harden & Spahr, Lebanon, Ind., May, 1887.

BENJAMIN BOOHER

Benjamin Booher, for years one of the wealthiest residents of Boone county, and one of the most energetic and business-like farmers of his township, intelligent and self-made, descended from good old Pennsylvania German stock, and was well worthy of a prominent place in any volume of biographical record. His grandfather, John Booher, on coming from Germany to America, first located in the Keystone state and there married a native of Germany, and to this union were born the following named children: Jacob, Mary, William, Benjamin, John, Frederick, Isaac, Henry and Elizabeth. All of them, imbued with the stamina of their origin, grew to maturity, emigrated to the farming lands of Virginia and Tennessee and reared families to add to the wealth of the nation through their incessant toil. John Booher, the grandfather, finally found a home in Sullivan county, Tennessee, in the early settlement of that section, but still retained his farm in Washington county, Virginia. He was a slave owner and a well-to-do planter of considerable influence in both states. His son, Jacob, the father of Benjamin, our subject, was born in Pennsylvania on March 3, 1777, and when a boy of twelve, in 1789, found himself a resident of Tennessee. He there learned the blacksmith's trade, and there married Catherine Barnett, a daughter of Nicholas and Barbara Barnett, and to this, his first marriage, were born five children, named William, Mary, Elizabeth, Guardianas and John M. This lady was called away in due course of time and Mr. Booher married her sister, Elizabeth Barnett, and to this union were born seven children, viz: Catherine, Jonathan, Jacob, Ambrose, Lucinda, Benjamin and Leander. December 8, 1834, Jacob Booher left Tennessee and came to Indiana and settled on one hundred and sixty acres of entered land in Montgomery county, to which he subsequently added by purchase two hundred and forty acres, but not immediately adjoining his entered property. He became a man of much wealth and influence and a representative citizen. He and his wife were faithful members of the Lutheran church, and in politics he was a Jacksonian Democrat. He lived to be sixty-eight years of age, and died July 29, 1845, on his farm in Montgomery county, Indiana, mourned by all who knew him.

Benjamin Booher, late of Lebanon, Indiana. with whom this particular sketch has most to do, was born on his father's farm in Sullivan county, Tennessee, September 5, 1821. He received the education usually accorded in the common schools of his early days, but was an apt scholar and quick to learn through self-application to the books that came within his command. He was thirteen years of age when he came to Indiana with his parents, and here he was invigorated both in body and mind through the severe discipline of farm labor. He was married in Boone county on October 20, 1842, to Margaret, daughter of William and Margaret (Hughes) Beeler, and twelve children were born to this genial union. The order of birth is: Martha, Margaret E., William J., Albert L., Benjamin C., Sylvester C., Vando L., Adelaide M., Mark A., Emma R., Daniel B. and Minnie F.

Benjamin Booher had been but three years married when he located in what is now Whitestown, Boone county, where he bought ninety acres in the dense wilderness. He cleared it of its heavy timber, and by hard work and thrift increased his possessions to one thousand seven hundred acres, almost all of which was in one body, and of this large property he gave to his children, donating to each of them a comfortable sized farm. After the death of his first wife, Mr. Booher married Mrs. Mary Smith, who had borne the maiden name of Ross. He then moved to Lebanon, and here purchased his substantial and elegant brick residence, retiring from the more active duties of business, but still following his restless activity in giving his attention to the details of some of the more important business of his life until a short time prior to his death, which occurred on December 28, 1910.

Mr. Booher was a man of remarkable physical strength as well as intellectual superiority and force of character, and it is stated that at the age of fifty-five years he could easily spring over the back of a high horse. His stupendous labor in the field and untiring industry have given full evidence of his physical endurance. He was entirely self-made as to pecuniary affairs, but his position as an intelligent citizen of high standing before his fellow-men has come through nature alone. He took but little interest in politics, thinking for himself on all matters pertaining to political economy and party affairs, but yet, on one occasion withdrew from his personal business to become trustee of Worth township as a self-imposed duty. He won his high position before his fellow-citizens entirely through his personal exertions.

Mr. Booher's mother, Elizabeth Barnett, was born on February 3, 1779, a daughter of Nicholas and Barbara Barnett; they were natives of Pennsylvania and later they moved to West Virginia, where they remained until death. They were farmers and very devoted Christian people and were the parents of the following named children: George, Catherine, John, Adam, Jacob, Peter, Elizabeth, Mary, Margaret, Sarah and Nicholas. The father of this family was a man of ordinary means but much respected.

Submitted by: Amy K. Davis
Source: "History of Boone County, Indiana," by Hon. L. M. Crist, 1914.