San
Joaquin County
Biographies
WESLEY PALMER BODEN
Business enterprise found a stalwart
exponent in Wesley Palmer Boden, whose progressive spirit and determination
have been manifest in all that he has undertaken, and who by reason of his
individual effort has made a marked success in life. He was born in Nodaway County, Missouri, on
October 29, 1855, a son of Wilkison and Harriet
(Jones) Boden, and is the eldest of three children, the others being Henry,
residing in Oakland, California, and Ludy,
deceased. Grandfather Boden was a
pioneer of Missouri, who removed from Virginia in an early day. The father, Wilkison
Boden, was a native of Virginia, born June 12,
1834. At the outbreak of the Civil War
he enlisted in the 31st Missouri Volunteers as a sharpshooter, and
in consequence was placed in the most dangerous positions at the front. After going through the Battle of Shiloh,
April 7, 1862, he was stricken with brain fever, brought about by exposure, and
passed away on April 20, 1862, at Pittsburg Landing. The mother lived to be about seventy years
old.
The opportunities for an education
in Missouri were extremely meager, and Wesley Boden was denied that privilege,
but being alert to every advantage of his surroundings, and using his innate
intelligence, he has succeeded in acquiring a valuable fund of
information. When he was eighteen years
of age, he removed to Kansas, and later he went to Nebraska. In both states he worked as a bronco-buster
being engaged by cattlemen, and eighteen years were spent as a cowboy.
The marriage of Mr. Boden occurred
at North Loup, Valley County, Nebraska, on October 10, 1880, and united him
with Miss Annie Post, a native of Baraboo, Sauk County, Wisconsin, and a
daughter of Ashable and Betsie
(Pettis) Post. Her father, Ashable Post,
was born in Ohio, and removed to Wisconsin about the time of the outbreak of
the Civil War. They were the parents of
three children: Alvira, now Mrs. Jacobs,
of Lodi; Frank, who passed away in Oroville; and Mrs. Boden. Her mother passed away before the family left
Wisconsin. Removing to California, the
young married couple first settled on a stock ranch near Alum Rock Park, Santa
Clara County, where they spent four years; then, in company with Mr. Boden’s brother they went to Pine Ridge, in the hills
northeast of Gilroy, purchased 1,840 acres of range land, and spent five years
in the cattle business. Mr. Boden then
removed to Hayward and continued in the cattle business for the next two
years. Then he sold out and removed to
Santa Cruz, and resided there for one year.
They then returned to San Jose and rented an orchard west of Berryessa, on Penetencia Creek;
and besides his farming operations here, he was engaged in steam
wood-sawing. Upon receiving an offer
from Mr. Randol, a member of the San Jose State
Normal School faculty, to care for his ranch four miles west of Lodi, Mr. Boden
removed to San Joaquin County, and was occupied for ten years in the management
of this ranch. He purchased ten acres in
vineyard within what are now the city limits of Lodi, which he later subdivided
into city lots, retaining about three lots for himself and family, on which he
built a residence. Mr. and Mrs. Boden
are the parents of one daughter, Mabel, now Mrs. Amos Dunton, residing on the
Cherokee Road about three miles north of Lodi.
Mr. and Mrs. Dunton are the parents of three children, Pearl, Wesley and
Marjorie. Fraternally, Mr. Boden is a
member of the Knights of Pythias.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1135. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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