David Edwin Boller
Mr. and Mrs. David E. Boller and their residence, Van Buren Township
In writing of the many prosperous and successful farming men of Van Buren Township, mention should not be omitted concerning the life and accomplishment of David Edward Boller, the owner of two fine farms in the township, and one of the well-to-do men of the community. Mr. Boller has made successful farming the main interest of his career, and that he has realized his ambition is immediately apparent from an inspection of his property. In 1912 he cropped from one hundred and eighty acres, two thousand bushels of corn, seventeen hundred bushels of oats and thirty tons of hay. He sold one hundred hogs at the close of the season, and this was not an exceptional year by any means. The figures, however, serve to indicate something of the extent of his activities in the agricultural line.
Born in Washington Township, Grant County, October 11, 1858, David Edwin Boller is the son of James and Ruth E. (Atherton) Boller, natives of England and Pennsylvania respectively. The father died when Mr. Boller was a mere child. Of the eight children, the others are named as follows: John, Adam, Belle, Louise, Maria, Reuben and Keturah.
David E. Boller was educated in the public schools of Washington Township, and continued on the home place with ;his mother and the others until he was twenty-one years old. He then applied himself to farm labor for two seasons, after which he married and spent some time on the farm of Dr. Lmax in Franklin Township. For some years thereafter he rented land and farmed on his own responsibility. It was in 1884 that he purchased his first land, a forty acre tract in Section 28, Van Buren Township, directly across the road from his present farm. He later sold that forty acres, and in 1900 bought his present farm. He later sold that forty acres, and in 1900 bought his present farm, a modern, up-to-date and comfortable ten-room dwelling, entirely suited to a country life and lacking none of the essential that make for comfort and the well being of the various members of the family, among its modern facilities being a fine basement, hot and cold water service, bathroom and other conveniences. In 1901 Mr. Boller erected a barn on ground dimensions of thirty-six by sixty feet, the industry of his farm being such as to require a barn of that size and the same is cropped to its utmost capacity from season to season as a result of the husbandry of the owner.
On December 21, 1881, Mr. Boller was married to Belle Watson. Mrs. Boller was born in Kokomo, Indiana, March 22, 1864, and is a daughter of John and Mary Ann (Miller) Watson. John Watson was born in Darke County, Ohio, of Scotch ancestry. He came to Hoard County, Indiana, as a boy and was always a farmer. His wife, Mary Ann (Miller) Watson, was a native of Grant County, and after their marriage John Watson and wife lived for a number of years in the western part of this county. Mrs. Watson died at their home there when Mrs. Boller was nine years of age. John Watson, late in life lived at the home of his daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Boller, ( I believe the writer meant Mr. and Mrs. Emdsley) in Van Buren Township, and died there March 14, 1912, lacking but a month of being seventy-nine years of age. David E. Boller and wife have seven children as follows:
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Carey, an oil worker, now living at Lawrenceville, Illinois, married Myrtle Fighner, and they have one child, Neva B.;
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Charles, a farmer who resides on part of his father's estate in Van Buren Township, married Cecil Anderson, and their two children are Harriet Kathleen and Evelyn Maxine;
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Elva is the wife of John Allman, an oil leaser of Wells County, Indiana, and she is the mother of one son, Kenneth B. Nelson by a former marriage;
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John W., a farmer of Monroe Township, married Hulda Hayes and their two children are Dorothy E. and Nelson E.;
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Roy is a farmer of Van Buren Township, and married Elsie Lozier;
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Ethel is the wife of Homer Pulley, a Washington Township farmer and their child is Glen Leroy;
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Ruth E., is the wife of Burr Emdsley, a Van Buren Township farmer.
Mr. Boller is sufficiently progressive that he makes use of a fine automobile for business and pleasure, and the spirit that prompted that innovation in farm life ahs characterized his activities all his life. Politically he is Democrat, and he and his family are adherents of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Van Buren.
Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914.