Robert M. Boone, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Robert M. Boone
ROBERT M. BOONE, the well known dairyman and farmer of Pine township, Porter county, has been closely identified with affairs touching upon the progress and welfare of this section of the country for many years. The Boone family was originally of English extraction, and is a branch of the same ancestry that produced the historically illustrious Daniel Boone of Kentucky, Robert M. Boone's grandfather having been a nephew of that famous character.
Robert M. Boone was born October 7, 1844, at Paducah, Kentucky, a son of Robert G. and Ellen (Williams) Boone, and a grandson of George W. and Lucy (Green) Boone. The mother of the man whose life history this review briefly outlines was Ellen Williams a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and a daughter of Dr. Williams, who was a surgeon in the United States army. The Williams family removed to Kentucky when Ellen was a young woman and where she met and married Robert G. Boone. Mr. and Mrs. Boone removed to the city of Chicago in 1856, where for a long period Mr. Boone was prominently identified with the real estate business, but in 1871 he went to Pine township, Porter county, Indiana, purchasing a two hundred-acre farm at that point, upon which he continued to reside until the time of his death, in 1874.
Robert M. Boone is a member of a family of seven children, and has three sisters and one brother living. His sister Harriet is the widow of Roland Herring, of Kentucky; Lucy G. is the widow of Henry C. Shelton; and Nellie is the wife of A. T. Boniwell, of Chicago; while his brother, William W., is also a resident of Chicago.
Mr. Boone was a lad of twelve years when his father moved with the family to Chicago, and he accordingly received his early education in the schools of that city, finishing a complete course in the high school from which he graduated at the age of eighteen years. After school days were over he secured his first lucrative employment in a grocery store, clerking for a time, hut later purchasing a grocery stock and conducting business independently. He was located in a good section of the city, his site being at 3032 Madison street, and continued successfully to conduct the business from 1868 to 1878. When Mr. Boone's father died he purchased the old homestead in Indiana, consisting of two hundred acres of land, and subsequently removed from Chicago and took up the active management of the place. Industry and intelligent methods made his agricultural operations profitable and Mr. Boone has added to his acreage until now he owns a valuable tract of land comprising three hundred and seventy acres. He combines dairying with crop raising and has a fine herd of dairy cattle on the place.
Mr. Boone was married in 1868, to Margaret Cawley, who was born and reared in England, coming to the United States with a sister when a young woman of twenty-two years. There was no issue to this marriage and Mrs. Boone died on the farm in Porter county February 22, 1902. Mr. Boone was married a second time, in 1905, to Miss Anna Williams and of this union there is one child, Robert M.
In business and politics, in social life and religious circles, Mr. Boone is a man of influence and is active as well in the official life of the township, having served for seven years as a trustee for his district. His political proclivities are Democratic, he is a liberal and devout member of the Christian church at Westville, Indiana, and is fraternally affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, No. 432, at Michigan City, Indiana, and he helped to install the Elk's lodge at Valparaiso, Indiana. In whatever line Mr. Boone directs his energies he brings to bear strong influence, large capacity and broad sympathy, and in the discharge of every duty, public or private, acts courageously and with tact and ability. He has a wide acquaintance in the township and county and is held in high esteem by all with whom he comes in contact.
Source: Lewis Publishing Company. 1912. History of Porter County, Indiana: A Narrative Account of its Historical Progress, its People and its Principal Interests. Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Company. 881 p.
Page(s) in Source: 835-837
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook