Boardman & Boardman

This firm of attorneys-at-law, with office at Marshalltown, is composed of the two brothers, Henry Elderkin J. and Charles Edward, who have resided in Marshall County since the spring of 1857 and rank among the old settlers. Realizing the value of perpetuating for coming generations a genealogical record of their ancestors, they have secured the necessary data for the publication of their family history, which is presented in the following paragraphs:

First Generation:
Mr. Boardman, who was born in England in 1575, married Miss Julian, and they became the parents of two sons, Samuel and Christopher, and five daughters. He died in 1639. The name in early times was spelled Boreman and Bordman.

Second Generation:
Samuel Boardman, eldest son of the foregoing, was an Englishman, emigrating to this country about 1635. His name is first found in the records of Ipswich, Mass., 1637-1639. He was a man of irreproachable character and considerable prominence in his community, as is shown by the records of the colony. In 1641 he removed to Wethersfield, Conn. He married Mary Betts, who died in 1684. They were the parents of ten children, namely: Isaac, Mary, Samuel, Jr., Joseph, John, Sarah, Daniel, Jonathan, Nathaniel and Martha. The father of this family died in May, 1673.

Third Generation:
Isaac Boardman, eldest son of Samuel Boardman, Sr., was born in Wethersfield, Conn., February 3, 1642. He married Abiah Kimberly, who died January 6, 1723; his death occurred May 12, 1719. Their children were seven in number: Isaac, Jr., Samuel, Thomas, Sarah, Abiah, Eunice and Isaac.

Fourth Generation:
Samuel Boardman, second son of Isaac and Abiah Boardman, was born at Wethersfield, July 7, 1668, and was united in marriage November 5, 1696, with Miss Mehitable, daughter of Samuel Caldwell, of Hartford, Conn. Their children (whose births were recorded in Wethersfield) were twelve, viz.: Stephen, Moses, Mehitable, Abiah, Rachel, Sarah, Anna, Deborah, Elizabeth, Abigail, Thankful and Jonathan. The father of this family removed to Middletown, Conn., about 1725, and died there, on the east side of the Connecticut River, September 6, 1732.

Fifth Generation:
Stephen, eldest son of Samuel Boardman, was born at Wethersfield, August 5, 1698, and was married March 21, 1726, to Abigail, daughter of Lieut. Nathaniel Savage, of Middletown, Conn. Their children, recorded in Middletown, were, Stephen, Jr., Mary, Nathaniel, Jehiel, Abigail, Eunice, Sarah and Martha. The father removed to Bolton about 1743, and there passed away April 20, 1776. His wife also died in that place, the date of her demise being May 25, 1753.

Sixth Generation:
Capt. Nathaniel, third child of Stephen and Abigail Boardman, was born in Middletown March 14, 1731, and (in Bolton, Conn., May 29, 1758,) married Esther Carver, daughter of Samuel Carver, of that city. They became the parents of the following-named children: Nathaniel, Jr., Jehiel, Esther, Ruth, Stephen, Roxa, Mary, Amelia, and probably some others not recorded, as the parents removed to Norwich, Vt., about 1775. There Captain Boardman died November 11, 1814. His widow, Esther Carver, was born in 1735, and died at Norwich, Conn., in 1834, at the advanced age of ninety-nine years.

Seventh Generation:
Dr. Nathaniel Boardman, eldest son of Nathaniel Boardman, was born in Bolton, Conn., October 20, 1759, and in 1790 married Miss Philomela, daughter of Gen. Jabez Huntington, General of the Connecticut militia in the Revolutionary War, and Judith, his wife. The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Boardman was Col. Jedediah Elderkin, a lawyer residing in Windham, Conn., and afterward the first Colonel of the Fifth Regiment in the general organization of the army, 1775-1783. Doctor Boardman was a physician at Bethel, Vt., and afterward in Norwich, the same state. Unto his marriage there were born the following-named children: Elderkin J., Jabez H., Nathaniel, Philomela, Lucy, Stephen C., William C., Sarah and Charlotte.

Eighth Generation:
Rev. Elderkin J. Boardman was born at Bethel, Vt., June 1, 1791, and was graduated from Dartmouth College in 1815. Later, becoming a student of theology, he graduated in 1820 from the Andover Theological Seminary. On the 8th of September, 1822, he married Miss Ann Gookin, who was born in 1797, being a daughter of Richard Gookin, of Haverhill, N. H. He held the following pastorates: Bakersfield, 1823; Danville, 1828; Randolph, Vt., 1836; and after removing to Iowa also preached occasionally. He was one of the first Abolitionists of Vermont, and in 1836 published a work entitled "Immediate Abolition Vindicated." After coming to Iowa he made his home with his son H. E. J. until his death, which occurred in March, 1864. He was buried in Riverside Cemetery, at Marshalltown. His wife, Ann, died October 11, 1842. Their children were, Louisa C., Sarah A., Henry E. J., Rebecca G., Harriet N., William H., Mary L., Julia A., Charles E. and Martha L.

Ninth Generation:
Henry Elderkin J. Boardman, whose name with that of his brother introduces this sketch, is a practicing attorney at Marshalltown. On the 7th of December, 1858, he married Mittie E. Williams, and they are the parents of three children: Della L., wife of C. H. Conover, of Chicago (they have four children, Elinor, Della, Margaret and Boardman), Annette Gookin and Clarence E. C., deceased. Mr. Boardman was President of the District Bar Association of the Eleventh Judicial District in 1878, and for many years filled the position of general attorney for the Central Railroad of Iowa. In 1877 he was nominated Supreme Judge of Iowa, and two years later, at Iowa City, was nominated as a member of Congress. He served as delegate to the National Union Convention at Philadelphia in 1866, and the National Democratic Convention at New York July 4, 1868. In 1869, 1879 and 1888 he traveled extensively in the Old World.

Other particulars concerning the life of Mr. Boardman are found in the following extracts from "Tuttle's History of Iowa," published in 1876. "H. E. J. Boardman. This leading lawyer of Marshalltown was born in Danville, Vt., June 21, 1828, and is a son of Rev. E. J. Boardman, a Congregational minister well known in Vermont. H. E. J. received a thorough education at Dartmouth College (N. H.), graduating in 1850. Subsequently he spent several years in the Southern States, principally as professor of languages in the East Tennessee University. He was admitted to the practice of law in Tennessee, but shortly afterward removed to Iowa, in 1856. He is well known throughout this state as devoted to the science of law. He has stood aloof from politics, though often nominated for Judge of the district in which he resides, and solicited to become a candidate for the office of Supreme Judge, declining, however, generally, to accept any nomination. For a long time he was one of the Trustees of Iowa College at Grinnell; is one of the Directors of the Central Railroad of Iowa; also President of the Farmers' National Bank, Director of the City Bank at Marshalltown, President of the Marshalltown Hotel Company and the Hardin & Mahaska Coal Company. His success in private and public undertakings, and his final recoveries in litigated cases, involving abstract legal principles, are marvelous. This is due to extraordinary power of generalization and analysis, a subtle perception of what human nature will do under certain circumstances, and an industry that never tires. He s solicitous that his acts of charity and beneficence be known only to himself, and is one of the most modest and retiring of men."

Ninth Generation (continued):
Charles Edward Boardman, son of Rev. E. J. and Ann G. Boardman, was born at Randolph, Vt., June 21, 1839, and came to Iowa in 1856. Since his admission to the Bar he has engaged in practice with his brother. On the 24th of August, 1869, he was united in marriage with Miss Emma J. Deane. Their children are, Charles H. E., Martha L., Clara E., Anna L. and Emma Hazel (deceased).

S. M. Brimhall is the druggist and furniture merchant of State Centre, Marshall County, where he is one of the first citizens.  He owns considerable real estate in this locality, and has an extensive trade in drugs and furniture.  Our subject was born near Lawrenceburgh, Dearborn County, Ind., January 30, 1838, and is a son of Horace J. and Jane (McMath) Brimhall.  The former was born on the Conhocton River, in Steuben County, N. Y., April 4, 1810.  His father, Sylvenus Brimhall, a native of one of the New England States, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and was of English descent.  On the maternal side, our subject's grandmother, Lydia Guiteau, was the daughter of a prominent French surgeon, who had the distinction of coming to America in the same ship with LaFayette.  The family first settled near Benton, Mass.  Our subject's grandfather served in the War of 1812, and removed to McHenry County, Ill., about 1840, where he died at the age of eighty years.

Horace J. Brimhall, the father of our subject, was the eldest in a family of eight children, six sons and two daughters.  He had the advantage of a good education; he read law, and was admitted to the Bar, after which he practiced in Illinois.  In 1835, he married the daughter of Samuel McMath, who was born in Scotland and came to the United States in his boyhood.  Our subject's mother was born in Pennsylvania in 1812 and came to Indiana with her parents.  George, a brother of Horace J., a man of great culture and piety, was a Congregational preacher in early life, but later left the faith and cast in his lot with the Mormons at Salt Lake City, where he became a prominent Mormon preacher, and at last accounts was alive.  Samuel, another brother, was a Baptist minister, and died in Illinois.  Noah joined the Mormon Church, became a civil engineer and is reputed to have made a fortune.  Andrew, still another brother, went to California in the early days and was lost track of.

The gentleman whose name heads this sketch is one of eight children, and the eldest of four sons.  Lydia J. married John Phillips, a farmer in La Salle County, Ill., Horace J. is a mechanic of Kendall County, Ill, and the husband of Jane Lanbaugh; Mary grew to womanhood, but died single; C. W. wedded Martha Sleeser and is engaged in the drug business at Schaller, Sac County, this state; Lucinda became the wife of Joseph Calahan, a farmer of Kendall County; Amelia, wife of Eugene Warren, lives in Kendall County, Ill., where her husband is engaged in contracting and bridge building; and Henry is a resident of Kendall County.  The father died in Kendall County January 10, 1883, and his wife in March, two years later.

When Mr. Brimhall of this sketch was an infant of two years, the family left Indiana for Illinois, where he grew up on a farm and received a fair education.  When the late Civil War came on, he promptly tendered his services to his country at  the first call for troops, and we find his name enrolled as a member of Company F, Thirty-sixth Illinois Infantry, July 10, 1861.  He soon went  to Missouri, joining General Sigel's command, and was in the battle of Pea Ridge.  He served for three years and three months, and  took part in thirteen of the great battles, among them being Perrysville, Stone River, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, Resaca, Jonesborough, Atlanta, New Hope Church, Rocky Face and Kenesaw Mountain.  He was three times wounded, the first time in the right  side, at the battle of Perrysville, and for eight  months he was confined to the hospital at Louisville.  At Chickamauga he was wounded in the left hand.  Much of the time after receiving his first injury he was not able to do duty in the ranks, and was assigned to he surgeon's department.  For some time he was assistant to the field surgeon, and it was while acting in this capacity that he received his third wound.  He was discharged at Atlanta, Ga., October 23, 1863.

On his return from the south, Mr. Brimhall came to State Centre and studied medicine, afterward engaging in the drug business.  He never practiced to any great extent, as his constantly growing trade took all of his attention.  When he began as a druggist it was on a small scale, as he had only about $700, which he had saved while in the army, but by close attention to the wants of his patrons he has acquired a comfortable fortune.

On the 10th of March, 1873, our subject was united in marriage with Miss Luta, daughter of William Crum.  She was born in Pennsylvania, and is a lady of education and culture.  Mr. And Mrs. Brimhall have no children of their own, but have adopted a little girl seven years old called Alice, of whom they are as fond as if she were actually their own.

Fraternally, Mr. Brimhall is a Mason and a prominent member of the Grand Army of the Republic.  In politics, he was first a Republican, casting his first ballot for Lincoln.  Later he became a Democrat, and at the present time is affiliated with the People's party.  He has always refused official positions, but has served in the City Council.