BOYER, CHARLES FLOYD

by Clifford G. Boyer

Entry F31 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

                  1873-1941

Charles Floyd Boyer, was born in Indepen-
dence, Grayson County, Virginia to Hugh Sr,
Boyer and Margaret James-Boyer, December
31, 1873.

The family of eight boys came by train to
Omaha in 1882, where they then decided
where to locate. They proceeded on to
Madison County, Nebraska where they lived
until 1884, where the ninth son was born. The
family then progressed westward in 1886 into
the Reeves precinct of southern Cherry
County, eight miles north of present Mullen,
Nebraska.

The family came from Madison County,
Nebraska by train to the point on the
Chicago, Northwestern Railroad to Long
Pine, and from there by wagon southward
through Purdum, Brownlee and to there to
the new home. This is where Charles Floyd
Boyer first saw the sandhills when only
twelve years old. The Boyer family lived on
the land production, and had some of the best
real estate in that area.

Charles along with his other brothers
received what education was available at that
time. One thing in particular was the study
of Nebraska Geography with the requirement
to learn every county in the state of Nebraska
and the county seats in each.

Charles spent a few years back in Madison
County, where he owned some acreages, but
he kept migrating back to Cherry County,
where he finally filed on a homestead kincaid
claim, adjoining the west side of the Hugh Sr.
Boyer home.

Charles Floyd Boyer and Estella Nancy
Hewitt were married June 2, 1901 at Seneca,
Nebraska. Their marriage license was procu-
red from the Court House in Thedford, that
handled legal documents back in those days
for Hooker County. They lived on the
homestead until 1910, when they moved into
Mullen, to operate a grocery store where the
Macke store is today. Charles sold his
business to the late T.L. McCully, and then
worked for the J.L. Roseberry Company for
a time. He then negotiated a partnership
along with John H. Vinton and Simon A.
Senk into what was known as the Senk
Mercantile Co. for nearly twenty years. After
leaving the firm he janitored for a few years
at the Mullen Grade School, until health
failed, and from a brief illness, he departed
this life November 29, 1941.

His family consisted of four daughters:
Esther (Gillespie) ; Waiva (Phipps) ; Bertha
(Moller) and Mary Margaret that died in
infancy. And two sons: Wilson Leonard and
Clifford Gerald.