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Henry Boynton


Henry Boynton was born in 1816 in Holland, Vermont. Hepsibah Willis Parmenter was born in 1800 in New Hampshire. Henry and Hepsibah were married in Vermont in 1838 and migrated that same year to Monroe Mills, Ohio. In 1859, they moved west to Iowa accompanied by their 20-year-old daughter Mary and newly married son, Quincy Adams Boynton and his wife, Sarah. Henry, Hepsibah, and Mary settled in Nevada. Mary Boynton became T. C. McCall’s second wife in 1860. T.C. had been widowed and had a small son.

Quincy and Sarah stopped in Marion. He had brought horses and wagons and found work as a drayman. In 1862, he brought Sarah and their infant son, Williard Henry “Bill” to Nevada and enlisted in the army. He left horses and wagons for his father to use in his absence.

Quincy returned in 1865 and resumed the dray work, which flourished since the railroad reached Nevada in 1864. In addition to hauling the freight, he was hired by the U.S. Government to meet each train to take the mail to and from the post office. He held that position until he died in 1882 while helping in the construction of the building on the southeast corner of 6th Street and K Avenue. Quincy’s oldest son, Bill, took over the mail contract, which he had until 1939.

Miss Mary Moore and Professor Fuller were the teachers in the brick schoolhouse that opened in 1859. At the end of the first term, they got married and left town. Mr. Fuller died a year later and Mary returned to Nevada. Hepsibah had died in 1862 and
Henry married Mary in 1864. The school enrollment had increased and the school board persuaded Mrs. Mary Boynton to return to teaching, which she did for many years. As a memorial to her many dedicated years, a picture of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments was gifted to the public library in her honor.

Henry Boynton was in the construction business when he first came to Nevada and in the dray business while his son was in service. Then, he was a dealer in lime, cement, and other building products. In 1864, he was elected to the County Board of Supervisors. The courthouse had burned December 31, 1863, and Henry offered a resolution that was adopted. He suggested erecting a building for the use of Treasurer, Recorder, and Clerk of Court. In June 1864, the board recommended a wooden building be erected and Henry Boynton was given the contract. The building was to be twenty-six feet wide by forty feet long with the foundation to be quarried stone laid on lime mortar. In 1867, Henry was elected County Recorder.

Henry and Mary lived at 407 K Avenue. Their son, Quincy, and later just his widow, Sarah, lived across the street west of them at 335 K Avenue. Another son, Frank, lived with his family in the first house north of Quincy.

Henry Boynton died in 1897, Mary in 1889, and Sarah in 1910. They are buried in the Nevada Cemetery. Matthew and Aaron Hunt of Nevada are sixth generation descendants of Henry and Hepsibah Boynton.