William K. Boone
Encyclopedia
William Kenneth Boone (1875–1944) was a benefactor of Xalapa
, Veracruz
.
Throughout his life he sent numerous letters, postcards, and photographs to his parents and sisters at home. These were kept by his family in Lima and eventually found their way to his (only) granddaughter, who thereby has been able to piece together most of his story as well as integrating his collection of images and documents into The Boone-Canovas Collection.
, on April 9, 1875, to William McKelvey Boone (1834–1913), retired colonel, veteran of the Civil War and successful businessman (W. K. Boone Hardware Store), who had moved from Hughesville, PA, through Wooster, OH, finally settling down in Lima. His mother was Mary Elizabeth Heffelfinger (1834–1927).
He was closely related to two outstanding figures in American history who were an inspiration to him and his descendants: Daniel Boone
and Abraham Lincoln
.
(1893) and the famous Michelson–Morley experiment on the nature and speed of light conducted at this institute.
From 1899 to 1903 he resided in California and worked in the electrical operations of the Homestake Mining Company
, in gold and silver mines near Lundy, California
. He also worked at another one of their mines: Frenchtown camp in the Kern River
Canyon of the Greenhorn Mountains
near Bakersfield.
On January 6, 1904, in Los Angeles, CA, he married Blanche Marmon (also from Lima, Ohio). He and his wife moved to Xalapa and lived there permanently until his death in 1944, while he worked as general manager for the Jalapa Railroad and Power Co. (JRR&PC) – except for a few times during the Mexican Revolution
(1910–1920) when he had to seek refuge in the American Embassy at Mexico City and move temporarily to the US, fearing that his life was at stake.
He died in Mexico City on August 19, 1944.
His collection of old photographs of México and particularly of Xalapa, from the early 1900s, forms part of the Boone-Canovas collection.
As a genealogist: documentation on several generations of ancestors of some mexican families, particularly the descendancy of Sinforosa Amador
who had settled in Xalapa and was reported as saying that "she was from California".
Xalapa
Xalapa-Enríquez, commonly Xalapa or Jalapa, is the capital city of the Mexican state of Veracruz and the name of the surrounding municipality. In the year 2005 census the city reported a population of 387,879 and the municipality of which it serves as municipal seat reported a population of...
, Veracruz
Veracruz
Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...
.
Throughout his life he sent numerous letters, postcards, and photographs to his parents and sisters at home. These were kept by his family in Lima and eventually found their way to his (only) granddaughter, who thereby has been able to piece together most of his story as well as integrating his collection of images and documents into The Boone-Canovas Collection.
Biography
He was born in Lima, OhioLima, Ohio
Lima is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in northwestern Ohio along Interstate 75 approximately north of Dayton and south-southwest of Toledo....
, on April 9, 1875, to William McKelvey Boone (1834–1913), retired colonel, veteran of the Civil War and successful businessman (W. K. Boone Hardware Store), who had moved from Hughesville, PA, through Wooster, OH, finally settling down in Lima. His mother was Mary Elizabeth Heffelfinger (1834–1927).
He was closely related to two outstanding figures in American history who were an inspiration to him and his descendants: Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits mad']'e him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of...
and Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
.
Education
He enrolled at what was then called Case Institute of Applied Science which he attended for two years years (1895–1896), just around the times of the Chicago World's Fair and its electrical exhibitsWorld's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...
(1893) and the famous Michelson–Morley experiment on the nature and speed of light conducted at this institute.
Later life
He travelled by train from Lima and arrived in Xalapa in February 1898, at 22 years of age, hardly speaking any Spanish, and became supervisor of operations for the Texolo hydroelectric power plant.From 1899 to 1903 he resided in California and worked in the electrical operations of the Homestake Mining Company
Homestake Mining Company
The Homestake Mining Company was one of the largest gold mining businesses in the United States from the 19th century through the beginning of the 21st...
, in gold and silver mines near Lundy, California
Lundy, California
Lundy is a defunct community in Mono County, California, United States, located on Mill Creek in Lundy Canon near the west end of Lundy Lake. It is situated at an elevation of 7858 feet . It was named after W.J. Lundy who operated a sawmill near Lundy Lake. The sawmill was a major timber producer...
. He also worked at another one of their mines: Frenchtown camp in the Kern River
Kern River
The Kern River is a river in the U.S. state of California, approximately long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfield. Fed by snowmelt near Mount Whitney, the river passes through scenic canyons in the mountains and is a popular destination for...
Canyon of the Greenhorn Mountains
Greenhorn Mountains
The Greenhorn Mountains are located northeast of Bakersfield, California and west of Lake Isabella in the United States. The range, at the southern end of the Sierra Nevada, reaches an elevation of at Sunday Peak, just south of Portuguese Pass....
near Bakersfield.
On January 6, 1904, in Los Angeles, CA, he married Blanche Marmon (also from Lima, Ohio). He and his wife moved to Xalapa and lived there permanently until his death in 1944, while he worked as general manager for the Jalapa Railroad and Power Co. (JRR&PC) – except for a few times during the Mexican Revolution
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
(1910–1920) when he had to seek refuge in the American Embassy at Mexico City and move temporarily to the US, fearing that his life was at stake.
He died in Mexico City on August 19, 1944.
Works
- Lima Locomotive & Machine CompanyLima Locomotive WorksLima Locomotive Works was an American firm that manufactured railroad locomotives from the 1870s through the 1950s. The company took the most distinctive part of its name from its main shops location in Lima, Ohio. The shops were located between the Baltimore & Ohio's Cincinnati-Toledo main line...
- Homestake Mining CompanyHomestake Mining CompanyThe Homestake Mining Company was one of the largest gold mining businesses in the United States from the 19th century through the beginning of the 21st...
– near Lundy, CaliforniaLundy, CaliforniaLundy is a defunct community in Mono County, California, United States, located on Mill Creek in Lundy Canon near the west end of Lundy Lake. It is situated at an elevation of 7858 feet . It was named after W.J. Lundy who operated a sawmill near Lundy Lake. The sawmill was a major timber producer... - General Manager of the Jalapa Railroad & Power Co. (JRR&PC)Jalapa Railroad & Power Co. (JRR&PC)The Jalapa Railroad & Power Co. was a railroad enterprise that offered passenger and cargo service between the towns of Xalapa and Teocelo, within the state of Veracruz, México, from 1898 thru 1945.-History:"In 1895 the Jalapa Railroad & Power Co...
- President of the Jalapa Chamber of Commerce in 1921
- President of the "Junta de Obras Materiales de Jalapa"
- Vice consul for the United States in Xalapa (briefly, in the early 1900s)
Legacy
- The Stadium at XalapaStadium (Xalapa)The Stadium at Xalapa, Veracruz, is located a few blocks south and downhill of the center of town, and can be easily seen from the terraces of Parque Juárez.The place was identified in the 1920s by William K...
on what had been a swampy field, the so-called "Ciénega de Melgarejo". - A ramp to provide direct access for vehicles from the (old) train station to downtown, next to Parque JuárezParque Juárez (Xalapa)Parque Juárez is a public park in the city of Xalapa, in the state of Veracruz in eastern Mexico.It was inaugurated in 1892 and named in honor of Benito Juárez, 20 years after his death....
- The scenic twin spiral roads to the top of Cerro Macuiltépec
- The Rotary Club of Jalapa
- The automobile road between Xalapa and Veracruz
His collection of old photographs of México and particularly of Xalapa, from the early 1900s, forms part of the Boone-Canovas collection.
- See Boone-Canovas Collection
As a genealogist: documentation on several generations of ancestors of some mexican families, particularly the descendancy of Sinforosa Amador
Sinforosa Amador
Sinforosa Amador Noriega was born at the Real Presidio de San Francisco on July 18, 1788 and was baptized at "Misión de Nuestro Seráfico Padre San Francisco", later known as Mission Dolores....
who had settled in Xalapa and was reported as saying that "she was from California".
- See "Gráfica genealógica" (Genealogical chart) which he documented for his daughter in-law Carmen Canovas Güido.
-
- Due to the unsettled conditions of affairs in Mexico, I have not been able to devote much time to ancestors, rather I have been too much interested in the safety of my posterity – he wrote amid hijacking and bombing threats during the Mexican RevolutionMexican RevolutionThe Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
in 1914.
- Due to the unsettled conditions of affairs in Mexico, I have not been able to devote much time to ancestors, rather I have been too much interested in the safety of my posterity – he wrote amid hijacking and bombing threats during the Mexican Revolution
Memorials in Xalapa
- He was named “el más xalapeño de los extranjeros” (the most Xalapeño of foreigners) by Rubén Pabello Acosta, the city chronicler.
- An inscription dedicated in 1946 by the “Club Rotario de Xalapa” on the facade of the house where he had lived, on Calle de Alfaro.
- On December 2, 1994, the Municipality of Xalapa presented him with a posthumous recognition
-
- al hombre que con su talento y generosidad contribuyó en su tiempo a prefigurar la imagen moderna de Xalapa, a la que amó entrañablemente y a la cual dedicó con devoción lo mejor de su esfuerzo y de su vocación de servicio
- (to the man who with his talent and generosity contributed in his time to sketch the modern image of Xalapa which he loved dearly and to which he devotedly dedicated his efforts and his vocation of service).
- al hombre que con su talento y generosidad contribuyó en su tiempo a prefigurar la imagen moderna de Xalapa, a la que amó entrañablemente y a la cual dedicó con devoción lo mejor de su esfuerzo y de su vocación de servicio
- Plaza William K. Boone at a park entrance in Fraccionamiento Las Araucarias
- Lomas de Boone: an area of the city at the foot of Cerro Macuiltépec, where he had once planted a ranch of avocadoes.
- Avenida William K. Boone in Fraccionamiento Lucas Martín, by the town of Sedeño.
- Race named after him at Parque Ecológico Macuiltépec, on Sept. 6, 2009.
External references
- Archivo de inmigrantes distinguidos del siglo 20 en México
- Estado de Veracruz – Verdades sobre México – El País del Porvenir – El Libro Azul de México // State of Veracruz – Facts about Mexico – The Country of the Future – The Blue Book of Mexico (bilingual, Spanish and English). México, Compañía Editorial Pan-Americana, S. A., 1923. Facsimile edition of the Editora del Gobierno, 2007; reprinted in 2008. See articles relevant to WKB in pages 15, 67, 170, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 196–198, 197 (authored by him) and 199.
- Bazarte Martínez, Alicia: Trazos de una vida, bosquejos de una Ciudad. El pintor Carlos Rivera y Xalapa. México, Instituto Politécnico Nacional / Gobierno del Estado de Veracruz, 2009 (pp.173-). (in Spanish)
- Bermúdez Gorrochótegui, Gilberto. Sumaria Historia de Xalapa. Editorial Gobierno del Estado de Veracruz-Llave, Instituto de Antropología e Historia, 2000. See pages 163, 213, 236 (Rotary Club's formal application for the spiral road in Macuiltepec to be named after WKB), 238 (Stadium), 253.
- Pasquel, Leonardo. Xalapeños Distinguidos, México, D.F., Editorial Citlaltepec, 1975, pp. 53–54. (in Spanish)
- "Thanks to [WKB's] initiative [...] starting the roads to Veracruz and Nautla, all of that undertaken without having money, but driving the people forward with his enthusiasm, faith, and dynamism.
- "A man loved, respected, active, lover of Nature and in-love with Xalapa."
See also
- Boone-Canovas Collection – old photos of XalapaXalapaXalapa-Enríquez, commonly Xalapa or Jalapa, is the capital city of the Mexican state of Veracruz and the name of the surrounding municipality. In the year 2005 census the city reported a population of 387,879 and the municipality of which it serves as municipal seat reported a population of...
, VeracruzVeracruzVeracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...
, and MexicoMexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of... - Macuiltépec (in Spanish)
- Estadio Xalapeño (in Spanish)
- XalapaXalapaXalapa-Enríquez, commonly Xalapa or Jalapa, is the capital city of the Mexican state of Veracruz and the name of the surrounding municipality. In the year 2005 census the city reported a population of 387,879 and the municipality of which it serves as municipal seat reported a population of...
- Jalapa Railroad & Power Co. (JRR&PC)Jalapa Railroad & Power Co. (JRR&PC)The Jalapa Railroad & Power Co. was a railroad enterprise that offered passenger and cargo service between the towns of Xalapa and Teocelo, within the state of Veracruz, México, from 1898 thru 1945.-History:"In 1895 the Jalapa Railroad & Power Co...