Butler County Genealogy Trails Kansas John Christopher Boellner Bio

BUTLER COUNTY'S EIGHTY YEARS BIOS

JOHN CHRISTOPHER BOELLNER

(Transcribed by Lori DeWinkler)

Through all the busy years of his life—as a boy on the farm homesteaded by his parents near Leon, as a young man teaching school for thirteen years in Kansas and Illinois, and after that, in business at El Dorado as a jeweler and optometrist—through all those years, John Christopher Boellner never forgot the lessons of industry and thrift he had learned on the farm as one of a family of twelve children. In that later years of his life, when he was able to retire from business, Mr. Boellner did not relinquish his active interest in his farms; vigorous outdoor work was a sort of avocation in which he found pleasure and relaxation.

He was born at St. Charles, Missouri, on December 11, 1870, the son of Henry and Mary Wagle Boellner. Henry Boellner had come at the age of ten years with his parents from his birthplace in Germany, and Mary Wagle Boellner likewise was of Germanic descent, though born in the United States. From his parents, John Christopher Boellner inherited a strong physique, sober habits and a scholarly mind. In the early seventies, the family came from Missouri to Kansas, and they homesteaded a quarter section of land in Little Walnut Township, two miles west of Leon.

Henry Boellner brought with him some progressive ideas of farming, from his native country of Germany where land was neither plentiful nor free as in the new country, and where the farmers had learned the value of diversifying their crops. On his quarter section of land, Henry Boellner and his sons puts out the usual crops but also an orchard of fruit trees and hedge bushes, and latter being then especially valuable for use as fence to mark the boundaries of new homesteads. They prospered at their farming. Neighbors came to buy seedling trees and hedge cuttings. Before many years the Boellners owned a full section of land near the original homestead. They built a farm house, a fine one for those days, and a huge barn, themselves cutting much of the timber and doing the carpenter work.

John Christopher Boellner enjoyed the freedom of farm life, but sometimes the work was too unrelenting. He had aspirations to learn a profession in which he had early become interested—optometry, the fitting of eye glasses. On the farm, he often had been overcome with painful headaches while walking down furrows behind the plow, and, when his ailment finally became so painful as to send him to an “eye doctor” he learned that he had suffered all that time with a visual defect which could be speedily remedied with proper glasses. The science of optometry interested him at once. He began to study it. But schooling was expensive, and he must save money to pay for it. So first he qualified himself for a teacher’s certificate, and taught school for thirteen years, most of that time in Butler County, at Leon, at Benton, at District No. Eight, and elsewhere.

On August 30, 1899, Mr. Boellner was married to Lydia Bertha Peffley, of El Dorado, a daughter of Zachariah and Nancy Parkhurt Peffley. Mrs. Boellner and their two daughters and one son all are living at this time.

By 1906, Mr. Boellner had completed the training necessary to secure a license for the practice of optometry. He established optical offices and a jewelry store in the building at121 West Central Avenue, and continued successfully in business there till 1917. His business grew rapidly when El Dorado experiences its oil boom in 1915, and Mr. Boellner decided to dispose of his jewelry business so he could devote his who time to optometry. He sold his jewelry stock in 1917 to L. G. Trombla, who is now in business at that location. Mr. Boellner moved his optical offices to the upper story of his building, and maintained an office there till 1930.

The discovery of oil near El Dorado started prospecting in other parts of the county. Mr. Boellner was much interested, spent long hours at the public library studying the geology of oil sands, and finally, in 1921, convinced a group of oil prospecters that his land near Leon—he had become owner of this at the death of his parents—was favorably situated for oil. A well drilled in 1921 found oil and a valuable field was developed, on his and surrounding land. In later years Mr. Boellner bought more farm land in Butler County and took great interest in overseeing farming operations there. Several years he himself put in the crops and helped to harvest them, using tractors and modern machinery instead of the home-made implements of his boyhood days on the farm.

A severe attack of influenza was the beginning of the illness which resulted in his death on May 12, 1930, at El Dorado. He had been ill for several months but his death occurred suddenly one afternoon while he was outdoors at his home, doing small tasks as his strength permitted.

Mr. Boellner was a member of the Methodist Church, and had contributed largely—often anonymously—to the financing of a new building for that church here. He was interested in the affairs of this city and state, and always was well informed on public matters. He was a member of the city council of El Dorado, in the years before the present commission form was established. He was keenly interested in the schools and educational facilities of the town. He was devoted to his family, loyal to his friends and honorable in all his business dealings.

The two daughters and one son surviving are Mrs. H. D. Barnes, of Topeka; Mrs. C. C. Graham of El Dorado; and Victor Boellner, of El Droado. Mrs. Bertha Boellner has continued to reside at the family home, 703 South Star Street, since the death of Mr. Boellner.