WABASHA COUNTY, MINNESOTA ***************************************************************************** Biography transcribed & donated to Wabasha County, MN Bios by Barbara Koska Timm. For more information, please check out her site "Biographies and Historical Sketches of Wabasha County, Minnesota" at . ***************************************************************************** HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY TOGETHER WITH BIOGRAPHICAL MATTER, STATISTICS, ETC. GATHERED FROM MATTER FURNISHED BY INTERVIEWS WITH OLD SETTLERS, COUNTY, TOWNSHIP AND OTHER RECORDS, AND EXTRACTS FROM FILES OF PAPERS, PAMPHLETS, AND SUCH OTHER SOURCES AS HAVE BEEN AVAILABLE. ALSO A HISTORY OF WINONA COUNTY CHICAGO: H. H. HILL & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS. 1884 Boughton, Benjamin, Chester, is a brother of the above (Orrin E. Boughton), and received the same early training. His birth occurred in West Sparta, same county, February 23, 1845. His mother died when he was only three years old, and he was put out with a farmer to be brought up. He remained till eighteen years old with this taskmaster, who set him to follow the plow as soon as he could reach the handles, and gave him little opportunity for education. At eighteen, having received only his food and scanty clothing for years of faithful service, he set out to care for himself. In the fall of 1865 he came to Minnesota, and stayed one year, attending school in the winter. He returned to New York, where he remained till the fall of 1872. He engaged in farm labor here three years, and then bought his present home on section 34, consisting of eighty-seven acres. August 30, 1879, he was married to Ida Segar, who was born in Salem, Wisconsin. Mr. Boughton had no capital when he arrived in Wabasha county, and his success is a credit to himself and this region. He has always been a republican. He adopted an orphan child soon after its birth. Her name is Lucy Whaley, and she was born February 5, 1879.