John W. Boston was born on July 17, 1833, in Delaware County, Ohio, to William Boston. His father was an English immigrant who earned a living as a farmer. Boston grew up and attended school in Westfield, Ohio. He married Mary Jane Elliott around 1854, and they had at least five children: William, born around 1855; John, born around 1858; Mary, born around 1859; Charles, born around 1866; and Albert, born around 1869. They lived in Pleasant, Ohio, and Boston worked as a farmer. By 1860, he owned $450 of real estate and $134 of personal property.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on September 6, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company G of the 81^st Ohio Infantry later that day. The regiment took part in the Atlanta campaign, the March to the Sea, and the Carolinas campaign. Boston mustered out on July 13, 1865.

 

He returned to Pleasant after the war and resumed his work as a farmer. By 1870, he owned $1,200 of real estate and $250 of personal property. They moved to Deshler, Ohio, in the 1870s, and Boston worked as a carpenter there. He applied for a federal pension in July 1888 and eventually secured one. The family moved to Hartford City, Indiana, around 1896. His wife fell ill in the late 1800s, and she was reportedly “confined to her home” for the final fifteen years of her life. She died in Hartford City on November 7, 1910.

 

He married Ellen A. Roosevelt around 1912, but she apparently died soon afterward. He then married Frances Brumley on September 1, 1915. According to one reporter, the two had been “childhood sweethearts,” but they had been “separated in their younger days and lost track of each other.” She died in the late 1910s, and he passed away of bronchial pneumonia on August 4, 1918.

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