ELI C. BOLES, an agriculturist of Curry township, Sullivan county, was born in Hamilton township of this county December 16, 1845, and is a member of one of the county's oldest families. His paternal grandfather, Edmond Boles, Sr., was a native of Virginia, but soon after his marriage he came to Sullivan county and became enrolled among its earliest pioneers. He was a farmer throughout his entire business career, and died on the land which he entered here.
Edmond Boles, Jr., his son and namesake, was born in Gill township, Sullivan county, Indiana, about 1832, and was reared to the life of an agriculturist here. After his marriage he rented land for about a year and then bought a farm of forty acres in Turman township, but selling that tract he became the owner of another farm of one hundred and sixty acres in the same township. In August of 1862 he enlisted with the Seventy-first Indiana Regiment, Company I, as a private, for service in the Civil war, and he continued as a brave and loyal soldier until his honorable discharge in June of 1865, in the meantime having been captured at Muldraugh Hill, Kentucky. Among the battles in which he participated were those of Atlanta and Nashville, and following the close of his war period he returned to his farm in Sullivan county and continued to reside there until his death in 1899. He was a stanch Republican politically and an earnest member of the Christian church. His wife, nee Jemima Bundy, was born in North Carolina, but came to Indiana with her parents when she was a child. In their family were seven children: Eli C., who is mentioned later; William R., a resident of Cass township, Sullivan county; Myra F., the wife of a Mr. Swift, and they reside on the home farm in Turman township; Caleb, whose home is in Texas; Commodore, also of Turman township; Lew. W., who resides in Sullivan; and Jennie Whitman, also of Sullivan.
Eli C. Boles, remained on the home farm with his parents until his marriage, and then establishing a home of his own he rented for two years, or until he bought eighty acres of land in Turman township, which was his home for twelve years. He then became the owner of one hundred and twenty acres on the county line, but after two years he traded the land for one hundred and twenty acres where he now lives, two and a half miles northeast of Shelburn, in Curry township. He is a stanch supporter of the Republican party, and is active in both the business and public life of his community.
On the 24th of December, 1879, Mr. Boles was married to Josephine Brown, a daughter of Perry and Caroline Brown, who are now living in Turman township. Five children have been born of this union, namely: Arthur, who married Minnie Rook, by whom he has one child, Aurilla Josephine, and the family reside in Harrisburg; Edgar and Ernest, at home; Oscar, who is attending school; and Maud, a stenographer in Indianapolis, Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Boles are members of the Christian church.