My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM A. BOSWORTH, a man prominently connected with the mercantile and grape-growing interests of the town of Hanover, is a son of Oliver Cromwell and Electa (Hale) Bosworth, and was born April 22, 1833, in the village of Nashville, Chautauqua county, New York. His paternal grandfather, Alfred Bosworth, originally came from Rhode Island, located at Saratoga Springs, New York, and finally in the State of Illinois, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was a man of great energy and industry, and by slow degrees arose from the position of a hatter to that of considerable affluence. In his later life he became a money-lender. Politically, he cast his lot with the Whig and Republican parties, having, however, no official ambition. He received a good education in the beginning of his life, and throughout his entire career has been a man devoted to study, reading and self-culture. His wife was a Miss Childs, a native of and prominently connected in Rhode Island. They reared a family of five children, — three boys and two girls. The eldest son, Franklin, is a practicing physician in the State of Illinois, whose medical education was received both in Illinois and the east. Father of subject was born at Troy, New York, in the year 1803, his father at that time being a resident of that place and engaged in his occupation of hatter. In 1840 he removed to Chautauqua county, and located at what is now the village of Nashville, town of Hanover, where he embarked in the mercantile business. From here he went west to Chicago, engaged in the mercantile business there, and finally in the banking business at Elgin, Illinois. He died in Chautauqua county. Father of subject was a man of good education, and in politics belonged to the Whig party. His wife was a daughter of Aaron Hale, a native of Maine, but who became a resident of Saratoga Springs and died at the age of ninety years. Aaron Hale was a farmer and lumberman, and died in Saratoga county, Mr. and Mrs. Bosworth were the parents of four children, — two daughters and two sons, three of whom are still living, — two sons and one daughter: William A.; Franklin, a resident of Elgin, Illinois; and Julia E., married to Edwin L. Bishop, a large farmer and ice manufacturer of Elgin, Illinois.

William A. Bosworth was united in marriage to Achsah Horton, daughter of Benjamin Horton (see his sketch), and are the parents of five children: George H., married to Miss Bertha H., daughter of Rev. John Wilson, of Corry, Pennsylvania, now living in Corry, and engaged as a commercial traveler; Belle, wife of Clarence W. Edwards, a commercial traveler of Chicago, Illinois (Mr. and Mrs. Edwards having one child, — Helen); Rexford; Lucy H. and Harry A., at home.

William A. Bosworth received his education in the common schools of his native county, first engaged in mercantile pursuits at Nashville, Chautauqua county, New York, and subsequently in the lumber business at Chicago, Illinois. In 1857 he returned east, and again embarked in the mercantile business in Cattaraugus county, shortly afterward going to New York city, where he became a traveling salesman for a wholesale grocery house. At present Mr. Bosworth is the owner of a small farm and joint-owner of one of the largest vineyards in the county, to which he devotes considerable attention. He is unqualifiedly a democrat in politics, but without political or official aspirations.