My Genealogy Hound

Euphrates Boucher, editor of the Fountain Journal, at Mount Vernon, Mo., is one of the representative and self-made men of Lawrence County. He is of French descent, the name being originally spelled Boushelder. Matthew Boushelder was born in France in 1700, and immigrated to America settling in Loudoun County, Va., where he lived and reared a large family. There exists a tradition that all this family were killed by the Indians save one Peter Boushelder, a son of Matthew, who was born about 1743. At the age of five years he was bound out to a millwright, a trade which has continued in the family to the present generation. At the age of twenty years he married Jane Waddel a Welsh lady, and after living in Loudoun County for about seven years moved to Southwestern Pennsylvania, settling on the Monongahela River near Pittsburgh, where he lived until 1784, and then moved to Kentucky via the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers to Louisville, when there was but a single house with a shingle roof in the town. He was offered 200 acres of land, which is now in the business portion of the city, for a small gray mare which he possessed, but refused to make the trade. He settled in Mercer County, and was frequently obliged to take refuge from the Indians at Boone’s Station, Daniel Boone being the first prominent settler of Kentucky. Mr. Boushelder had purchased of the Revolutionary soldier land warrants of the United States Government amounting in all to about 4,000 acres, in Warren and Allen Counties, and some of this land is yet in the hands of the family. About this time the name was changed to Boucher by the misspelling of the word by the United States authorities Mr. Boucher was shot and killed near a spring in Christian County, Ky., September 1, 1809. His widow died at the home of her son-in law Isaac Rude, in either Allen or Warren Counties, in 1814. Peter Boucher, son of the above and grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Loudoun County, Va., February 11, 1770, and was married to Sallie Goodnight, a German lady, born April 6, 1776, whose father was killed and chopped up by the Indians and whose mother was taken captive, the Indian chief intending to make her his wife. Mr. Boucher died at his home in Allen County, in November, 1854. His son Harrison Boucher was born in that county January 14, 1814, and was married to Zerilda Woolsey November 20, 1842, at her home near the Mammoth Cave, and always made his home with or near his people, and now lives in a house made of yellow poplar, which was erected by his father in 1800, and is still in a good state of preservation. Eight children were born to them: Euphrates, Livonia, Stanford, Lycurgus, Adelia C., Alfred T., Lucy A. and Nancy F. Mr. Boucher is a Democrat and was a strong Union man during the war. He owns about 500 acres of land, and is much respected and esteemed by all who know him. His wife was a member of a prominent Kentucky family and was a daughter of William H. and Celia (Houchin) Woolsey, who were of Welsh descent. Their son Euphrates, was born on his grandfather’s old homestead December 10, 1843, and received a common-school education He was very desirous of obtaining a good education, but had to rely solely on his own efforts m gaining the desired end. September 1, 1863, he enlisted in Company H, Fifty-second Regiment Kentucky Mounted Infantry, and was selected first corporal. He was in the battles of Cross Roads and Canton, Ky., and was honorably discharged at the close of the war. After attending school at Oakland City Ind., for one winter, he began teaching school in DeKalb County, Mo., in the summer of 1866, and in the fall of the same year came to Lawrence County, where he attended school and also taught for some time. He was also a student and tutor in the Lebanon High-school. In 1875 he was elected public school commissioner of Lawrence County, receiving both the Republican and Democratic votes. In March of the same year he bought an interest in the Fountain and Journal, a weekly newspaper, in company with John Cecil, and in September, 1870, bought the remaining interest, and has since been sole editor and proprietor. He has always been a Republican of the strongest type, and fearlessly advocates the principles of this party in his paper. He was at one time editor and proprietor of the Independent, a daily paper, which he published at Peirce City, Mo. He also, for four years, published the Emigrant’s Guide, which was of material assistance in bringing emigrants to Southwest Missouri, and in building up Lawrence County. He was postmaster at Mount Vernon for over five years, being appointed in 1879. He is a Royal Arch Mason, a member of the G. A. R., and went as State delegate to the National Encampment at Portland, Me., in 1885. He is a member of the Missouri Press Association, and has been quite an extensive traveler.