Reuben P. Boise family papers, 1805-1937

Reuben Patrick Boise (pronounced 'Bois') was born in Blandford, Massachusetts on June 9, 1818 or 1819 (there is some confusion as to the correct year). He was raised on his father's farm, attended public schools, and took a classical course at Williams College, from which he graduated with honors in 1843. Following graduation, he taught school for two years in Missouri and then returned to Massachusetts where he read law with his uncle, Patrick Boise, who was a distinguished lawyer in Westfield. After three years' study of the law, he was admitted to the bar in 1848, and began to practice in Chicopee Falls, where he remained two years. He immigrated to Oregon in the fall of 1850, via the Isthmus of Panama.

He began his law practice in Portland, but moved to Polk County in 1852. During the next fifty-two years Boise served as the prosecuting attorney for Districts 1 and 2, covering most of the Willamette Valley; represented Polk and Tillamook counties in the Territorial Legislature; helped codify Oregon's laws; was the democratic delegate to the Oregon Constitutional Convention; and served on the Territorial and Oregon State Supreme Court for seventeen years. He was elected a state circuit court judge in 1880, served until 1892 and then entered private legal practice for eight years. Boise returned to the circuit court in 1898 where he served until his retirement in July 1904. Boise died on April 10, 1907.

Boise married Ellen Francis Lyon, of Boston Massachusetts, in 1852 and the couple had three sons: Reuben P., Whitney L., and Fisher A. Ellen died in 1865. In 1867, Boise married Emily A. Pratt, also from Massachusetts. They had two daughters, Ellen S. and Mae E. Emily Pratt Boise died in March, 1919.