Frank William Boss. Among the county officials of Cherokee County, one whose previous record, general qualifications for ability and character, gave, at the time of his election, in 1912, every ground for a successful career, and whose discharge of the duties of his office had since vindicated the faith placed in him, is Frank William Boss, county attorney. Mr. Boss had the reputation of being an indefatigable worker, combining scholarship with an active energy and forceful personality, and these qualities have been much esteemed in an office in which the people of the county have endeavored to place men who would lend thorough integrity and practical efficiency to the administration.
Mr. Boss was born at Plymouth, the county seat of Marshall County, Indiana, January 4, 1874, and is a son of John and Mary (Conrad) Boss, and a grandson of a native of the Canton of Berne, Switzerland, who came to the United States and spent his latter years in farming in Kosciusko County, Indiana, where he died. John Boss, the father of Frank W., was born in 1839, in Berne, Switzerland, and was twelve years of age when brought to the United States by his parents. He had commenced his education in his native land, and it was completed in the district schools of Kosclusko County, Indiana, where he was reared to manhood and brought up as a farmer. At the time of his marriage, he engaged in farming on his own account, in Kosciusko County, but some time thereafter removed to Marshall County, Indiana, and located on a farm near Plymouth. He possessed the racial characteristics of industry and honorable dealing, and through persistent and well-directed effort succeeded in the development of a good farm and the founding of a comfortable home. Mr. Boss continued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1900, when, feeling that he had done his share in the world’s work, he retired from active affairs and moved to his home at Plymouth, where he now resided. In the several communities in which Mr. Boss had made his home be had shown himself a public-spirited citizen, who had been willing to aid good movements, and as a generous and kindly friend and neighbor. He is a republican, but politics had played but little part in his life, his activities therein being principally confined to the casting of his vote. Mr. Boss married Miss Mary Conrad, who was born in 1842, in Kosciusko County, Indiana, and died at Plymouth, that state, in 1914. They became the parents of the following children: Rose, who married C. W. Wade, a retired farmer of Plymouth, Indiana; Laura, a teacher in the city schools of Plymouth, who makes her home with her father; Ella, who is the wife of F. E. Garn, president of a trust company at Chicago, Illinois; Lizzie, who married W. F. Walter, and resided at Bremen, Indiana, where Mr. Walter is engaged in the mercantile business; Jacob H., a graduate of the Chicago College of Physicians and Surgeons, and now a practicing physician of the Illinois metropolis; Frank William, of this notice; and Carrie, who is a teacher in the city schools of Plymouth, Indiana.
Frank William Boss was brought up on the home farm in Marshall County, Indiana, and secured his primary education in the public schools of that vicinity. Subsequently he pursued a course at the Plymouth High School, from which he was duly graduated in 1894, and immediately thereafter entered the law department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, where he remained three years. Graduated with the class of 1897 and the degree of Bachelor of Laws, he returned to Plymouth and after some further preparation embarked upon the practice of law in his home community. He remained there for seven years and then secured an appointment to the position of inspector of immigration in the eastern part of the Mexican border, there remaining for three years. In 1910 Mr. Boss located at Scammon, Kansas, where he practiced for two years and served in the capacity of city attorney, and in 1912, upon his election to the office of county attorney, on the republican ticket, came to his present location at Columbus. He had enforced the law without fear or favor and during his four years of office had shown himself a courageous, energetic and entirely capable official, with a realization of the responsibilities placed in his hands. Mr. Boss’ offices are in the Court House, while his residence, which he owned, is at No. 519 Kansas Avenue. Fraternally Mr. Boss is connected with Scammon Lodge No. 351, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Fort Scott Consistory No. 6, thirty-second degree, Pittsburg; and Mirza Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and with the Knights of Pythias, of Columbus.
In 1899, at Chicago, Illinois, Mr. Boss was married to Miss Alice Lehr, daughter of H. A. and Eleanor (Carnahan) Lehr, of Bremen, Indiana. Mr. Lehr was for some years county auditor of Marshall County, Indiana, but is now living retired. Mr. and Mrs. Boss are the parents of two children; Marcellus G., born January 24, 1901, who is now a junior in the Cherokee County High School, and Eleanor Mary, born October 12, 1916.