The Boszor Family
The Boszor Family were among the early settlers of Portage County, and were of German origin. ---- Boszor came from his native country to America about 1772, and settled at Baltimore, Md., where he married Barbara Stoyer. He died at Baltimore in 1798, and the widow subsequently came to this county and died in Brimfield Township. Their son, Henry Boszor, settled at Ravenna in 1804; he was a shoe-maker by trade, but after coming to this county his principal occupation was farming. He at once bought fifty acres of land a short distance east of Ravenna, and in 1805 was married to Polly Boosinger, a daughter of Conrad Boosinger, a pioneer of this county. The following year he sold this farm and bought a farm by the Stark County line, but a year or so afterward he sold out and bought a place in the northeast part of Springfield Township, this county, where he lived for several years, and in 1816 bought a farm one mile west of Brimfield Center, and for the remainder of his life was a resident of Brimfield Township. The last-mentioned farm was afterward known as the " Israel Thorndyke " farm, and a year or so after his purchase he traded his place with Mr. Thorndyke for a farm of 100 acres one-half mile north of Brimfield Center, which became his homestead up to the time of his death. Some five or six years after his last trade he discovered that this farm had been heavily mortgaged previous to his purchase of it, which involved him in a heavy additional expense, and he was obliged to pay for it a second time. This to a man with a young and growing family was quite a hardship, but he may be said to have surmounted all obstacles—raised a family of nine children, and at his death in 1862 left a comfortable property to his widow and children. He was a representative pioneer and a highly esteemed and trusted citizen. From the records it would appear that he served the township in various local offices, such as Trustee, etc., etc. He was formerly an old-line Whig, but in the later years of his life he adhered to the Democratic party. During the war of 1812 he was drafted and hired a substitute; only a short time afterward, however, he volunteered, and was on his way with others to re-enforce, and was only a short distance from Gen. Hull's army at the time of its surrender, but the company of which he was a member escaped. He died in August, 1862. His widow, Polly, died February 11, 1874. They were both members of the Lutheran Church. They were the parents of the following named children: Elizabeth, born in 1805, died in 1881; John, born December 28, 1807, died in August, 1884; Jacob, born December 26, 1809; Polly, born in 1811, died in 1835; Barbara, born in 1813, died November 20, 1875; Susan, born in -September, 1815; Henry, born August 1, 1818; David, born February 2, 1821, died May 6, 1861; Martin, born June 2, 1824; Simon Peter, born in 1830, died in 1831.
Henry Boszor, son of Henry and Polly (Boosinger) Boszor, P. O. Kent, was born August 1, 1818, one mile west of Brimfield Center. He lived with his parents until twenty-six years of age, in the meantime having received a fair common school education. November 20, 1844, he was married to Miss Sarah Netf. daughter of Conrad and Catharine (Kline) Neff, natives of Pennsylvania, and on April 16 following they commenced housekeeping in a little log-house on a farm of ninety-seven acres which they purchased that spring, located on Lot 17, Brimtield Township. On this farm they have ever since resided. Except the log house mentioned and some twenty-five acres upon which the trees had been girdled and the land in part cultivated sufficient to raise enough to afford a bare subsistence to the former owners, this farm was in a wild state, and as the purchase was made nearly all on credit, the young couple not only saw before them the prospect of many years of patient industry in order to improve the land and build up a home, but also to create the wherewithal to pay for the same; but they set themselves to the task with a right good will. The log-house has long since disappeared, and in its place, a short distance west of the spot, stands a neat and commodious frame residence and out-buildings, surrounded by well-kept fences and attractive grounds, while the twenty five acres of girdled trees and land covered with bush and briers have given place to over seventy acres of cultivated and highly productive land, and the homestead has grown to 110 acres, while a short distance away Mr. Boszor owns another farm of 100 acres, nearly as valuable as the homestead, which at a reasonable valuation would be worth $100 per acre. A very attractive feature of Mr. Henry Boszor's home is a green-house, built on the east end of his residence, to which Mrs. Boszor devotes much care. A curiosity in this climate is a lemon tree that Mrs. Boszor set out thirty years ago, which for the past twenty years has borne excellent fruit, much better than can ordinarily be bought, as the lemons thoroughly ripen and drop from the branch. No two people in the county are held in greater respect for their many excellent qualities. They have ever been ready, in a quiet way, to do their full part toward promoting all those enterprises which are calculated to benefit society. Mr. Boszor has served his township three terms as Trustee, and Assessor one term. He was for some time a Director of 
the bank at Kent, and for the past ten years has been a Trustee of Bouthtel College, an institution to which he has donated nearly $2,000. Mr. Boszor ascribes his success in life to the fact that he made punctuality in all business transactions his motto. Mr. and Mrs. Boszor are members of the Universalist Church. Politically he is a Democrat. The grandfather of Mrs. Sarah (Neff) Boszor was Conrad Neff, a native of Sweden, who came from Pennsylvania to Ohio with his wife and seven children in 1805, and settled in Canfield Township, Mahoning Co., Ohio, in 1830. He died in Canfield, that county, and his wife followed a few years later. They lie buried side by side. Conrad and Mary Catharine Neff had a family of eleven children: Rebecca, born April 15, 1815; Henry and John (twins), born November 20, 1816, and died respectively February 15, 1832, and April 20, 1817; Mary A., born November 21, 1818; Sarah, born May 24, 1820; Samuel, born June 25, 1821, and died December 18, 1825; Caroline, born December 27, 1823, and died April 11, 1853; La Fayette, born in November, 1826, died August 2, 1828; Juliette, born February 3, 1829; John, born January 22, 1831, and died February 13, 1885, in Osceola, Iowa; and Lucy Ann, born October 20, 1834. The father of this family was reared in the Presbyterian faith, though in later years of his life he became more of a Universalist in thought. He died December 5, 1866, aged seventy two years, ten months and nineteen days; his wife died July 15, 1865, agefl seventy-two years, seven months and five days. She was reared in the Lutheran faith. Both are buried in Brimfield.
From History of Portage County, Ohio, Warner, Beers & Co., Chicago, 1885