Charles Augustus Boardman (1844-1903)

Forgotten Florida Founders

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Dreamers & Doers of Florida’s 19^th Century

CHARLES A. BOARDMAN (1844-1903)

Charles & Mercie Boardman relocated, with their two children, to Florida in 1879. A 35 year old Alachua County ‘Merchant’ in 1880, an eventful Florida chapter in the career of Charles A. Boardman was only then beginning. During the next 15 years, prior to leaving the State, the surname Boardman became associated with a railroad, a town charter or two, a historic hotel, a lumber mill, and multiple real estate ventures.

Boardman, Marion County, Florida 1888 – Florida Memory Project

A ‘Ghost Town’ today, two (2) miles north of McIntosh, Florida

From Palatka in the north of Florida, on the St. Johns River, south to St. James City on Pine Island, where the Caloosahatchee River spills into Charlotte Harbor, our State is vastly different today because a Canadian, Charles A. Boardman, ventured this way during a period of the 19^th century when Florida proudly proclaimed itself to be, ‘America’s Paradise’.

In 1882, Boardman acquired 1,120 acres of “unbroken pine forest” on the “Alachua County road to Picolata.” His land sat west of the St. Johns River port city of Palatka, and east of Hawthorne in Alachua County, acreage strategically located on both sides of what would soon become the route of a Florida Southern Railway train. As Land Commissioner for the expanding railroad, Boardman, a partner in the venture as well, had a bit of an advantage over others when it came to selecting investment property.

C. A. Boardman, Florida Southern Railway Land Commissioner

Departing eastbound from Hawthorne, a total of ten (10) towns sprang up along the Florida Southern Railway line throughout the 1880s, and that land belonging to Charles A. Boardman, it just happened to encircle two (2) of the more successful towns: Keuka, (see also Rick’s Ghost Towns Blog of July 6, 2017) and Interlachen.

Along one line of the Florida Southern Railway was the Boardman depot, where a Post Office was established October 26, 1882. Charles Boardman platted an ‘Addition to Palatka’ in 1884, expanded into the cattle raising business that same year, and founded Palatka Milling Co. in 1888. By no means though were his business interests limited to the St. Johns River region of Florida. Boardman was also the mystery man behind the origin of James City, on Pine Island, although to arrive at such conclusion one must first piece together a collection of documented historical events.

The first piece to the puzzle is found in the Palatka Daily News of November 1, 1885: “There are no lands on Pine Island in Charlotte Harbor. It is alleged that the whole island is now owned by one man.” The identity of the one man apparently wasn’t known, but the same paper provided yet another clue ten (10) weeks later: “The government grant included Pine Island at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River on the Gulf Coast.”

The ‘grant’ referenced four (4) million acres being deeded in 1881 to Hamilton Disston – land he received in exchange for paying off Florida’s long overdue debt. The February 11, 1886 Palatka Daily News went on to report: “It was sold by Mr. Disston for $1.25 an acre. The purchaser sold it for $2.50 an acre. Now it has been bought by some Capitalists, principally Boston men, for $10 acre. It is intended to build on this island a town, which shall form the southern terminus of the Florida Southern Railway.”

Charlotte Harbor had indeed been the intended terminus for the Florida Southern Railway. No one knew that better than Charles A. Boardman, the ‘Land Agent’ for the railway. And consider a comment found in the Bowdoin College biography of an 1866 graduate – Charles A. Boardman: “founder of St. James, Florida.”

Florida Division of Corporations shows St. James-on-the-Gulf Company, at Pine Island, Florida, as being organized May 25, 1885. The company had three organizers: Charles ‘Broadman’ (the ‘R’ being transposed) was President and Director; along with two others; James Kramer and E. C. Ricardo. The American Angler magazine, #18 Volume 13, reported on the San Carlos Hotel, St. James on-the-Gulf, over the season of 1887-88. A ‘Handbook of Florida,’ published in 1891, mentions: “The San Carlos Hotel, located on St. James on-the-Gulf (Pine Island), $3 day.”

Road making at St. James on-the-Gulf, Florida 1884

Photo Source: Library of Congress

Photo by Dr. Joseph John Kirkbride (1842-1899) Philadelphia, PA.

The name BOARDMAN was a perfect fit for a father and son Canadian team dealing in New Brunswick lumber. George A. Boardman, the father, had begun his business in 1828, relocating to Canada from Massachusetts. Son Charles was born at Milltown, appropriately named, located on the Canadian side of the St. Croix River, across from Calais, Maine.

Charles Boardman graduated from Maine’s Bowdoin College in 1866, then worked for his father in the timber business until 1875. Charles married Mercie F. Doane of Massachusetts on October 20, 1868, and they had two children: Isaac T., born 1869 at New Brunswick, and Ida F. (Boardman) Soule, born 1874 at Calais, Maine.

President McKinley took office in 1897, and appointed Charles A. Boardman that same year to represent the United States as Consular at Rimouski, Quebec, Canada, in a position Mr. Boardman continued to hold until his death, October 10, 1903.

A lengthy obituary shared the man’s accomplishments, including those occurring in Florida, and in closing shared this about the man: “Mr. Boardman’s success came not wholly from his long and varied business experience, but in large measure from his qualities of heart and mind, his knowledge of human nature, his companionableness, his tact and his inherited love of nature.”

Visit KEUKA, one Florida Ghost Town of which C. A. Boardman played a role:

http://towns-trains.blogspot.com/2017/07/keuka-of-putnam-county-florida-part-1.html

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