Grundy County Centennial Farm

aunt minerva collection....blue binder..

Franklin & Frederick Bosley, twins, own two improved farms purchased by their great grandfather, David Cole. He purchased their home farm in 1854.
At one point the farm, located in RAnge 24, was incorrectly located in Range 25, and the farm was moved on paper six miles west.
Cordelia Cole, the widow of David Cole made the farm her home until her death about 1910, and it was known as Aunt Nancy Cordelia Cole place, although the title has passed on the death of her husband in 1867 to his children, including Nancy Cordelia Cole Bosley, grandmother of the current owners.
Her son Paris Bosley, was married in September 1920 and assumed full possession and ownership until his death in 1942 when it went to the present owners. The original log house had long since been replaced by a two-room fram dwelling which is standing, although its location was shifted about 50 years ago to make a space for the modern bungalow.
The farmhouse across the road was built by their grandfather Gideon Perry Bosley, and a portion of the house retains the previous log structure.
The farm was purchased in 1964 by David Cole for the use of his brother, Melzar Cole. David Cole had come from Kentucky in the early 1850's with his wife and son who died, and they had two more children here. His older brother Melzar remained in Kentucky until his wife died, leaving him with a family of young girls which he could not take care of without a wife. So he brought them to Missouri and lived with the David Cole family until he remarried in 1864.
David Cole died in 1867 and at age 65 MElzar gave the farm back to David's heirs. In those days, before the "married woman's act" in 1881 a married daughter's share of land was given to her husband. Therefore the farm went to Gideon Perry Bosley, the husband of Nancy Cordelia Cole, and was then known as the Gideon Perry Bosley's Place.
Bosley wsa knowledgeable and skilled in horiticulture, grafting, and improved several varietiesw fo apples and pears. He also had grapes, peaches, green gage plums, persimmons and hard to raise fruits such as huckleberries. The state highway destroyed the huckleberry patch in the 1930s.
His raspberry season was a neighborhood social affair. All visitors, young and old, were treated to their choice, a dish of red or black raspberries, covered with thick cream,. Bosley even died in his raspberry patch.
While his widow made her home there it was known as the Aunt Dee Bosley place, and the title was passed on to his children of whom the present children are direct descendants.
The Trenton-Madison twp. line runs across the farm and the limestone used for the building of the courthouse and jail was quarried on the west part of the farm.
Note: Nancy died before 1910.
David Cole born 17April1815 d.15July1867
Nancy Cole b.2Jan1817 d.11Feb1898 buried at Coon Creek.




the highlighted 1964 is obviously a typo on the original document...