William Montgomery Boggs

     William Montgomery Boggs was born on 21 October 1826 at Fort Osage, Jackson County, Missouri.¹ He was the son of Lilburn Wycliffe Boggs and Panthea Grant Boone.¹ William Montgomery Boggs married, at age 19, Sonora Louisa Hicklin, age 20, daughter of Esquire John Hicklin and Margaret Gleans, on Monday, 23 March 1846 at Van Buren County, Missouri.¹ William Montgomery Boggs died on 22 April 1911 at Napa City, Napa County, California, at age 84 years, 6 months and 1 day.¹
     Meneffe, C. A. 'Historical and Descriptive Sketchbook of Napa, Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino, Comprising Sketches of their Topography, Productions, History, Scenery, and Peculiar Attractions' (Napa City: 1873). Reprint: James D. Stevenson, Ph.D., Publisher, with Index copyright, 1993.

WILLIAM MONTGOMERY BOGGS

Mr. Wm. M. Boggs, though at present a citizen and property holder in Napa, has in the past held so prominent a place in the annals of Sonoma, that we here notice him. He came out to California with his father in 1846, and acted as captain of the train most of the way. The ill fated Donner party was for the greatest part of the journey attached to his train, and had they so continued would have escaped the horrible fate that overtook them in their snow-bound camp. Mr. Boggs crossed the Sierra Nevada some two weeks in advance of the Donner party, and reached the valley in time to secure shelter for all. He served three months in the Mexican war on this coast as a non-commissioned officer in a battalion of mounted riflemen recruited by himself and A. F. Grayson. The battalion was attached to the command of Lieutenant Maddox of the Marine Corps under Commodore Stockton, and was honorably discharged at Monterey. Mr. Boggs settled in Sonoma with his family, and resided there seventeen years. He was a larger dealer in real estate, some of the finest places in the valley having been at different times owned by him. His eldest son, now twenty-six years old, was born in Sonoma, and is the first American born in California under the national Party. Mr. Boggs moved to Napa in 1863, and has since resided in that city.
William Montgomery Boggs

Place of birth: Near Fort Osage, Jackson County, Missouri

Date of birth: October 21, 1826

Father: Lilburn W. Boggs

Mother: Panthea Grant Boone Boggs

Married or unmarried: Married

If married, to whom: Sonora Hicklin

Date of marriage: March 23, 1846

Place of marriage: Cass County, Missouri, at the farm and home of her father near Pleasant Hill.

Date of arrival in California: November, 1846

Overland or by steamer: Overland. Conducted emigrant train across plains in 1846.

States lived in before coming to California: Missouri

Places of residence in California: Sonoma, Sonoma County; Napa Valley and Napa City.

Profession or occupation: Real Estate agent, Farming and Horticulture

Public Offices held: First recorder of Sonoma County. A Justice of the Peace, and member of the State Board of Horticulture and Chief Horticulturalist.

Politics: Old Jefferson Democrat

Where educated: Missouri

Principal events in history: Close attendant on Father during his public life and especially at the time of his attempted assassination by the Mormons [in Missouri]. In 1844 spent 9 months with Cheyenne Indians about Bents Fort when 16 years old.

Present Address [1906]: Bakersfield, Kern County, California, care of 33 Oil Company

Date of death: April 22, 1911.