Henry Martyn Boies

Background

Henry Boies was born on August 18, 1837, in Lee, Massachussets, United States, of Puritan and Huguenot descent, the son of Joseph Milton Boies and Electa Caroline (Laflin) Boies.

Education

Henry graduated in 1859 from Yale.

Career

During the six years after his graduation from college Boies undertook a number of business ventures, most of which were futile quests of fortune - as sales agent in Chicago for a powder company, partner in a Hudson River transportation company, Wall Street speculator, newspaper writer, clerk, oil promoter in West Virginia. In 1865 he located at Scranton, Pennsylvania, as a member of a powder manufacturing firm, of which he later became president. He took the lead in the expansion and reorganization of his firm, and continued his connection with its business after the firm was merged with the Du Pont interests and after other enterprises demanded a large share of his attention. In 1872 Boies became one of the organizers and directors of the Third National Bank of Scranton. Ten years later he became president of the Dickson Manufacturing Company, and inaugurated a policy of expansion which gave the company an international position in the manufacture of engines and machinery.

Although Boies was not a member of the combatant forces during the Civil War, his interest in military affairs continued throughout his life. In 1877, during the coal strikes and the national railway strike, he took the lead in the formation of the Scranton City Guard. Fear of public disturbances led to a public meeting presided over by Boies, and to the organization of a battalion of which he was chosen major. As might be inferred from his business connections, he was extremely hostile to the miners and the railway workers and he believed that military means should be available for the repression of industrial disturbances. When the battalion became the 13th Regiment of the National Guard of Pennsylvania, Boies became colonel of the regiment. He instituted the first rifle range, established the office of inspector of rifle practise, created a regimental school for officers, wrote articles on military subjects, and in other ways promoted efficiency in the military organization of the state and nation.

His appointment in 1887 as a member of the Pennsylvania Board of Public Charities led to his principal ventures in the field of authorship, notably his Prisoners and Paupers (1893) and Science of Penology (1901), in which he took relatively advanced positions with respect to the humanitarian treatment and reformation of offenders. The book was used as a college text and was one of the pioneer attempts at a scientific treatment of a grave social problem. Boies traveled widely, read extensively, wrote and made public addresses on varied subjects, and had active connections with an unusually large number of business, civic, religious, social, and learned organizations.

Achievements

• During his life Henry Boies was president of several major companies, including Scranton powder manufacturing firm, the Dickson Manufacturing Company and the Third National Bank of Scranton. Boies also is well known due to his scientific inventions. He invented a widely used device for enabling miners to use blasting powder more safely and effectively, together with machinery for its manufacture. His second important invention - a steel car wheel designed to meet the constantly increasing demands of weight and speed. He also devised machinery, organized a company, and built a plant for its manufacture.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Prisoners and Paupers: A Study of the Abnormal Increase of Criminals, and the Public Burden of Pauperism in the United States; the Causes and Remedies 1893

    (Originally published in 1893. This volume from the Cornel...)

  • The Science of Penology: The Defense of Society Against Crime (Classic Reprint)

    (Xn--A PREFACE. THE more familiar one becomes with the det...)

Connections

In 1861 Boies married Emma Brainerd, who died in 1868. In 1870 he married Elizabeth Linen Dickson, daughter of Thomas Dickson of Scranton, a noted manufacturer.

Father:

Joseph Milton Boies

Mother:

Electa Caroline (Laflin) Boies

Spouse:

Elizabeth Linen (Dickson) Boies

Spouse:

Emma (Brainerd) Boies