Background
Reuben Boise was born on June 9, 1819, at Blandford, Massachussets, United States, the son of Reuben Boies (not Boise), Jr. , and Sarah (Putnam) Boies.
Reuben Boise was born on June 9, 1819, at Blandford, Massachussets, United States, the son of Reuben Boies (not Boise), Jr. , and Sarah (Putnam) Boies.
Reuben was educated partly in the public schools of Blandford and graduated from Williams College in 1843. At Westfield, Massachussets, an uncle, Patrick Boies, practised law, and under his tuition young Boise was initiated into his future profession, being admitted to the bar in 1847.
After practising several years in Chicopee, in 1850 Boise went to Portland, Oregon, where he began his distinguished career as a lawyer. Beginning in 1851 as prosecuting attorney under the territorial legislature, he became code commissioner in 1853. Boise was a member of the Oregon Constitutional Convention in 1857. He was chairman of the committee on the legislative department and reported the article constituting it of fifteen senators and thirty representatives, with the power to double the respective numbers as population increased. The sessions were technically not restricted to a definite period of time; but members were to receive pay for only sixty days, which constituted an effective practical limitation. This article still remains in force. Boise took an active part in the discussion of every important feature of the constitution. He favored the policy of rigidly limiting the powers of corporations, which was good democratic doctrine in that day. He was concerned to make the cost of government for the new and impecunious commonwealth as light as possible. For that reason he voted to make the governor ex officio state treasurer.
In 1857 Boise was appointed, by President Buchanan, a member of the Oregon territorial supreme court. After statehood he was elected to the supreme bench of the state, where he served with distinction for twelve consecutive years, being chief justice during two periods of two years each, and after an intermission of four years, he was again on the supreme bench for four years, till 1880. Thereafter he was judge of the third judicial district over whose court he presided for eighteen years, though not continuously. He practised law at Salem from 1892 to 1898 when he was once more elected to the judgeship in his eightieth year, serving the full term of six years, the oldest judge in Oregon.
Boise owned 640 acres of Willamette Valley land near Dallas which he developed into a valuable estate. He was always deeply interested in farming, in scientific training for agriculture, and in the development of social life among farmers. He was a frequent contributor to agricultural journals, was a member of the governing board of the Oregon Agricultural College (as well as of other educational institutions), and was chosen master of the state Grange during a succession of years. He also attended meetings of the national Grange. Generous views, a steady concern for the welfare of the people, and admirable judgment enabled him in a long active life to do much for the development of Oregon from a primitive western community to a modern commonwealth.
Boise was a man of soldierly bearing, erect, and dignified. His eyes were hazel, his hair black and curly, and he wore a full close-cropped beard. He had a large head with very high forehead, and prominent Roman nose. In speaking and writing he was solid rather than brilliant. He was deliberate, definite, impressive, intent on facts and arguments, but little given to embellishment. His opinions delivered from the bench were marked by clearness, cogency, and brevity. In private he was chary of words but sympathetic and interested. The same spirit characterized his relations with his fellow-men in the mass.
Boise was twice married: in 1851, to Ellen F. Lyon, who died in 1865; and, in 1867, to Emily A. Pratt.