Horace Boies

Horace Boies (December 7, 1827 – April 4, 1923) served as the 14th governor of Iowa from 1890 to 1894 as a member of the Democratic Party.

Early life

Horace was born in Aurora, New York to Eber Boies, a farmer and veteran of the War of 1812, and Esther (Henshaw) Boies. When he turned 16 he started working as a farm laborer in the Wisconsin Territory. the enactment of laws protecting and registering trademarks with the Iowa Secretary of State, the enactment of laws designed to protect labor, and the creation of a tax commission to study and review the tax laws of Iowa and to make suggestions for improvements.

Boies was the only Democrat Iowa Governor to serve since 1855 and then until 1933.

Post Governorship Political Career

In 1893, he was offered an appointment, by Grover Cleveland to be the Secretary of Agriculture, but he declined.

As governor, Boies gained sufficient prominence to become involved in national Democratic Party politics, though his campaigns for the presidential nomination at the 1892 and 1896 Democratic National Conventions were unsuccessful as was his last political campaign, in 1902, for Democratic nomination for a Congressional seat from Iowa.

Later life

Following his retirement, Boies moved to Long Beach, California. This was a popular destination for Iowans at the time, and Boies was active in social events of his fellow Iowan transplants, participating in the Long Beach Iowa Reunion and serving as president of the Long Beach Iowa Association.

He died on April 4, 1923 in Long Beach, California, and was buried at the Elmwood Cemetery in Waterloo, Iowa.