William Kenneth Boone (1875–1944), a U.S. citizen, was a "distinguished philanthropist and benefactor of the city" of

Xalapa Xalapa or Jalapa (, ), officially Xalapa-Enríquez (), is the capital city of the Mexican state of Veracruz and the name of the surrounding municipality. In the 2005 census the city reported a population of 387,879 and the municipality of which ...

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

. Throughout his life he sent numerous letters, postcards, and photographs to his parents and sisters at home. These were kept by his family in Lima and eventually found their way to his (only) granddaughter, who thereby was able to piece together most of his story as well as to integrate his collection of images and documents into The Boone-Canovas Collection.

Biography

He was born in Lima, Ohio, on April 9, 1875, to William McKelvey Boone (1834–1913), retired colonel, veteran of the Civil War and successful businessman (W. K. Boone Hardware Store), who had moved from Hughesville, PA, through Wooster, OH, finally settling down in Lima. His mother was Mary Elizabeth Heffelfinger (1834–1927). He was related to two outstanding figures in American history who were an inspiration to him and his descendants:

Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyond the we ...

and

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

Education

He enrolled at what was then called the

Case School of Applied Science The Case School of Engineering is the engineering school at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. It traces its roots to the 1880 founding of the Case School of Applied Science. It became the Case Institute of Technology in 1947 ...

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, OH, which he attended for two years (1895–1896), just around the times of the Chicago World's Fair and its electrical exhibits (1893) and the famous

Michelson–Morley experiment The Michelson–Morley experiment was an attempt to detect the existence of the luminiferous aether, a supposed medium permeating space that was thought to be the carrier of light waves. The experiment was performed between April and July 188 ...

on the nature and speed of light conducted at this institute.

Later life

While working for the

Lima Locomotive Works Lima Locomotive Works was an American firm that manufactured railroad locomotives from the 1870s through the 1950s. The company took the most distinctive part of its name from its main shop's location in Lima, Ohio. The shops were located between ...

, he applied for a job in Xalapa and was accepted, so he travelled by train from Lima and arrived in Xalapa in February 1898, at 22 years of age, hardly speaking any Spanish, to work as supervisor of operations for the Texolo hydroelectric power plant. From 1900 to 1904 he resided in California and worked in the electrical operations of the

Homestake Mining Company Homestake Mining Company was one of the largest gold mining businesses in the United States and the owner of the Homestake Mine in Lead, South Dakota. Founded in 1877, it was acquired by Barrick Gold in December 2001. Homestake was the longest- ...

, in gold and silver mines near

Lundy, California Lundy (formerly Mill Creek) is a defunct community in Mono County, California, United States, located on Mill Creek in Lundy Canyon near the west end of Lundy Lake. It is situated at an elevation of 7858 feet (2395 m). It was named after O.J. ...

. He also worked at another one of their mines: Frenchtown Camp in the

Kern River The Kern River, previously Rio de San Felipe, later La Porciuncula, is an Endangered, Wild and Scenic river in the U.S. state of California, approximately long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfield ...

Canyon of the

Greenhorn Mountains The Greenhorn Mountains are a mountain range of the Southern Sierra Nevada, in California. They are protected within the Sequoia National Forest. Geography The range is located in eastern Kern County and Tulare County. They are east of the S ...

near Bakersfield. On January 6, 1904, in Los Angeles, CA, he married Blanche Marmon (also from Lima, Ohio). Within a few months, he and his wife moved to Xalapa and lived there permanently until his death in 1944, while he worked, first as superintendent of the electricity division, and as of 1909, at General John B. Frisbie's death, as general manager for the Jalapa Railroad and Power Co. (JRR&PC) – except for a few times during the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920) when he had to seek refuge in the American Embassy at Mexico City and move temporarily to the US, fearing that his life was at stake. He died in Mexico City on August 19, 1944.

Areas of work and Employment

* 1896-1898: Lima Locomotive & Machine Company * 1898-1900: Jalapa Railroad & Power Co. (JRR&PC) - Electricity Supervisor * 1900-1904:

* 1904-1909: Jalapa Railroad & Power Co. (JRR&PC) - Superintendent * 1909-1926: Jalapa Railroad & Power Co. (JRR&PC) - General Manager * ca.1907-ca.1914: Vice and Deputy Consul for the USA in Jalapa, "for some 7 years prior to 1918". * 1920: President of the "Junta de Obras Materiales de Jalapa" * 1921: President of the Jalapa Chamber of Commerce

Legacy

* The Stadium at Xalapa on what had been a swampy field, the so-called "Ciénega de Melgarejo". * A ramp to provide direct access for vehicles from the (old) train station to downtown, next to

Parque Juárez Parque Juárez is a public park in the city of Xalapa, in the state of Veracruz in eastern Mexico. It was inaugurated in 1892 and named in honor of Benito Juárez, 20 years after his death. The park is located in central Xalapa with a terrace-li ...

* The scenic twin spiral roads to the top of Cerro Macuiltépec * The Rotary Club of Jalapa * The automobile road between Xalapa and Veracruz Editorial, ''El Eco'' Xalapeño, September 24, 1922 - Available in Wikimedia Commons His collection of old photographs of México and particularly of Xalapa, from the early 1900s, forms part of the Boone-Canovas collection. :* See Boone-Canovas Collection As a genealogist: documentation on several generations of ancestors of some Mexican families, particularly the descendancy of

Sinforosa Amador Sinforosa Eyang Nguema Nchama (born 26 April 1994), also known as Mirey and La Mirey de Fifi, is an Equatoguinean singer and football manager and former player who coaches Huracanes FC in the Equatoguinean women's league. Eyang was a midfield ...

who had settled in Xalapa and was reported as saying that "she was from California". :* See "Gráfica genealógica" (Genealogical chart) which he documented for his daughter in-law Carmen Canovas Güido. :: ''Due to the unsettled conditions of affairs in Mexico, I have not been able to devote much time to ancestors, rather I have been too much interested in the safety of my posterity'' – he wrote amid hijacking and bombing threats during the Mexican Revolution in 1914.

Memorials in Xalapa

* He was named "el más xalapeño de los extranjeros" (the most Xalapeño of foreigners) by Rubén Pabello Acosta, the city chronicler. * An inscription dedicated in 1946 by the "Club Rotario de Xalapa" on the facade of the house where he had lived, on Calle de Alfaro. * On December 2, 1994, the Municipality of Xalapa presented him with a posthumous recognition ::''al hombre que con su talento y generosidad contribuyó en su tiempo a prefigurar la imagen moderna de Xalapa, a la que amó entrañablemente y a la cual dedicó con devoción lo mejor de su esfuerzo y de su vocación de servicio'' :::(to the man who with his talent and generosity contributed in his time to sketch the modern image of Xalapa which he loved dearly and to which he devotedly dedicated his efforts and his vocation of service). * Plaza William K. Boone at a park entrance in Fraccionamiento Las Araucarias * Lomas de Boone: an area of the city at the foot of Cerro Macuiltépec, where he had once planted a ranch of avocadoes. * Avenida William K. Boone in Fraccionamiento Lucas Martín, by the town of Sedeño. * A 6.2 km foot race was named after him at Parque Ecológico Macuiltépec, on Sept. 6, 2009.

Notes

External references

* Archivo de inmigrantes distinguidos del siglo 20 en México * ''Estado de Veracruz – Verdades sobre México – El País del Porvenir – El Libro Azul de México // State of Veracruz – Facts about Mexico – The Country of the Future – The Blue Book of Mexico'' (bilingual, Spanish and English). México, Compañía Editorial Pan-Americana, S. A., 1923. Facsimile edition of the Editora del Gobierno, 2007; reprinted in 2008. See articles relevant to WKB in pages 15, 67, 170, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 196–198, 197 (authored by him) and 199. * Bazarte Martínez, Alicia: ''Trazos de una vida, bosquejos de una Ciudad. El pintor Carlos Rivera y Xalapa.'' México, Instituto Politécnico Nacional / Gobierno del Estado de Veracruz, 2009 (pp. 173-). (in Spanish) * Bermúdez Gorrochótegui, Gilberto. ''Sumaria Historia de Xalapa.'' Editorial Gobierno del Estado de Veracruz-Llave, Instituto de Antropología e Historia, 2000. See pages 163, 213, 236 (Rotary Club's formal application for the spiral road in Macuiltepec to be named after WKB), 238 (Stadium), 253. * Pasquel, Leonardo. ''Xalapeños Distinguidos'', México, D.F., Editorial Citlaltepec, 1975, pp. 53–54. (in Spanish) : "Thanks to KB'sinitiative ..starting the roads to Veracruz and Nautla, all of that undertaken without having money, but driving the people forward with his enthusiasm, faith, and dynamism. : "A man loved, respected, active, lover of Nature and in-love with Xalapa." {{DEFAULTSORT:Boone, William K. 1875 births 1944 deaths People from Lima, Ohio American emigrants to Mexico