Boggs, Wilbur F.

Born: 1832-XX-XX Pennsylvania

Died: 1901-11-13 Kansas

Flourished: Kingston, Missouri

Wilbur F. Boggs was a postmaster, probate court judge, army officer, and newspaper editor and publisher. He received appointment as postmaster for the U.S. Post Office in Kingston, Missouri, in September 1855, and held the position until March 1860. He also served as judge of the probate court for Caldwell County, Missouri. In June 1860, he listed his employment as probate judge and owned real and personal property valued at $3,850. In October 1860, Boggs established the Caldwell County Beacon, the first newspaper in Caldwell County. A Democratic publication, it landed solidly on the side of secession as the Secession Crisis unfolded. After the Confederacy fired on Fort Sumter, Boggs became a lieutenant in the "Caldwell Minute Men," a pro-secession company formed in Caldwell County. In June 1861, Boggs fled Kingston with other secessionists when word reached the town that a force of 1,500 pro-Union soldiers was approaching. The "Caldwell Minute Men" eventually became the Caldwell Light Infantry and was part of General Sterling Price's forces at the battles of Carthage, Wilson's Creek, and Lexington. Boggs left the company after the battle at Lexington. Boggs returned to the Beacon, editing and publishing the paper until June 1864.

Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832-1971, NARA Microfilm Publication, M841, 145 rolls, Records of the Post Office Department, RG 28, 1858-1867, 22:15, National Archives Building, Washington, DC; History of Caldwell and Livingston Counties, Missouri (St. Louis: National Historical, 1886), 172-73, 175, 176, 252; Minnie Organ, "History of the County Press of Missouri," Missouri Historical Review 4 (July 1910), 286-87; Walter Williams, ed., A History of Northwest Missouri (Chicago and New York: Lewis, 1915), 1:244; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Caldwell County, MO, 31; Kansas, U.S., Deaths and Burials, Index, 1885-1930 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2011); The Daily Reporter (Independence, KS), 13 November 1901, 3:3.