Abraham Boynton, born in Campton, New Hampshire, in 1843, became a prominent figure in South Dakota. After moving to Wisconsin in 1855, Boynton pursued education but left to serve in the Civil War, enlisting in the 4th Wisconsin Infantry, where he rose to first lieutenant. Post-war, he became a county superintendent and later a pioneer merchant in Dakota Territory. Moving to Mitchell in 1894, Boynton held various public roles, including U.S. Land Office registrar. A committed Democrat, Mason, and church member, Boynton married Minnie Schultz in 1866. They had one son, Abraham Albert, who also resided in Mitchell.
Abraham Boynton, who is now living practically retired from active business in the city of Mitchell, was born at Campton, Grafton County, New Hampshire, on the 15th of September, 1843, being a son of Pickens and Emily Ann (Gilman) Boynton, the former of whom was a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was actively engaged in ministerial work until his death in June 1869, at Westfield, Wisconsin. He was born at Lemington, Essex County, Vermont, in November 1815, being a son of Abraham and Martha (Pickens) Boynton—the former of whom was born in April 1783, in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and who served with distinction in the War of 1812, and was a member of the Vermont legislature for one term and of the legislature of New Hampshire for three terms, while he was also a member of the constitutional convention of the latter state in 1850. He died in Dakota Territory in 1875 and was laid to rest at Westfield, Wisconsin, to which place he had removed from New Hampshire in 1855. His wife passed away in 1868. Both family names have been identified with the annals of American history from the colonial epoch, and the genealogical lines are clearly and fully traced back through many generations, the data being far too voluminous for reviewing in such a work as the one at hand.
The rudimentary education of the subject was received in the public schools of New Hampshire, and he was about twelve years of age at the time of the family removal to Wisconsin, where he continued to attend the public schools and finally entered Brunson’s Institute, at Point Bluff, in that state, being a student there at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War. He was pursuing the classical course but withdrew to tender his services in defense of the Union, in consequence of which he was never graduated. He worked on the home farm when not attending school, but his ambition was quickened to preparing himself for a broader sphere of endeavor, and he spared no pains in the prosecution of his educational work during his youthful days.
On the 23rd of April, 1861, Mr. Boynton enlisted in Company D, Fourth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, which afterward became a cavalry regiment, and with this command, he served during the entire period of the war, being mustered out in September 1865. He was promoted to the position of a non-commissioned officer, later being made second lieutenant of his company, and finally first lieutenant. His command was assigned to the Army of the Gulf and he saw much hard service, participating in many of the important battles which marked the progress of the great internecine conflict. After the war, Mr. Boynton was elected and served four years as county superintendent of schools and continued to reside in Westfield, Wisconsin, until 1872, when he came to the Territory of Dakota and located in Lincoln County, becoming one of the pioneer merchants of this section of the state, being engaged in the hardware business principally, in the town of Lennox, where he continued to reside until 1887, when he was appointed a railroad commissioner of the territory, serving two years. From 1889 to 1894 he was engaged in the milling business at Elk Point, and in the latter year, he removed to Mitchell, where he has since maintained his home. From 1894 to 1898 he served as register of the United States land office in this place and since that time has lived practically retired, giving a general supervision to his various capitalistic interests. In 1898 he held the office of referee in bankruptcy, having been appointed by Judge Garland. Mr. Boynton has ever been a stalwart advocate of the principles of the Democratic party, and he has been one of its leaders both in the Territory of Dakota and the state of South Dakota, having been a member of the Democratic territorial central committee for twelve years and of the state central committee for two years, while he served four years as a member of the Democratic congressional committee from this state. Mr. Boynton became a Master Mason in 1865, and he was a charter member of Lennox Lodge, No. 35, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Lennox, being its first worshipful master. He was made a Royal Arch Mason in 1866 and has also passed the cryptic and chivalric degrees, thus completing the circle of York-rite Masonry. He was a charter member of the first lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Lennox and was the first commander of Lennox Post, No. 21, Grand Army of the Republic. He is also a charter member of Mitchell Council, U. D., Royal and Select Masters, in Mitchell, of which he was the first illustrious master, while for seven years he was an officer in the Masonic grand lodge of the Territory of Dakota. At the present time, he is identified with the various Masonic bodies in Mitchell, still retaining his affiliation with the Grand Army post at Lennox. Mr. Boynton is a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal Church, he having been confirmed by Bishop Clarkson in 1876, and he is one of the valued members of St. Mary’s parish, in Mitchell. On the 12th of June, 1866, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Boynton to Miss Minnie Schultz, of Harris, Wisconsin, she being a daughter of Gottlieb and Augusta Schultz, who emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1861, being natives of Prussia, where they were born and reared. Abraham Albert, the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Boynton, was born at Westfield, Wisconsin, on the 2nd of June, 1867, and resides in Mitchell, having been for the past ten years a clerk in the United States land office in this city.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.