1892 Biography - Charles J. Boatner

Hon. Charles Jahleal Boatner, of Monroe, Ouachita parish, La., is a member of the well-known Boatner family of Louisiana, and is descended from ancestors who were among the earliest colonial settlers of America and parishes of Louisiana. His great-grandfather was a native of Holland. He located in South Carolina in the latter part of the eighteenth century, and removed thence to what is now the Florida parishes of Louisiana He was a man of some prominence, and was a successful planter. The father of the subject of this sketch received his education at Centenary college, from which he graduated with the highest honors. He took a law course in the University of Louisiana, was admitted to the bar about 1845, and located at Columbia, Caldwell parish. He served his district as attorney from 1848 to 1852, and he was elected a member of the state senate, in which body he served until 1856. After the death of Lieut.-Gov. W. W. Farmer he was made president pro tem. of the senate. He died in 1858, in the thirty-fifth year of his age. He had married early in life Miss Sarah Sterling, daughter of John Sterling, a planter of East Baton Rouge parish. His parents were natives of Scotland, who immigrated to America early in the colonial days, and he died in the prime of life, about 1845. Both the paternal and maternal grandfathers of Charles J. Boatner married English ladies, and no member of the family has since married into a foreign family. It might be expected that the descendants of such sterling ancestry should combine their meritorious traits of character, and take a high rank in intellectual attainments. The death of his father having occurred when the subject of this sketch was but nine years of age, he was taken in charge by his uncle, Isaac H. Boatner, who was at one time a member of the state legislature, representing East Baton Rouge parish. Under his care young Boatner received the benefits of a good private tutor, and laid the foundations of his education. After the war (1865-66) he attended a high school at Lancaster, Ky., for one year. The disastrous loss of crops in 1866, resulting from an overflow, rendered it necessary for him to return home. Shortly afterward he obtained employment in the district clerk's office, in which he was employed for a year and a half, at the same time pursuing a course in law under the tuition of Mayo & Spencer, and afterward continued his studies privately. After leaving the clerk's office Mr. Boatner accepted a position in the office of the sheriff of Catahoula parish, where he was engaged continuously until he attained his majority. He was admitted to the bar by the supreme court, February 15, 1870, and at once began practice at Harrisonburg, Catahoula parish. In 1878 he accepted a nomination for the state senate, and was elected, representing the district in that body until 1878, when he resigned his seat. As a member of the senate Mr. Boatner displayed marked ability, and at once took rank as a leader. He was chairman of the committee on lands and levees, and was a member of the judiciary committee and of the committee on retrenchment and reform. He introduced the act upon which the levee operations of the state have since been conducted, also the bill abolishing the Louisiana Levee company, and effecting a settlement between that corporation and the state. After his resignation, May, 1878, Mr. Boatner removed to Monroe, where he resumed the practice of law. He rose rapidly in the public esteem and soon had established a large practice. In 1882 he was a candidate for congress from the Fifth district, against J. Floyd King, and received the support of the parishes of Catahoula, Caldwell, Ouachita, Morehouse and a part of Claiborne parish. In 1884 he was again a candidate for congress against his former opponent. The district was so close and each of the two factions were so uncompromising that the convention divided in effecting an organization, and each faction maintained its own candidate. After a very bitter campaign, General King was returned elected and awarded a certificate of election. At the ensuing election the two committees representing the Boatner and King factious healed all differences by fixing the basis of representation in the nominating convention, on the combined King and Boatner vote, the result of which was the nomination of Hon. C. Newton, who had been an ardent supporter of Mr. Boatner in the preceding campaign. With a view of securing a more desirable location for his practice, Mr. Boatner located in Shreveport, in March, 1888. In October of that year, without having become a candidate, he was nominated to congress by acclamation from the Fifth district. After his election to congress, Mr. Boatner returned to Monroe, January, 1889, where he has since been engaged in the practice of his profession when not representing his district in congress. In 1890 Mr. Boatner was nominated to succeed himself, by acclamation. Mr. Boatner has for several years been a prominent figure in Louisiana state politics. At the state convention of 1883, which nominated McEnery for governor, Mr. Boatner was chairman of the committee on credentials, and as such was the leader of the McEnery party. At the state convention of 1888 he was chairman of the committee on conference, and was active in his efforts to reconcile the different factions. He was at the convention, made a member of the democratic executive committee, which position he still holds. Mr. Boatner is a lawyer of high rank and takes great pride in his profession. He was married in 1870 to Miss Fannie Mayo, the second daughter of his law preceptor, Oren Mayo. They are the parents of five children--four sons and one daughter.

Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana, published in 1892, volume 2, pages 298-301.