JOHN BOSMAN From colonial days the little country of Holland has sent to this country many of her best citizens, who have to a very marked degree been prominent in the development of our country and its resources, and included in the present population of Whatcom county are many enterprising and progressive farmers and business men who belong to that people. Among these stands John Bosman, whose dairy and poultry farm is well located in Lynden township, where he has gained a high standing among his fellow citizens. He is a native of Holland, born on the 16th of September, 1873, and is a son of William and Nellie (Kneisvorberg) Bosman, the former of whom was a ship builder by vocation. They are now deceased, the father and mother both dying when the subject was but a small boy.
John Bosman received his education in the public schools near his home and remained with his uncle during the years of his youth. He was fortunate in the drawings for military service, as he drew a high number, which relieved him from service. On March 27, 1893, he left his native land for the United States, believing that he would here find conditions more favorable for individual advancement than in his own country. He first located in Michigan, where for a few years he worked on farms in the summertime and in the woods during the winters. In 1896 he went to Minnesota and a month later was employed in construction work on the Great Northern Railroad in the Dakotas and Montana. After two months of this work he gave up that job and thereafter for about six years was employed in various localities in the country, at railroad work, as a harvest hand and in other lines of employment. In 1901 Mr. Bosman came to Lynden, Whatcom county, and worked at such employment as he could find for a time, and he then bought ten acres of land in Lynden township, where he lived until 1912. The tract was heavily covered with timber when he bought it, but eventually he cleared it all and created a good farm, on which he carried on dairy farming, and also bought ten acres more adjoining, which he likewise cleared and put into cultivation. He then rented the Neurer place for two years, at the end of which time, in 1914, he bought the place where he now lives, comprising forty acres of good, fertile land. Three acres were cleared when he acquired the tract, but he now has it practically all cleared and has made many permanent and substantial improvements, the ranch being considered one of the best farms of its size in this locality. He devotes his attention mainly to dairying and the poultry business, in both of which he has met with pronounced success. He keeps fifteen milk cows of good grade, and six hundred White Leghorn chickens, of the Tacred strain. In the operation of his farm he has showed sound judgment and discrimination, and prosperity is crowning his efforts.
In 1906 Mr. Bosman was married to Miss Alice Hendricks, who was born in Michigan, a daughter of H. H. and Hattie (Dobbins) Hendricks, both of whom were natives of Germany, whence the father, who was a farmer, came to this country in the early '80s. The mother came with her family to Whatcom county in 1897 and to Lynden in the following year. To Mr. and Mrs. Bosman have been born twelve children, namely: William, Herman H., Nellie, Henry, Elizabeth, Hendrika, John, Benjamin, James, Jennie, Albert J. and Peter. Mr. Bosman is a member of the Whatcom County Dairymen's Association and the Whatcom County Poultry Association. He has always been interested in the welfare of his community and at one time rendering appreciated service as a member of the school board of the Riverside district. Possessing the old-fashioned but substantial ideas of honesty and uprightness, he has made an indelible impression on the minds of all with whom he has been associated.
