Odessa Boardman was born February 18th, 1866 in North La Crosse, Wisconsin, and as his father and grandfather before him, he was a lumberman. The 20 year old Odessa married January 12th, 1887, 22 year old Dora Ann Congdon, the daughter of Benjamin Congdon and Cyntha (Pullen) (Davis) Congdon.
The first mention of Odessa as a lumberman is the 1885 - 1886 La Crosse city Directory. Odessa is listed as living at 1546 Avon in North La Crosse and is employed as a scaler for McDonald Brothers. He would be working at the sorting works on the Black River above the village of Onalaska, determining the usable board feet of the raw logs. He was still a scaler when on 12 Jan 1887 at La Crosse, La Crosse, Wisconsin, he married Dora.
Odessa and Dora's 1st child, Mildred Congdon was born in 1888, he was still employed by the McDonald Brothers, now as a laborer. They were living at 1800 Kane, with Dora's half-brother Alonzo Congdon. About 1889, they moved 170 miles north to Stillwater, Minnesota, on the St. Croix River. Odessa obtained employment as a laborer with the St. Croix Lumber Co. He remained employed there until 1894, when the family moved to Charleston, South Carolina. We know nothing of the family during their stay there. They returned to La Crosse, Wisconsin before December 1895, their 2nd child Harry Miles was born there.
By 1897 they moved back to Stillwater, where they remained until about 1911. Their last four children were born there, Lawrence Benjamin (1898), William Arthur (1899), Florence Merle (1902), and Neil Servis (1907). Hershey Lumber Co. and G.H. Atwood Co. employed Odessa as a sawyer and if the 1900 census (5 months) and 1910 census (8 weeks) are any indication, he was out of work for extended periods each year. The lumber industry in Stillwater was in decline after 1900, and by 1914 when the great log boom on the river just north of Stillwater closed, the industry was for all practical purposes dead. Sawyers would work from the arrival at the boom of the first log rafts after the spring thaw, until the logs were all milled to lumber, shingles and pulp for paper. On a good year the work could last well into the fall and early winter. As the harvest declined, so too would the employment, fewer jobs for shorter periods of time. About 1911 they made the day long twenty mile trek west to St. Paul and settled on the city's "East Side" at 283 Bates Avenue and later at 1775 Reaney Avenue. Odessa was employed as a sawyer and in 1916 he was a sawmill foreman, and continued to experience seasonal unemployment.
The insecurity of the lumber industry, at least in part, took its toll on Odessa and Dora, they did not divorce, but separated permanently about 1916. Odessa, no longer able to find work in Minnesota, went to East Texas where lumbering was still thriving. Although he continued to remain in contact with his children until his death in 1944, he did not again live with the family. Dora and the family remained in St. Paul. They would remain married in name only until Dora's death in 1936. Interestingly, Dora referred to herself as "Widow of Odessa D." in the St. Paul City Directories of 1925, 1926 & 1931.
Odessa lived the remainder of his life in Chester, Tyler County and Camden, Polk County, neighboring communities in East Texas. There was a number of flourishing logging and lumber operations (1920 -1940) in that part of Texas. In 1920, living in Chester, he was employed as a sawmill foreman, and living in a boarding house operated by Felix A. Brazziel and his wife, Annie. In 1930 he lived in Camden Township with Elmer E. and Gertrude Leggett, and their three children. He worked in a general store owned by Elmer.
At the time of his death, at 78 years, of a coronary thrombosis in Camden, Texas, March 12, 1944, Odessa was working as a "sawmill mechanic." He was buried in Mt. Zion Cemetery, Chester, Tyler county, Texas.
Odessa Boardman was born February 18th, 1866 in North La Crosse, Wisconsin, and as his father and grandfather before him, he was a lumberman. The 20 year old Odessa married January 12th, 1887, 22 year old Dora Ann Congdon, the daughter of Benjamin Congdon and Cyntha (Pullen) (Davis) Congdon.
The first mention of Odessa as a lumberman is the 1885 - 1886 La Crosse city Directory. Odessa is listed as living at 1546 Avon in North La Crosse and is employed as a scaler for McDonald Brothers. He would be working at the sorting works on the Black River above the village of Onalaska, determining the usable board feet of the raw logs. He was still a scaler when on 12 Jan 1887 at La Crosse, La Crosse, Wisconsin, he married Dora.
Odessa and Dora's 1st child, Mildred Congdon was born in 1888, he was still employed by the McDonald Brothers, now as a laborer. They were living at 1800 Kane, with Dora's half-brother Alonzo Congdon. About 1889, they moved 170 miles north to Stillwater, Minnesota, on the St. Croix River. Odessa obtained employment as a laborer with the St. Croix Lumber Co. He remained employed there until 1894, when the family moved to Charleston, South Carolina. We know nothing of the family during their stay there. They returned to La Crosse, Wisconsin before December 1895, their 2nd child Harry Miles was born there.
By 1897 they moved back to Stillwater, where they remained until about 1911. Their last four children were born there, Lawrence Benjamin (1898), William Arthur (1899), Florence Merle (1902), and Neil Servis (1907). Hershey Lumber Co. and G.H. Atwood Co. employed Odessa as a sawyer and if the 1900 census (5 months) and 1910 census (8 weeks) are any indication, he was out of work for extended periods each year. The lumber industry in Stillwater was in decline after 1900, and by 1914 when the great log boom on the river just north of Stillwater closed, the industry was for all practical purposes dead. Sawyers would work from the arrival at the boom of the first log rafts after the spring thaw, until the logs were all milled to lumber, shingles and pulp for paper. On a good year the work could last well into the fall and early winter. As the harvest declined, so too would the employment, fewer jobs for shorter periods of time. About 1911 they made the day long twenty mile trek west to St. Paul and settled on the city's "East Side" at 283 Bates Avenue and later at 1775 Reaney Avenue. Odessa was employed as a sawyer and in 1916 he was a sawmill foreman, and continued to experience seasonal unemployment.
The insecurity of the lumber industry, at least in part, took its toll on Odessa and Dora, they did not divorce, but separated permanently about 1916. Odessa, no longer able to find work in Minnesota, went to East Texas where lumbering was still thriving. Although he continued to remain in contact with his children until his death in 1944, he did not again live with the family. Dora and the family remained in St. Paul. They would remain married in name only until Dora's death in 1936. Interestingly, Dora referred to herself as "Widow of Odessa D." in the St. Paul City Directories of 1925, 1926 & 1931.
Odessa lived the remainder of his life in Chester, Tyler County and Camden, Polk County, neighboring communities in East Texas. There was a number of flourishing logging and lumber operations (1920 -1940) in that part of Texas. In 1920, living in Chester, he was employed as a sawmill foreman, and living in a boarding house operated by Felix A. Brazziel and his wife, Annie. In 1930 he lived in Camden Township with Elmer E. and Gertrude Leggett, and their three children. He worked in a general store owned by Elmer.
At the time of his death, at 78 years, of a coronary thrombosis in Camden, Texas, March 12, 1944, Odessa was working as a "sawmill mechanic." He was buried in Mt. Zion Cemetery, Chester, Tyler county, Texas.
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