My Genealogy Hound

JOSHUA A. BODENHAMER, editor and publisher of the Carthage Press, was born in North Carolina, Forsythe county, November 14, 1840, and there reared. His father, Rev. David G. Bodenhamer, was a minister of the M. E. Church, and a native of the same county, where he was born May 15, 1805. He died April 26, 1875. In 1860 the father of the subject of our sketch became a resident of Mills and Fremont counties, Iowa, until 1874, when he came to live with his son Joshua in Carthage. He was a man of plethoric mould and great activity, and died from over work, lying in a comatose condition for twenty-four hours previous to his death by paralysis. Mr. Joshua Bodenhamer learned the printing business in Salem, North Carolina, at the Press office, a newspaper caption he perpetuates. Mr. Bodenhamer removed to Iowa in 1860, attending the school of John Madison, which proved the nucleus of Glenwood Academy. In 1862 Mr. Bodenhamer crossed the plains, stopping at Denver and Central City for a time as foreman of a paper. In 1863 he returned to the states and engaged in newspaper work at Forest City, Rockport, Missouri, and Nebraska City, Nebraska. In 1865, in company with his father, he bought the American Union. In the fall of 1871 he came to Carthage, Missouri, and in April, 1872, issued the first number of the Peoples Press, conducting it alone until January, 1882, when he disposed of a half interest to A. W. St. John, who is one of the firm and editors. August 18, 1868, he was united in marriage to Miss Jennie N. Flanery, who was born in Fremont county, Iowa, March 9, 1851, and there raised. They have five children whose names are Hattie E., William J., Junie C. (who died in 1875), Joshua E., Marsh A., and David G. Mrs. Bodenhamer is a member of the Christian Church. His mother, who is seventy-eight years old, is a helpless invalid from paralysis, and makes her home with her son. He was a delegate to the Greenback party convention which was held in Chicago in June, 1880, and which nominated General James B. Weaver for president. Mr. Bodenhamer was the only delegate from Missouri who voted for Benjamin F. Butler. This he did from a sense of duty, and the firm conviction that he was the strong man of that party. The Press, of which Mr. Bodenhamer is the representative, is second to no weekly publication of Jasper county, either in point of able editorial management or public patronage. In politics it may be said to be independent, although supporting and advocating the principles of the Greenback party as formulated by the late Peter Cooper, its founder. Mr. Bodenhamer is a man of varied experience, generous culture, and a pleasing address, rendering him a welcome companion and a genial, social citizen and gentlemen.