My Genealogy Hound

PETER W. BOLI, steamboat captain, post office Turtle Creek, was born at Port Perry, May 21, 1854. His grandfather, Peter Boli, a native of Pennsylvania, was one of the early settlers in Franklin township, Allegheny county. He was a farmer, and died in 1881, in his eighty-ninth year. Philip, son of Peter Boli, was a steamboat engineer on the Ohio, and made his home at Port Perry. His wife, Keziah Carvey, was born in Allegheny county, and is now the mother of four sons, three of whom have been steamboat engineers. One has left the river and is now employed at the steelworks at Braddock. The fourth, whose name heads this sketch, was reared at Port Perry, went on the river when thirteen years old, and gradually worked his way up to his present position, commander of the steamboat Lioness. For ten years he was pilot on the Ohio, and has spent the last three years on the lower Mississippi. In 1881 he married Emma Wilkins, of Wilkins township, and settled at Turtle Creek in 1886, where he purchased a handsome home. Mrs. Boli’s great-grandfather, William Wilkins, was a captain in the revolutionary army, and one of the first settlers in Sewickley, this county. His son, James, was the father of William, father of Mrs. Boli. His mother, Rebecca McPherson, was born of Scotch parents. Mr. and Mrs. Boli have one son, William Wilkins, and one daughter, Enid. The family are connected with the U. P. Church, at Turtle Creek.