From "Henry County Biographical Sketches" pages 522, 523:
Thomas Bolen, a pioneer of the township of Loraine, in which he has been a resident since 1857, without intermission, was born in Jefferson, Co., Ohio, December 13,1813. He is the son of Thomas Bolen. His parents were natives of Virginia and early settlers in the State of Ohio. His mother died when he was but three years old, and he was soon provided with a step-mother by the second marriage of his father. Mr. Bolen remained in the county in which he was born until he was 13, when his father died. He then went to Guernsey County, in that State, and was a member of the family of his uncle two years. He was then 15, and took the control of his own fortunes into his own hands. When he was a year older he apprenticed himself to a gunsmith at Centerville, Carroll Co., Ohio, when he had acquired a complete knowledge of the business he operated as a journeyman, and worked in various cities in the United States, until 1840,when he came to Henry County for the first time. He entered land on section 7, in the township of Loraine, which was then designated by the figures which marked its position on the charts of the Government officials. He cut logs, built a cabin, which he covered with clapboards and obtained lumber from Whiteside County to finish it. After four or five years he built a blacksmith shop, and opened a business in that line for the accommodation of his neighbors, and it proved a benefit to the community as well as a material means of good to himself. In the spring of 1850 he set out at the head of a party who desired to cross the plains to California. They left Henry County on the first of April of the year named, and went to Council Bluffs. They left there May 1st, and arrived at Georgetown August 2d following. Mr. Bolen found no difficulty in obtaining work at his trade, which he followed there two years. He operated as a gunsmith and as a blacksmith. He returned in 1852 to Henry County, coming back by the way of the Isthmus. In 1854 he went back to California, and, remembering the comforts of his route of return to the East, he went there by the same. He opened a shop at Georgetown and transacted a thriving business, furnishing the interior establishments with materials. In 1855 he was made Deputy Sheriff of the place where he resided, and he served in that position nearly three years. He resigned in order to return to Henry County, which he did in the year named, and he has since been a permanent resident of his farm. He has worked at the business of a blacksmith 20 years, and gunsmith 40 years, in all about 60 years, and has hired the work of his farm done by others who made farming their calling. He is the present owner of 120 acres. At one time he was the proprietor of 200 acres, but he sold a portion as he had more than he could manage to good advantage. He is the owner of a tract of land containing 160 acres, in York Co., Neb. He has held the office of Constable several years, and has also officiated as School Director.
Mr. Bolen has been married twice. He was united in matrimony with Mary A. Davis in 1832. She was a native of Virginia, and died after giving birth to three children. Only one survives: Julia A. lives in Nebraska. In 1844, Mr. Bolen was married to Lydia Potts. They have had three children: Lydia is the wife of Fayette Martin, of Whiteside County. Nancy married Edward Somers, and they reside in Whiteside County. Washington R., the oldest lives on the homestead.
