William H. Boring
Birth name	William Harrison Boring
Born	(1841-02-26)February 26, 1841 Greenfield, Illinois, U.S.
Died	December 1, 1932(1932-12-01) (aged 91) Portland, Oregon, U.S.
Place of burial	Damascus Pioneer Cemetery, Damascus, Oregon, U.S.45°25′03″N 122°27′32″W / 45.417621°N 122.458978°W / 45.417621; -122.458978
Allegiance	United States
Service / branch	United States Army Union Army
Years of service	1861–1863
Rank	Private
Unit	33rd Regiment, Illinois Infantry
Battles / wars	Siege of Vicksburg
Spouse(s)	Sarah Elizabeth Wilder ​ ​ (m. 1867; died 1922)​
Children	2

William Harrison Boring (February 26, 1841 – December 1, 1932)^[1] was an American Union soldier who fought in the American Civil War, and who was a member of the distinguished battalion in the 33rd Illinois Infantry Regiment that helped lead the capture of Vicksburg in 1863. Boring later came to be known as a pioneer after settling Boring, Oregon in 1874, which took its name from him.^[2]

Boring was born in Greenfield, Illinois on February 26, 1841. His mother was originally from Tennessee, and his father was from Maryland.^[3] He had one elder brother, George Boring (1838–1916), who was also a pioneer and settler of the town of Clarence, Missouri.^[4] Boring enlisted as a Union soldier during the American Civil War with the 33rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment, beginning in 1861 under Bvt. Major General Charles Edward Hovey and Colonel Charles E. Lippincott.^[5]

He was a member of the battalion that distinguished itself in the capture of Vicksburg in 1863, during which 11 of its 32 members died in battle.^[6][7] Boring sustained near-life-threatening injuries to his face and throat in the Siege of Vicksburg,^[8] which led to his discharge.^[7] The severity of the scars he received from his battle injuries led him to wear a beard for the remainder of his life.^[8]

After his discharge, Boring returned to Greenfield, where he worked on his mother's farm. On December 11, 1867, Boring married Sarah Elizabeth Wilder in Greene County, Illinois.^[7][9]

In the early 1870s, president Ulysses S. Grant began offering incentives to homesteaders in the Western United States, which attracted William Boring; he and his wife Sarah left Illinois for San Francisco, California, and then traveled north to Portland, Oregon. William's elder half-brother, Joseph (b. 1829), who had traveled across the Oregon Trail in 1853, had already settled there and been living in the area for nearly two decades.^[10] William and Sarah joined Joseph at his home in 1874, twelve miles east of Portland. There, William and Sarah settled on 160 acres (65 ha) of land.^[11] They had two children: Elsie in October 1875, who only lived for nine days; and Orville, born in 1879.^[7]

The settlement occupied by the Boring family came to be known as Boring, Oregon^[12] after William donated land for a schoolhouse to be built in 1883,^[13][7][14] By the turn of the twentieth century, the town had become a thriving logging community, and the construction of an interurban railroad to the town by the Portland Railway, Light and Power Company brought further residents and business.^[15]

According to the 1910 U.S. census, William (then aged 69) and Sarah (then aged 65) shared their home with son Orville, his wife, Lucy, and the couple's three-year-old son, Lester. Also living in the home was Thomas Field, a hired handyman from Minnesota, and Robert Bishop, a boarder from Maine.^[16] Boring was widowed after Sarah's death on February 12, 1922.^[17] He relocated to Portland sometime between 1923 and 1930, moving into the home of close friends Lester and Emma Armstrong.^[3] Boring died in Portland in 1931 at age 91, after an undisclosed eight-month illness.^[18]

• Boring, Oregon
• 33rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment
• Siege of Vicksburg

• Bosserman, Dan (2014). Boring. Images of America. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-467-13210-7.
• Engeman, Richard H. (2009). The Oregon Companion: An Historical Gazetteer of the Useful, the Curious, and the Arcane. Timber Press. ISBN 978-0-881-92899-0.
• McArthur, Lewis A. (2003) [First published 1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (7th ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. ISBN 0-87595-277-1.
• Metzler, Ken (1986). The Best of Oregon. Portland, Oregon & London, England: Timber Press. ISBN 978-0-88192-028-4.

• William Harrison Boring at Find a Grave