The Bousman family is one of the oldest and most respected in Miami county, and the founder in this section of the state was Lorentz Bousman, who was married at the Natural Bridge, in Virginia, to Sarah Gearheart. They came to Ohio, and a number of years later Mr. Bousman established his home on the farm which is now occupied by William Bousman. In their family there were three sons, William, Leonard and Samuel, and several daughters. The father gave a tract of one hundred acres of land to each of his sons, Samuel, the youngest, receiving the old home farm. Subsequently he removed to Indiana and afterward to Kansas. William, the second son, purchased the old homestead. However, he had improved the first tract which his father gave him, it being the property now owned by Marion Jackson. Leonard Bousman settled on a farm lying between the old homestead and the property owned by his brother William. Besides the three sons, in the family were four daughters: Mary became the wife of Jacob Barger. They made their home on a farm near Urbana, Ohio, which was given him by his father, and there Mrs. Barger died in early life. Betsy became the wife of John Deiger, and they live on land near Urbana given them by her father. Katie became the wife of Andy Dye. Phebe became the wife of Henry Boltenhouse, with whom she removed to California. Lorentz Bousman, the father of this family, died in 1848, when about eighty years of age, and his wife passed away the year previous.

William Bousman, their second son, was three times married, his first union being with Nancy Shell, by whom he had five children, namely: John, Margaret, who became the wife of William Kezeman and removed to Macomb, Illinois, where both died; James, who spent his last days in Indiana; Sarah, who became the wife of David Randolph, and removed to Macomb, Illinois, where she died; and William who remained with the family in Elizabeth township. For his second wife Mr. Bousman married Mary Rudy, and they had two sons who are living, Joseph, of Tippecanoe City, and Cornelius, of Troy. For his third wife William Bousman chose Sarah Hoagland, who survived him. He died in 1866, at the age of sixty-six years, his birth having occurred in 1800.

John Bousman, the eldest son of William Bousman, was born August 1, 1819, and was married March 18, 1845, in Elizabeth township, to Abigail, daughter of Peter and Rebecca (McCarty) Hampton. She was born in Salem county, New Jersey, and when six years of age she lost her father. In her twentieth year she came west to live with an uncle, Van C. Hampton, who resided on a farm adjoining the Bousman homestead. He built the first woolen mill in Miami county, and operated it for many years. About three years after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. John Bousman removed to the old family homestead, located by his grandfather, and which had been operated by his father until the latter's death in 1866, when it was willed to John Bousman. Here John Bousman made his home until his death, April 13, 1881. The house upon the place was built by his father in 1860, and the old house erected by the grandfather, Lorentz Bousman, is still standing, being now used as a smoke and meat house. Its windows have been carried away by the children of old neighbors and cherished as relics of the pioneer days. John Bousman devoted his time to the improvement of the farm and was one of the highly respected and prominent agriculturists of the community. His grandfather had been an old-line Whig, but the three sons were Democrats and John Bousman cast his first presidential vote for General William Henry Harrison. In his family were the following children, namely: Saben R., who married Cynthia Jane Rollins, and operated the old homestead; Mary, wife of William Wise, of Clark county, by whom she has two daughters, Ellen and Elizabeth, who are at home; and William, who is also living on the old homestead. Mrs. Bousman, the mother, yet survives her husband and lives upon the old home farm, where she has lived for over fifty years. She has the love of her family and the esteem and veneration of many friends.