Occupying a conspicuous and influential position among the leading business men of Piqua stands Mr. Boyer, who is proprietor and manager of the Union Underwear Factory. He was born in Clermont county, Ohio, March 7, 1857. His father, E. A. Boyer, is also a native of that county and there spent his entire life, following farming and also general merchandising at Milford. He was a Republican in politics; a member of the Universalist church, and his death occurred when he had attained the age of forty-eight years.

Mr. Boyer remained on the old home farm in his youth and pursued his education in the public schools and in a private seminary in Goshen, Ohio. He there obtained a teacher's certificate when seventeen years of age and for one term had charge of a district school in that county. In 1874 he went to Cincinnati, where he was employed as salesman in a large dry-goods store for five years. He was then employed as salesman in the carpet department of the large firm of George F. Otto & Company, of Cincinnati, until 1883, when he became manager and buyer for the carpet department in the Alms & Drepke Company, of the same city, continuing as one of the most capable and industrious employees of that house until 1887, when he resigned.

In that year Mr. Boyer came to Piqua, where he established a dry-goods and carpet store, remaining identified with mercantile interests in that city until 1897. He extended the field of his operations, however, in 1895, by entering upon the manufacture of underwear. He started the new enterprise on a small scale, but his business steadily increased in volume and importance, and in order to give more time and attention to manufacturing, he sold his store, after two years, and has since devoted his energy entirely to the conduct of the factory, which is now the largest in that line in Piqua. He caters to the jobbing trade and his goods are bought throughout the United States. The output of the factory is now very extensive and he receives for his labors most excellent financial returns. In the factory employment is furnished to from fifty to seventy-five men and girls, and the annual sales amount to about one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars.

Mr. Boyer was married, in Milford, to Miss Ida M. Harvey, of that city, daughter of Daniel K. and Hannah H. Harvey. They now have two children--Armotte H., who is twelve years of age, and Elizabeth, eight years of age. Mr. Boyer votes with the Republican party; socially he is connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, and he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church. Their home is one of the finest residences in the city, being located at the corner of Downing and Park avenues. His business career has indeed been a creditable one. He was left fatherless when only five years of age, and, at the age of seventeen, entered upon an independent business career. He went to Cincinnati in order to seek employment, having neither friends nor influence to aid him, but after he once attained a position it was never again difficult for him to secure work. He refused the general management of a large firm in that city when he came to Piqua to engage in business on his own account. He is truly a self- made man and one whose prosperity has been honorably achieved. He is very popular, his social qualities and his sterling worth gaining him many warm friends.