William Kenneth Boone (1875–1944), a U.S. citizen, was a "distinguished philanthropist and benefactor of the city" of Xalapa, Veracruz.
Throughout his life he sent numerous letters, postcards, and photographs to his parents and sisters at home. These were kept by his family in Lima and eventually found their way to his (only) granddaughter, who thereby was able to piece together most of his story as well as to integrate his collection of images and documents into .
Biography.
He was born in Lima, Ohio, on April 9, 1875, to William McKelvey Boone (1834–1913), retired colonel, veteran of the Civil War and successful businessman (W. K. Boone Hardware Store), who had moved from Hughesville, PA, through Wooster, OH, finally settling down in Lima. His mother was Mary Elizabeth Heffelfinger (1834–1927).
He was related to two outstanding figures in American history who were an inspiration to him and his descendants: Daniel Boone and Abraham Lincoln.
Education.
He enrolled at what was then called the Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland, OH, which he attended for two years (1895–1896), just around the times of the Chicago World's Fair and its electrical exhibits (1893) and the famous Michelson–Morley experiment on the nature and speed of light conducted at this institute.
Later life.
While working for the Lima Locomotive Works, he applied for a job in Xalapa and was accepted, so he travelled by train from Lima and arrived in Xalapa in February 1898, at 22 years of age, hardly speaking any Spanish, to work as supervisor of operations for the Texolo hydroelectric power plant.
From 1900 to 1904 he resided in California and worked in the electrical operations of the Homestake Mining Company, in gold and silver mines near Lundy, California. He also worked at another one of their mines: Frenchtown Camp in the Kern River Canyon of the Greenhorn Mountains near Bakersfield.
On January 6, 1904, in Los Angeles, CA, he married Blanche Marmon (also from Lima, Ohio). Within a few months, he and his wife moved to Xalapa and lived there permanently until his death in 1944, while he worked, first as superintendent of the electricity division, and as of 1909, at General John B. Frisbie's death, as general manager for the Jalapa Railroad and Power Co. (JRR&amp;PC) – except for a few times during the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920) when he had to seek refuge in the American Embassy at Mexico City and move temporarily to the US, fearing that his life was at stake.
He died in Mexico City on August 19, 1944.
Legacy.
His collection of old photographs of México and particularly of Xalapa, from the early 1900s, forms part of the Boone-Canovas collection.
* See 
As a genealogist: documentation on several generations of ancestors of some Mexican families, particularly the descendancy of Sinforosa Amador who had settled in Xalapa and was reported as saying that "she was from California".
* See "Gráfica genealógica" (Genealogical chart) which he documented for his daughter in-law .
 "Due to the unsettled conditions of affairs in Mexico, I have not been able to devote much time to ancestors, rather I have been too much interested in the safety of my posterity" – he wrote amid hijacking and bombing threats during the Mexican Revolution in 1914.
"al hombre que con su talento y generosidad contribuyó en su tiempo a prefigurar la imagen moderna de Xalapa, a la que amó entrañablemente y a la cual dedicó con devoción lo mejor de su esfuerzo y de su vocación de servicio"
(to the man who with his talent and generosity contributed in his time to sketch the modern image of Xalapa which he loved dearly and to which he devotedly dedicated his efforts and his vocation of service).
Notes.
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 "Thanks to [WKB's] initiative [...] starting the roads to Veracruz and Nautla, all of that undertaken without having money, but driving the people forward with his enthusiasm, faith, and dynamism.
 "A man loved, respected, active, lover of Nature and in-love with Xalapa."