The youngest child of Deacon Sherman and Sarah (Bostwick) Boardman, he lived for nearly his entire life in New Milford.

For a time, failure in his eyesight seemed to bar him from further education; however in 1791, after stints in local boarding schools, he matriculated at Yale University.

In 1796 Yale President Dwight proposed to nominate him as a tutor, but he had already been admitted to the Bar, and declined the offer.

He was made Judge of Probate for the district of New Milford in 1805, and held the place by successive annual appointments for sixteen years.

A local party of Jeffersonians was early organized in New Milford and supported by two of his brothers, but this circumstance did not abate the form of his allegiance to federalist principles, nor on the other hand did it weaken the tenderness of his fraternal love.