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Boat(w)right Family Genealogy in America
Generation 7
7-51. LEWIS BOATRIGHT (THOMAS7, THOMAS6, THOMAS5, JOHN4, JOHN3, JOHN2, Not Yet Determined1) was born 1794 in North Carolina, and died Jun 1859 in Fayette County, Texas. He married (1) SARAH "SALLIE" SPARKS 19 Nov 1813 in Gallatin County, Illinois, daughter of ABSALOM SPARKS and MARY ELSBERRY. She was born 1799 in South Carolina, and died 1834. He married (2) LAVINA HONEYCUTT 13 Mar 1845 in Colorado County, Texas. She was born 1804 in Tennessee, and died 16 Apr 1869 in Lavaca County, Texas.
Notes for LEWIS BOATRIGHT:
1830 Census: Name: Boatright, Lewis Township: Not Stated County: Pope State: Arkansas Territory Year: 1830 Roll: 5 Page: 173 Household: 1 male: 0 - 5, 1 male: 5 - 10, 1 male: 10 - 15, 1 male: 15 - 20, 1 male: 20 - 30, 1 male: 30 - 40, 1 female: 0 - 5, 1 female: 5 - 10, 1 female: 10 - 15, 1 female: 30 - 40, 1 female slave: 24 - 36, 11 total Compiled Military Service Records for American Volunteer Soldiers, Mexican War, 1845-1848 Name: Lewis Boatwright Rank: Private Service Date: 16 Aug 1846 Service Place: Corpus Christi State: Texas Unit: Gray's Co., Texas Mounted Volunteers 1850 Census: Name: Lewis Boatright Date: September 22, 1850 Age: 56 Estimated birth year: abt 1794 Birth place: North Carolina Gender: Male Home in 1850 (City,County,State): Not Stated, Lavaca County, Texas Occupation: Farmer Value of Real Estate: $250 Page: 308 Roll: M432_912 CD No. 316, 1840 Name: Louis Boatright State: TX County: Colorado Co. Census/Enumeration year: 1846 This Louis Boatright is probably the same man as Lewis Boatright of 1840 Washington Co., TX. There are no more Louis/Lewis Boatright/Boatwright or other variations of the name in Texas on this CD. CD No. 316, 1840 Name: Lewis Boatright State: TX County: Washington Co. Census/Enumeration year: 1840 CD No. 315, 1830 Name: Lewis Boatright State: AR County: Pope Co. Census/Enumeration year: 1832 CD No. 315, 1830 Name: Lewis Boatright State: AR County: Pope Co. Page #: 173 Census/Enumeration year: 1830 CD No. 314, 1820 Name: Lewis Boatright State: AR County: Pope Co. Census/Enumeration year: 1828 NOTE: Pope Co., AR. was formed from Crawford County in 1829, so Lewis could not have been in Pope County in 1828.Lewis and his second wife Levina had no children.
Burial: Fayette County, Texas
Notes for LAVINA HONEYCUTT:
1850 Census: Name: Lavina Boatright Date: September 22, 1850 Age: 46 Estimated birth year: abt 1804 Birth place: Tennessee Gender: Female Home in 1850 (City,County,State): Not Stated, Lavaca County, Texas Page: 308 Roll: M432_912
Children of LEWIS BOATRIGHT and SARAH SPARKS are:
8-153. i. WILLOUGHBY BOATRIGHT, b. 1815, Illinois; d. Bef. 1860,
Washington County, Texas.
8-154. ii. WILLIAM BOATRIGHT, b. 1817, Illinois; d. Bef. 1880, Hot Springs,
Garland County, Arkansas.
8-155. iii. LEVI BOATRIGHT, b. 1819, Arkansas Territory; d. Texas.
8-156. iv. THOMAS BOATRIGHT, b. 1825, Arkansas Territory; d. Bef. 1900,
Texas.
8-157. v. LUCY BOATRIGHT, b. 1827, Arkansas Territory.
8-158. vi. MARY A. BOATRIGHT, b. 1828, Arkansas Territory.
8-159. vii. HENRY BOATRIGHT, b. 1833, Arkansas Territory; d. 1871, Johnson
County, Texas.
7-52. MARTHA "PATSY" BOATRIGHT (THOMAS7, THOMAS6, THOMAS5, JOHN4, JOHN3, JOHN2, Not Yet Determined1) JOHN1) was born 1796 in North Carolina, and died 1835 in Arkansas. She married THOMAS TRAMMELL 07 Jan 1814 in Gallatin County, Illinois. He was born 1794 in Virginia, and died 1835 in Crawford County, Arkansas.
Children of MARTHA BOATRIGHT and THOMAS TRAMMELL are:
i. JOHN DAVID TRAMMELL, b. 23 Oct 1816, Arkansas.
ii. THOMAS TRAMMELL, b. 1822, Arkansas.
iii. PHILLIP TRAMMELL, b. 1823, Arkansas.
iv. LEWIS TRAMMELL, b. 1826, Arkansas.
v. LUCINDA TRAMMELL, b. 1830, Arkansas.
7-53. MARGARET "PEGGY" BOATRIGHT (THOMAS6, THOMAS5, THOMAS4, JOHN5, JOHN3, JOHN2, Not Yet Determined1) was born 1800 in Tennessee, and died Aft. 18 Nov 1876 in Johnson County, Texas. She married BENJAMIN POLK 1820 in Arkansas Territory, son of TAYLOR POLK and JENCY WALKER. He was born 1799 in York County, South Carolina, and died 18 Nov 1876 in Johnson County, Texas.
Notes for BENJAMIN POLK:
Benjamin was probably born in South Carolina about 1799. Various census records show his place of birth as North Carolina and Tennessee as well as South Carolina. The 1800 census of York Co., SC., shows his father Taylor as the head of a household in that county. Mecklenburg County North Carolina, home to many of the members of the Polk family, lies immediately across the state line from York County. It is possible that Benjamin could have been born in Mecklenburg County, but more probable that he was born in York County. The probability that he was born in Tennessee is remote because the family did not move to Davidson County in that state until around 1803, when many of the Polk families moved from the Mecklenburg County area to Tennessee. Also, Benjamin was illiterate and the census taker could have written anything on the census record and Benjamin would not have known what state was being recorded as his place of birth.
As previously stated, Benjamin was illiterate. Various land records signed by his mark rather than by his signature attest to the fact he could not read or write. He grew up in a time when his family was moving from South Carolina to Tennessee and then on to Arkansas. This movement plus the fact that he was the oldest son and probably expected to do substantial work on the family farm contributed to his apparent inability to attend school. His brother Taylor, although only a few years younger than Benjamin, did learn to read and write. Whether Taylor attended school as a child and learned to read and write as a result or whether he learned to read and write later in life is unknown.
Many members of the Polk family left Mecklenburg Co., NC. and York Co., SC., beginning about 1803 and moved to what was to later become Maury County, TN. Taylor and his family did not stay in Tennessee very long, moving on, sometime before 1815, to the territory which was to become the state of Arkansas. Young Benjamin grew up in that rough, unsettled wilderness. Surely he spent long days in the fields helping his family put food on the table. There were no schools at the time, so whatever education he received was meager.
The reader is referred at this point to the history of Taylor Polk Sr. for details of the removal of the Polk family from the Indian lands which lay in Eastern Oklahoma and Western Arkansas. After the Polks were ordered off the Indian lands they settled in what is now Montgomery Co., AR. This area was not surveyed until April 1837, and as a result, there are no early land records indicating ownership of land by Benjamin or any of the Polks. It is known that Benjamin owned the family farm called "The Wilds." Benjamin, being the oldest son,apparently inherited that land from his father Taylor at Taylor's death. Benjamin sold the property (consisting of slightly over 43 acres), without benefit of a deed, on 6 April, 1840, to William C. Peyton for $400.00 (refer to Hot Spring Co., AR. deed Record Book A, page 247). On 25 Aug., 1840, Taylor Polk Jr. paid William Peyton $400.00 for this same land described as the Sulphur Springs "between Caddo Cove and Washita Cove." Taylor kept the old family homestead until 8 April, 1850, when he sold the property to Joseph Willis Embry for $400.00. Taylor had to apply for a homestead patent before he could legally sell the land. He applied for the patent in 1849. He quitclaimed the land to Joseph Embry before receiving the final homestead patent.
The exact date that Benjamin moved into the area that was to become Montgomery Co., AR. is not known. The Arkansas Gazette of 30 May, 1826, page 5, column 3, published a list of people delinquent in payment of county taxes for Old Miller County for the year 1825. On this list was Taylor Polk Sr. and Benjamin Polk. Taylor Sr. was delinquent in the amount of $1.50 and Benjamin owed $1.05. Thus these two Polks were still in old Miller County in 1825. It seems probable that the Polks moved sometime about 1826 into what became in 1829 Hot Spring County, Territory of Arkansas. On the 1830 Hot Spring County Federal Census Benjamin is shown as living in Caddo Township, along with his father, Taylor Sr., and his brothers, Taylor Jr. and Cumberland. His other brothers, James and William, were not shown as heads of households on this census. It is probable that these two were living with their father or perhaps with Benjamin or Taylor Jr. Only 165 persons were listed as living in Caddo Township in 1830. This township lay southwest of modern day Mount Ida, AR. Of the slaveowners in that township, Cumberland Polk owned one and Taylor Jr. owned three.
Most of the farmers and trappers in that area were largely self-sufficient. However, there were some things that simply had to be purchased or bartered. Many farmers and trappers paid for their needs with various peltries. In the mid 1830s, bear skins brought 50 cents, bobcat skins 25 cents, otter skins (more highly prized) were worth $3.00 and dried deer skins were sold for 15 cents per pound. Many men made their own bullets. In 1838, a pound of gun powder sold for $1.00 while eight pounds of lead was $1.50. A dozen gun flints cost 13 cents. Most food purchased was staples such as salt, sugar and coffee beans, usually in large quantities. In 1837, seventy-four and one-half pounds of salt cost $5.25 or seven cents per pound. Coffee beans and sugar both sold for twenty-five cents per pound.
Ladies occasionally splurged and purchased fabric instead of weaving it at home. Twilled domestic cost 50 cents per yard while two yards of pink calico sold for seventy-five cents. Indigo dye sold for twenty-five cents per ounce. A pair of shoes was $2.00 and a blanket was $4.50.
Some of the first settlers were willing to pay for some of life's luxuries. A pound of tobacco cost seventy-five cents while a plug was thirty-eight cents. A comb cost fifty cents and a pocketbook brought the same price. An almanac cost twenty-five cents and spelling books could be had for twenty-five cents each.
Medicines were necessary purchases. Among the medicines in use during that period were copper as, camphor, sulphur, castor oil and Cook's Pills. Quinine was used to treat malaria. It sold for fifty cents per box. A bottle of British oil sold for fifty cents and was used for treatment of rheumatish and various skin disorders. Calomel was used as a laxative and as treatment for a sluggish liver; it could be purchased for twenty-five cents. Most of these store-bought remedies were probably used as supplements to the more commonly used home remedies that had been passed down from one generation to the next.
Whiskey was probably a staple in many settlers' homes. It cost anywhere from $1.50 to $2.00 per gallon. Wine was another popular purchase and a quart cost $1.00 in 1837. The beverages were most likely brought to the area across the rough road into the county which led from Little Rock.
The 1840 Federal Census of Hot Spring County shows a total of 700 people living in the three townships of Sulphur Springs, which embraced the north-central and northwestern parts of the county; Caddo Cove Township, which covered the southern portion; and Mountain Township, which was composed of the eastern part of the county,including those sections that later became a part of Garland County. Of the 700 people, forty two were shown as slaves. The 1845 tax book shows fifty-four slaves in the county and twenty-one slave owners. There were only three slave owners in Sulphur Springs Township where Benjamin Polk and his family resided. Lewis Webb and Benjamin Polk both owned one slave (Benjamin's slave was a female between the age of 10 and 24 per 1840 census), while Frederick Salyers owned six slaves.
Sulphur Springs Township was probably named after the settlement of that name, now known as Washita. It was one of the earliest settlements in the county and the only one shown on a county map that was made about 1843. Part of Hot Spring County became Montgomery County under the provisions of an Act of the General Assembly of the State of Arkansas which was approved 9 dec., 1842. The county was notfully organized until 1844. Modern day Mount Ida, which was then called Montgomery, was selected as the county seat. The records at the Montgomery County Courthouse date back to July 1845.
Benjamin appears to have been doing fairly well financially during the 1840s as on 27 Oct., 1846, he and his brother Taylor were shown in the Montgomery County deed Records (Book A, pages 67-68) as sureties in the amount of $5000.00 for James Hudson, who was running for sheriff of the county (or had already been elected sheriff). A bond was apparently required to ensure that Hudson would "well and truly execute and perform the duties of sheriff." Goodspeed's histories of Arkansas shows on page 469 that Benjamin Polk was one of the early settlers of Montgomery County.
Frontier life was very hard for both men and women. While the men toiled many hours in the fields, the women had many household responsibilities. Wash day was a dreary part of every frontier woman's life and was usually spent stirring a pot of boiling clothes out in the yard. The water used was either hauled from the creek or caught in rain barrels. Most women used homemade lye soap for washing both clothes and dishes. The clothes were beaten clean, sometimes rinsed, then wrung out by hand. Some did not bother with clothes lines, but simply hung their laundry over fences and bushes to dry. A quilt was placed either on a table or on the porch floor, depending on the season, on which to press out the wrinkles. The fire had to be maintained throughout both washing and pressing as "smoothing irons" had to be heated.
The interior or frontier homes were very dimly lighted. Windows were few and small, as glass was considered rather expensive. Lack of screens on windows and doors made insects a problem in even the finest of homes. It was not uncommon to have to chase dogs, cats and even chickens out of the house on a regular basis. The only lighting available for most homes was provided by the fireplace, candles and lanterns which burned various types of oil. Many housewives made their own candles from sheep tallow. "Taller" cost thirty-five cents per pound around 1840. Bear grease was used frequently in the frontier household. It was used for cooking oil, candles, wheel lubricant and hair oil. Hunters also used bear grease to oil the cloth patches which they wrapped around muzzle loading bullets. It was also used for bartering. In territorial days in Arkansas, bear grease reportedly cost about $1.00 per gallon. Baskets were used extensively both in the household and on the farm where they were especially useful during harvest time. Most farmers spent rainy winter days making various types of baskets for their family's needs.
Most farms had livestock, particularly a milk cow, a few hogs for winter meat, oxen, and perhaps mules and horses for heavy work and riding. Some families kept a few sheep which were used for meat, wool and tallow. People generally butchered a hog or two when the first cold snap came as it would then last quite a while without spoiling. Beef was generally butchered in the summer and was shared among several families so none would be wasted. Any meat that could not be eaten within a few days was salted and hung in the smokehouse for later use. There were no veterinarians in Montgomery County in those days. Farmers with ailing animals treated them as best they could. When a real crisis with valuable livestock arose, the local doctor might be consulted to treat the animal.
Death was a frequent visitor in the Arkansas hills and the mortality rate was high, especially among children. Some of the old records show children dying of various reasons such as erysipilas, dropsy and congestion of the brain. Childbirth presented a real danger in the old days, infection during delivery being one of the greatest dangers. Since every community had a midwife who helped with simple deliveries, doctors were usually fetched only when trouble arose. Physicians were much in demand. Many diseases plagued the populace but there was little effective treatment to offer. Common illnesses such as smallpox, typhoid, ague, erysipilas, scrofula, consumption, measles, pneumonia and hooping cough were a fact of life in those days.
On the 1850 Federal Census of Montgomery Co., AR., Benjamin and his family were shown living in Polk Township, which had been created in 1846 in the western part of the county. It is probable that Benjamin was living on the same farm that he had been living on prior to 1846 and that the township boundaries had changed. Sometime before 1855, Benjamin and his family moved from Montgomery County to Texas. The exact date is not known. Why the family moved is unclear, but it may have had something to do with the problems Taylor had encountered in March 1850 in Mount Ida (see the history of Taylor Polk, Jr.). Perhaps the land just wore out and they saw greener pastures in Texas. There were Boatright families in Johnson County, Texas around the time the Polks arrived. These may have been Margaret Polk's relatives. There is also the possibility that sickness drove the Polks from Montgomery County as in the Arkansas Gazette of 17 Sept., 1852, page 2, column 3, there is an article which states in part, "There never has been so much sickness in this county, so says the older inhabitants."
The first record found of Benjamin in Texas was an 1855 Johnson County tax record which showed for that year he owned no land, owned two Negroes and paid no poll tax. In the roll of voter registers for Johnson County for 1867-1869, (Vols. 1-7, Roll No. 4, page 434, date of 25 July, 1867, precinct-Grandview), B. Polk is shown as having been in the State of Texas for 13 years, in Johnson County for 13 years, in Grandview precinct for 13 years and nativity-South Carolina. This record would indicate he came to Johnson County in or about 1854 and had remained in the same area of the county for the total time he had been in Texas. Other Johnson County tax records for the years 1856, 1857, 1858, 1859, 1860 and 1861 show Benjamin owned no land during these years, had only one negro beginning in 1856, never paid any poll tax (being unable to read or write, he probably never voted), had two cattle in 1857 and one horse and 39 cattle by 1861. deed records of Hill Co., TX. show why in 1856, the number of slaves on which Benjamin was taxed was reduced to one from two. In Volume H, page 704 of the Hill County deed Records, there is recorded the sale of "one Negro girl name Lizy age six years old to Obudiah J. Meadow of the County of Hill and the State aforesaid for the sum of Four Hundred and fifty dollars." The sale was made by Benjamin and Margaret Polk of Johnson County.
The tax records during the Civil War were not well kept and Benjamin's name was not found again until 1871. At that time, the records show that Benjamin owned twenty acres of land, one horse and 10 cattle and still was not paying any poll tax. The last tax record for Benjamin was in 1875 where he still had the twenty acres and one horse and paid no poll tax.
The last record of any type found (as of July 1997) for Benjamin Polk and his wife Margaret was the sale of their land to J. M. Anderson on 19 April, 1876, as recorded in the deed records of Johnson Co., TX., Book N, page 222 (in this reference, Benjamin is referred to as Benj. Polk Sr. and Margaret is referred to as Peggy Polk his wife). Both signed the deed of transfer with their mark.
What became of Benjamin and Margaret after April 1876 is unknown. They may have gone to live with one of their children, although as of early 1997, a check of census records for some of their children (all the children have not been located) show that the parents were not living with those children located. Being old, and very poor, it is probable that Benjamin and Margaret both died before the next census (1880), and were buried in unmarked graves.
Children of MARGARET BOATRIGHT and BENJAMIN POLK are:
i. JENCY POLK, b. Arkansas.
ii. JAMES POLK, b. Arkansas.
iii. CHARLES POLK, b. Arkansas.
iv. WILLIAM POLK, b. Arkansas.
v. RICHARD POLK, b. Arkansas.
vi. PRISCILLA POLK, b. Arkansas.
vii. BENJAMIN POLK, b. Arkansas.
viii. JOHN POLK, b. Arkansas.
ix. MARTHA JANE POLK, b. Arkansas.
7-54. FRIEND BOATRIGHT (THOMAS7, THOMAS6, THOMAS5, JOHN4, JOHN3, JOHN2, Not Yet Determined1) was born 1802 in Tennessee, and died 1848 in Oakland, Colorado County, Texas. He married LYDIA SPARKS 1823 in Arkansas Territory, daughter of ABSALOM SPARKS and MARY ELSBERRY. She was born 1808 in Gallatin County, Illinois, and died 1868 in Falls County, Texas.
Notes for FRIEND BOATRIGHT:
1829 Sheriff's Census Crawford Co, Arkansas Friend Boatwright 1 male over 21; 2 males 18-45; 2 males under 18 1 female over 14; 3 females under 14 Title: The Settlers of Lovely County and Miller County, Arkansas Territory 1820-1830 Author: Melinda Blanchard Crawford and Don L Crawford Publication: Picton Press, Rockport, Maine 2002 CD No. 316 Name: Friend Boatright State: TX County: Lavaca Co. Census/Enumeration year: 1846 Census type code: Tax List Note that there is another Friend Boatright on the 1846 tax list of Grimes Co., TX. CD No. 315 Name: Friend Boatright State: AR County: Pope Co. Census/Enumeration year: 1832 CD No. 315 Name: Friend Boatright State: AR County: Pope Co. Page #: 174 Census/Enumeration year: 1830 Household: 2 males: 0 - 5, 2 males: 20 - 30, 1 female: 0 - 5, 2 females: 5 - 10, 1 female: 20 - 30, 8 total CD No. 314 Name: Friend Boatright State: AR County: Crawford Co. Page #: 002 Census/Enumeration year: 1829 Census type code: Tax List CD No. 314 Name: Friend Boatright State: AR County: Crawford Co. Location: North Of Ark River Page #: 018 Census/Enumeration year: 1829 Census type code: State Census CD No. 314 Name: Friend Boatright State: AR County: Pope Co. Census/Enumeration year: 1828NOTE: Pope Co., AR., formed from Crawford County in 1829, so Friend Boatright could not have been in Pope County in 1828. There is doubt that the data for 1828 and 1829 refer to the same individual.
Burial: Hickbury Cemetery, 2 miles outside of Oakland, Colorado County, Texas
Notes for LYDIA SPARKS:
Lydia Sparks, daughter of Absalom and Lydia (Elsberry ) Sparks, was born about 1808 in Illinois. She married Friend Boatright, probably about 1824, and they went with the Sparks and Boatrights to Pope County, Arkansas. Then, about 1833, the (along with their related families ) moved to Texas. It was there that Friend Boatright died in 1848. When the 1850 census was taken, Lydia, now a widow, was in Lavaca County, Texas. Three years later, on March 5, 1853, Lydia sold her share of the estate of her sister, Edy Sparks, for twenty dollars. She was now in Falls County where her brother, Willoughby Sparks, and her nephew, Levi Sparks, witnessed her make her mark.
Lydia (Sparks) Boatright probably died about 1868. She and her husband were buried in unmarked graves near Oakland, Texas. They had at least ten children.
1. Elizabeth Boatright was born about 1824 in Arkansas. She married W. T. Charles on July 14, 1838, in Washington County, Texas.
2. Rachel Boatright was born on May 16, 1825, in Arkansas. She married A. A. McNutt. She died on June 7, 1894, and was buried along side her husband in the Boatright Cemetary just west of Grandview, Texas.
3. Martin Boatright was born on October 27, 1826. He married Nancy Ann Sompson. He died on June 23, 1908, and was buried in Llano Co.,Texas.
4. Priscilla Boatright was born about 1829 in Arkansas. She married John C. Burke on November 4, 1858, in Fayette County, Texas. She died soon after her marriage, probably at the time a daughter was born to them.
5. Minerva Boatright was probably born about 1830. On January 22 ,1855, she married Levi J. Robinson in Fayette County, Texas. She was apparently widowed during the Civil War. She had at least one child, Isabella Robinson, who married Thomas Medearis. Minerva was buried at Ranger, Texas.
6. John L. Boatright was born on March 5, 1831. He married Rebecca Cole on March 2, 1854, in Lavaca County, Texas. He died on October 27,1890, and was buried in the Pond Springs Cemetary in Williamson County,Texas.
7. William Boatright was born about 1836. He married Mrs. N . J.(Jane) Nibling on March 22, 1865. He died in Travis County, Texas.
8. James Boatright was born about 1838. He married Anna Eckel at San Antonio, Texas, on August 12, 1871. He died on May 5, 1916, at Garfield,Texas.
9. Mary A. Boatright was born about 1840. She married SequinStiffler on March 21, 1859, in Johnson County, Texas. She died in 1914and was buried at Ranger, Texas.
10. Charles H. Boatright married Mary Jane Robbins. He died in 1909in Travis County, Texas.
Burial: Hickbury Cemetery, 2 miles outside of Oakland, Colorado County, Texas
1850 Census: Name: Lydia Boatright Date: September 20, 1850 Age: 44 Estimated birth year: abt 1806 Birth place: Not Stated Gender: Female Home in 1850 (City,County,State): Not Stated, Lavaca County, Texas Occupation: Farmer Value of Real Estate: $200 Page: 307 Roll: M432_912 1860 Census: Name: Lidia Boatwright Date: July 20, 1860 Age in 1860: 50 Birthplace: Ill Home in 1860: Not Stated, Fayette County, Texas Gender: Female Value of real estate: $0 Post Office: Lyonsville Roll: M653_1294 Page: 319 Year: 1860 Head of Household: William Boatwright
Children of FRIEND BOATRIGHT and LYDIA SPARKS are:
8-160. i. ELIZABETH BOATRIGHT, b. 1824, Arkansas; d. 1920.
8-161. ii. RACHEL BOATRIGHT, b. 16 May 1825, Arkansas; d. 07 Jun 1894,
Grandview, Johnson County, Texas.
8-162. iii. MARTIN BOATRIGHT, b. 27 Oct 1826, Arkansas; d. 23 Jun 1908,
Llano County, Texas.
8-163. iv. PRISCILLA BOATRIGHT, b. 1829, Arkansas; d. Abt. 1859, Fayette
County, Texas.
8-164. v. MINERVA BOATRIGHT, b. 1830, Arkansas; d. Ranger, Eastland
County, Texas.
8-165. vi. JOHN L. BOATRIGHT, b. 05 Mar 1831, Miller County, Arkansas;
d. 27 Oct 1890, Williamson County, Texas.
8-166. vii. WILLIAM B. BOATRIGHT, b. 23 Mar 1836, Texas;
d. 11 Mar 1881, Travis County, Texas.
8-167. viii. MARY A. BOATRIGHT, b. 1840, Texas; d. 1914, Ranger, Eastland
County, Texas.
8-168. ix. CHARLES H. BOATRIGHT, b. Dec 1841, Oakland, Colorado County,
Texas; d. 1909, Garfield, Travis
County, Texas.
8-169. x. JAMES LEE BOATRIGHT, b. Sep 1844, Cleburne, Johnson County,
Texas; d. 05 May 1916, Garfield, Travis
County, Texas.
7-55. PRECILLA BOATRIGHT (THOMAS7, THOMAS6, THOMAS5, JOHN4, JOHN3, JOHN2, Not Yet Determined1) was born 20 Jun 1803 in Tennessee, and died 09 May 1873 in Milam County,Texas. She married DANIEL GILLELAND 03 Feb 1819 in Gilleland Settlement, near Jonesboro, Miller County, Arkansas, son of WILLIAM GILLELAND and NANCY JOHNSON. He was born 09 Jun 1795 in Virginia, and died 12 Jan 1873 in Davilla, Milam County, Texas.
Notes for PRECILLA BOATRIGHT:
Marker Title: Daniel and Precilla Gilleland
City: Rockdale
County: Milam
Year Marker Erected: 1988
Marker Location: 8 mi. west of Rockdale on FM 487, approx. .2 mi. from intersection with
FM 1600.
Marker Text: Among the first Anglo American settlers to come to Texas with colonizer
Stephen F. Austin, Daniel (b. 1795) and Precilla Boatwright (b. 1803) Gilleland were members
of Austin's Old Three Hundred colony. The couple and their infant daughter, along with
relatives in the Kuykendall and Boatwright families, left their homes in Arkansas Territory and
arrived in Texas in December 1821. Making his living as a farmer, Daniel Gilleland received
land grants in present Colorado and Austin counties. During the 1830s and 1840s the family
moved frequently, farming in Wharton, Fayette, Washington, Harrison, and Montgomery
counties. By 1847 they had settled in present Milam County. Daniel Gilleland was
instrumental in the growth of the Methodist Church in Texas, assisting several congregations.
He and Precilla were the parents of thirteen children, three of whom died in childhood. Six
Gilleland sons served in the Confederate army. The family cemetery (2.8 miles SW) was
established in 1848 and serves as the final resting place of Daniel and Precilla Gilleland, both
of whom died in 1873 after more than 50 years spent as pioneers in Texas.
Burial: Gilleland Cemetery, Rockdale, Milam County, Texas
Notes for DANIEL GILLELAND:
Listed on Milam Co. Tax Poll of 1847 with 5 Negroes @ $800, 4 Horses @ $100,
total value $900. Assessment of property lying out of Milam Co.= 177 acres and
150 acres in Montgomery Co. (MILAM CO. RECORDS, vol II)
Land grant 26 April 1831 Austin's Colony 1 league, 4428 .4 acres found in Texas land office.
Daniel Gilleland, early Texas settler, son of William and Nancy (Johnson) Gilleland, was born in Virginia on June 9, 1795. His father died in 1800, and in September 1802 Nancy Gilleland married Thomas Williams.qv The family then moved to Arkansas Territory. By 1817 they had settled on Williams Creek, a tributary of the Red River. During this time Daniel, his brother James Gilleland,qv and brother-in-law Robert H. Kuykendall, Sr.,qv became Indian traders and buffalo hunters. On February 3, 1819, Gilleland married Precilla Boatwright in Old Miller County, Arkansas Territory, probably at Jonesboro. The couple and their infant daughter, along with Precilla's parents, Amy and Thomas Boatwright,qv their children, and Sarah Gilleland Kuykendall and her husband, Robert, departed for Texas on October 18, 1821, and formed the vanguard of what came to be known as the Old Three Hundred.qv The Gilleland-Boatwright-Kuykendall party, accompanied by other families, followed the Old San Antonio Roadqv and arrived at the Brazos River just south of the site of the future Washington in late December 1821. Gilleland, accompanied by Robert and Joseph Kuykendall,qv first headed downriver, then followed the La Bahía Roadqv to the place where it crossed the Colorado River. They pitched camp near the site of presentday Columbus on Christmas Day, 1821. Afterward, the Gilleland family settled for a time on the Colorado River and claimed land there for farming and raising cattle. In the first election in Austin's colony, held in November 1822, Daniel Gilleland was one of a handful of settlers to cast a vote. He and his wife and daughter are listed on the census of those living in Colorado Municipality taken in March 1823, and he was one of fourteen men who elected James Cumminsqv the first alcaldeqv of the District of Colorado in August of that same year. In 1824 Gilleland, then twenty-nine years old, received a grant of one labor of land from the Mexican government under the provisions of Austin's contract to settle Texas. This grant was located on the Brazos River in what is now Austin County. The Gillelands, Boatwrights, and other members of their extended family traveled back to Arkansas after 1825 in an effort to reclaim land that had been taken from them by the federal government under the terms of a treaty with the Choctaw Nation in 1825. They returned to Texas in July 1830, and, by a grant dated on April 1, 1831, Gilleland received title to a league of land on the west side of the Colorado River some six miles west of Columbus in Austin's second colony.
In the early 1830s Gilleland and his growing family moved frequently and lived in various parts of Austin's colonies. They were residing at Moore's Fort at La Grange (later in Fayette County) in 1831, when their sixth child was born. The following year found them living in what is now Wharton County near Sarah Kuykendall, who had been recently widowed. In 1833 Gilleland was confronted by a band of hostile Karankawas, who demanded that he give them a portion of his corn crop. He stood his ground, forcing the Karankawas to abandon their attempts to coerce him and retreat to their camp nearby. He enlisted the aid of his closest neighbors, tracked the Indians down, and after a brief skirmish left several of them dead or wounded. By the late 1830s he and his family had settled in Washington County, where they remained for most of the decade of the Republic of Texas.qv During this period Gilleland enjoyed a period of relative prosperity, during which he farmed and raised cattle marked with the registered DG brand. The 1840 census indicated that he owned six horses, 150 cattle, 600 acres, and several slaves. As a surveyor he cleared titles and surveyed tracts in return for a portion of the land. One contract dated 1838 called for him to receive 1,000 acres out of a league to be surveyed in Madison County. In 1837 Robert Alexander,qv a newly arrived Methodist missionary to Texas, held a camp meeting on Caney Creek. A list of subscribers, including Gilleland, pledged to support the first missionary society for the Methodist Episcopal Church in Texas. In February 1838 Martin Ruter,qv superintendent of Texas missions, preached his first sermon in Fayette County at the house of Daniel Gilleland, who then lived at Moore's Fort, La Grange. Gilleland and R. W. Chappell were founding trustees of the Cedar Creek Methodist Episcopal Church and Camp Grounds, formed in Washington County in 1843.
After spending the early 1840s in Harrison and Montgomery counties, the Gilleland family settled permanently in Milam County in 1847. There, on a homestead on the San Gabriel River, Gilleland spent the remaining twenty-five years of his life growing cotton and other crops and taking an active role in the San Gabriel community and the Methodist Church.qv He and Precilla had thirteen children, ten of whom survived to adulthood. Before the end of the Civil War,qv six Gilleland sons served Texas in the Confederate Army; one died in battle under H. H. Sibleyqv on his western campaign and another died a prisoner of war in a New Orleans hospital. After the war Gilleland signed the list of registered voters in Milam County, stating that he had lived in Texas for forty-five years. Daniel Gilleland died at his home on the San Gabriel River on January 12, 1873, and was buried in the family graveyard there. Precilla Gilleland died there less than four months later and was laid beside her husband. The Gilleland family cemetery was discovered in 1986. It was partially restored in 1987 and was rededicated in October of that year. On October 29, 1988, a Texas historical marker was dedicated near the cemetery in Milam County.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Eugene C. Barker, ed., The Austin Papers (3 vols., Washington: GPO, 1924-28). Eugene C. Barker, The Life of Stephen F. Austin (Nashville: Cokesbury Press, 1925; rpt., Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1949; New York: AMS Press, 1970). J. H. Kuykendall, "Reminiscences of Early Texans," Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association 6-7 (January, April, July 1903). Worth Stickley Ray, Austin Colony Pioneers (Austin: Jenkins, 1949; 2d ed., Austin: Pemberton, 1970). Rex W. Strickland, "Miller County, Arkansas Territory," Chronicles of Oklahoma 18 (March 1940). J. W. Wilbarger, Indian Depredations in Texas (Austin: Hutchings, 1889; rpt., Austin: State House, 1985).
Burial: Gilleland Cemetery, Rockdale, Milam County, Texas
Children of PRECILLA BOATRIGHT and DANIEL GILLELAND are:
i. LEWIS GILLELAND, b. 02 Feb 1820, Miller County, Arkansas;
d. 15 Oct 1821, Miller County, Arkansas.
ii. SARAH GILLELAND, b. 17 Oct 1821, Miller County, Arkansas;
d. 13 May 1894.
iii. WILLIAM GILLELAND, b. 25 Oct 1823, Cedar Creek, Washington County,
Texas; d. 13 May 1894.
iv. THOMAS GILLELAND, b. 03 Jan 1825, Cedar Creek, Washington County,
Texas; d. 18 Dec 1848.
v. MARY GILLELAND, b. 23 Jan 1827, Pope County, Arkansas; d. 29 Jan
1870, Milam County, Texas.
vi. NANCY GILLELAND, b. 19 Jan 1829, Pope County, Arkansas; d. 29 Jan
1870, Milam County, Texas.
vii. JOHN HENRY GILLELAND, b. 16 Jan 1832, Moore's Fort, Fayette
County, Texas; d. 28 Jan 1880.
viii. AMY GILLELAND, b. 11 Jan 1834, Washington County, Texas;
d. 07 Jul 1937.
ix. DANIEL MOSES GILLELAND, b. 11 Nov 1835, Washington County, Texas;
d. 21 Feb 1862, Val Verde, New Mexico.
x. JAMES DAVID GILLELAND, b. 20 Jan 1837, Washington County, Texas.
xi. FELIX GILLELAND, b. 01 May 1841, Washington County, Texas; d. Aug
1841, Washington County, Texas.
xii. ALEXANDER M. GILLELAND, b. 19 Dec 1844, Harrison County, Texas;
d. Abt. 1889.
xiii. FELIX GRUNDY GILLELAND, b. 20 Apr 1846, Montgomery County, Texas;
d. 1918.
7-56. SALIDAH BOATRIGHT (THOMAS7, THOMAS6, THOMAS5, JOHN4, JOHN3, JOHN2, Not Yet Determined1) was born 1806 in Tennessee, and died 1836 in Texas. She married SAMUEL BOWMAN. He was born 1806 in Tennessee, and died in Texas.
Notes for SAMUEL BOWMAN:
Refer to "Austin Colony Pioneers," pg. 65, the "Bowman Family." Samuel Bowman (and other Bowmans) is mentioned here, but not sure if it is the same man. Pg. 227 shows: "Biddy Trammell was married to Samuel Bowman in Washington County, on Nov. 12, 1838." The name Biddy would seem to come from Sabidah Boatwright, the first wife, rather than from Lucinda Trammell, the second wife. Perhaps the writer mixed up the two names ????, or this may be a completely different couple.
7-57. RICHARD BOATRIGHT (THOMAS7, THOMAS6, THOMAS5, JOHN4, JOHN3, JOHN2, Not Yet Determined1) was born 1807 in Tennessee, and died 19 Aug 1860 in Robertson County, Texas. He married (1) BARBARA. She was born 1814 in Missouri. He married (2) NANCY. She was born 1810 in Illinois.
Notes for RICHARD BOATRIGHT:
In January 1821, Moses Austin (who is also known as the father of Texas) had received a permit from the Spanish to settle 300 families in Texas. However, Moses Austin died in Missouri a short time later before he could realize his plans.
The name, "Old Three Hundred" is sometimes used to refer to the settlers who received land grants in Stephen F. Austin's first colony in Texas. Stephen F. Austin took up his father's colonization activities and traveled to San Antonio, where he met with the Spanish governor Antonio María Martínez. The governor acknowledged Stephen F. Austin as his father's successor allowing the colonization activities to proceed. Stephen F. Austin recruited some hardy pioneers willing to move to Texas and by the end of the summer of 1824, most of the Old Three Hundred were in Texas.
Since the Spanish were eager to settle the vast expanse that was the Texas territory, it was decided under the colonization decree drawn up by the Spanish that the family would be the unit for land distribution. However, Stephen Austin permitted unmarried men to receive grants in partnership, usually in groups of two or three. Twenty-two such partnership titles were issued to fifty-nine partners.
In all, 307 land titles were issued, with nine families receiving two titles each. Thus the total number of grantees, excluding Austin's own grant, was actually 297, not 300. The colonization decree required that all the lands should be occupied and improved within two years; most of the settlers were able to comply with the terms, and only seven of the grants were forfeited. During 1823-24, Stephen Austin and the land commissioner Baron de Bastrop issued 272 titles, but Bastrop was called away in August 1824, and the work remained unfinished until 1827, when the new commissioner, Gaspar Flores de Abrego, issued the remaining titles. The lands selected by the Old 300 colonists were located along the rich bottomlands of the Brazos, Colorado, and San Bernard rivers, extending from the vicinity of present-day Brenham, Navasota, and La Grange to the Gulf of Mexico. According to the terms of the colonization agreement, each family engaged in farming was to receive one labor (about 177 acres) and each ranching family one sitio (about 4,428 acres).
As one might expect, a sizeable number of the colonists classified themselves as stock raisers, though they were technically planters, to get the additional acreage. Each family's site was to have a frontage on the river equal to about one-fourth of its length; thus the east bank of the Brazos was soon completely occupied from the Gulf to what is now Brazos County. Most of the labors were arranged in three groups around San Felipe de Austin, which formed the nucleus of the colony.
The largest number of the Old Three Hundred colonists were from Louisiana, followed by Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Missouri. Virtually all of the Old 300 were of British ancestry. Many had been born east of the Appalachians and were part of the large westward migration of the early years of the nineteenth century. Most were farmers, and many-including the Bell, Borden, Kuykendall, McCormick, McNair, McNeel, Raab, and Varner familiesalready had substantial means before they arrived.
Because Austin wanted to avoid problems with his colonists, he generally only accepted those of "better" classes and only four of the Old Three Hundred grantees were illiterate.
First Class Headright: Issued to those who arrived before March 2, 1836. Heads of families received one league (4,428 acres) and one labor (177.1 acres), while single men received 1/3 league (1,476.1 acres).
From Austin Colony Pioneers (This book found in the Texas State Library at Austin, Texas)
From Chapter I page 1. The Birth of Austin's Colony:
On the last day of the year 1821 a small band of foot-weary travelers stood at the
break of day on the banks of the Brazos river at a point a little south of where the
town of Washington-onthe- Brazos afterwards stood, and looked across at the
"promised land" on the other side.
Young Stephen F. Austin only a few days before at the little Mexican town of Nacogdoches, had told them that somewhere in between the Brazos and the Colorado rivers good home-sites, and productive lands lay ready for occupancy to settlers. As near as can be ascertained at this distant period, young and old, there were some fifteen persons in the party, heady by Elijah Allcorn, his wife Nancy, their twenty-four year old son, James, William, John, about 12, Thomas 11, Elliott 8, and four year old Mary Ann; then there was John McNeese and his wife and at least two sons Parrott and Ivy McNeese; Thomas Boatright and his wife and their oldest son, Richard, two younger boys and little Betsy Boatright, a daughter.
Memorandum of Application for Land A book listing the applicants for land in Austin's Colony. Found in the Texas State Library in Austin. Originally two manuscripts mostly written in Spanish.
Richd. Boatwright from Arkansas, 24 years old, with one girl and Barbary 21 years old, his wife, applied for league No. 1 on the Middle Barnard.
Thomas Boatright's son was Richard and he had a daughter Elizabeth when he appeared on the Brazos River (see above). He also had two other sons. Richard was 24 when he applied for land in 1833. He would have been 13 when the family appeared on the Brazos.
Richard and an unknown nephew were hung by a lynch mob in Robertson County, Texas on
August 19, 1860. Richard was enumerated in the 1860 census with his family living in Owenville,
Robertson County, Texas on July 9, 1860. The two were hung for supporting anti-slavery
activities in the county. The following is a history of that era, including the
lynching, written by John Martin Brockman:
PORT SULLIVAN, TEXAS: GHOST TOWN
By John Martin Brockman
1968 Texas A&M University Master's Thesis
Port Sullivan was the home of many Brazos bottom planters whose plantations were worked with slave labor. The residents of the town in 1860 owned two hundred and eighty slaves in Milam County. Eleven persons in the town owned more than ten slaves, but no one person owned more than fifty slaves in Milam County. William Anderson owned thirty-six slaves and Jasper McKinney was the owner of twenty-seven slaves in the county.[1] Some residents of Port Sullivan owned slave plantations across the river in Robertson County. James Hanna of Port Sullivan owned fifty-four slaves that lived in the Brazos bottom. Reuben Anderson, who lived near Port Sullivan and attended the Masonic Lodge meetings there, owned a total of one hundred and ten slaves, according to the census report of 1860.[2] Most of the citizens of Port Sullivan owned no slaves, but the more influential settlers were slaveholders. Slaves were important to the planters, and the planters were important to Port Sullivan. Under such circumstances, the institution of slavery was not taken lightly by the residents of the town.
As the controversy over slavery grew in the United States, the citizens of Port Sullivan became more involved. Threats against the system of slavery, real or imaginary, were considered to be very serious, and appropriate measures were taken to protect the institution of slavery, and to deter runaway slaves. In the summer of 1851, a slave named Ned ran away from his master named Anderson and was apprehended in Washington County. An advertisement placed in the Washington Lone Star by the sheriff of Washington County, down the Brazos from Port Sullivan, requested the owner to come forward and prove ownership, pay the charges for detention, and take him away. The slave told the sheriff that he belonged to a man named Anderson who lived on the Brazos near Sullivan’s Bluff.[3]
In addition to an occasional slave running away, slave owners generally feared that the slaves might rise in rebellion. A few white persons were suspected of encouraging and aiding the slaves in such endeavors. A general uprising among the slaves in Eastern Texas expected in 1856, prompted the citizens of Washington County to organize a Vigilance Committee to keep an eye on suspicious contacts between whites and blacks and to patrol the area.[4] The anticipated uprising, however, never came off.
The non-slave owning whites were often believed to be unsympathetic to the institution of slavery. A letter from Cameron, the county seat of Milam County, published in the Austin newspaper in 1858, stressed the importance of giving the small farmer a stake in the institution of slavery. He suggested the re-opening of the African slave trade in order to lower the price of slaves so that small farmers could own one or two.[5] This suggestion, however, had no chance for passage in the United States House of Representatives, where representation was based on population and the Southern slaveholding states were greatly outnumbered.
The events of the 1850’s - the Compromise of 1850, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the rise of the Republican Party, the trouble in Kansas, the election of 1856, the Dred Scott decision, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry, put the slavery question in the spotlight. The presidential election of 1860 became the topic of discussion two years before it was to be held. A letter from “J. L. T.” of Robertson County dated July 16, 1858, undoubtedly expressed the thoughts of many residents of nearby Port Sullivan. “J. L. T.” believed that “the institutions of our country” were in great danger. The future, according to his predictions, would see, the inauguration of a “Black” Republican president on March 4, 1861, or “as our hope and last resort, the inauguration of a southern confederacy composed of slave States of the Union.”[6] His predictions, on both counts, came true nearly two years later.
As the time for the presidential election of 1860 drew near, the parties prepared to make their nominations. The Democratic Party met in Charleston, South Carolina, to choose its nominee. Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois appeared to be the favorite, but it would require two-thirds of the delegate votes to win the nomination. The Southern delegates were able to block the nomination of Douglas, who had angered the South with his famous Freeport Doctrine, concerning slavery in the territories. The Southern delegates, however, did not possess the strength to nominate a candidate of their own, but they were determined to block Douglas’s nomination and to deadlock the convention, which, in the end, paved the way for separate conventions to be held later. John C. Roberts of Port Sullivan entered in his diary for May 10, 1860: “I heard the result of the Charleston Democratic Convention, busted up in a row. Good news for us conservative men. I am glad of it.”[7] His opinion of the convention was shared by the Democratic Party of Milam and Robertson counties in meetings held in May. A letter from a man in Cameron said the news from the convention had not stopped the corn from growing, the wheat from ripening, or the herds from gaining weight.[8] Most of the people of the area, by this time, seemed to be looking forward to some changes in the national government. All that was needed now was an excuse to make the changes. This would come late in 1860.
The summer of 1860 was an exciting one in Texas and in Port Sullivan. “The atmosphere was filled with excitement and alarm. Reports were circulated, often unfounded, of negro uprisings and wholesale poisonings. Incendiary fires occurred in many parts of the state.”[9] Starting in June 1860, the Texas State Gazette of Austin began to run stories about “Black” Republican activity in the State. One so-called “Black” Republican, reportedly, was a sheep drover that came to settle on the Blanco River. The sheep herder stated that other “Black” Republicans were coming to settle in Texas.[10] Later, a school teacher came to the Waco newspaper office asking about the Republican convention in Chicago and left expressing satisfaction in their nominee, Abraham Lincoln. The Waco paper suggested “the propriety of watching his movements, abolitionists have no business in our country,” the editor added.[11] In June 1860, the Austin paper reported a Negro conspiracy existed in Fannin County and that an abolitionist had been found in Grayson County. The paper suggested that the “Black” Republican on the Blanco and abolitionist in Grayson County might be part of a band located at convenient points to give aid to the underground railroad,[12] an organization that helped runaway slaves escape to freedom.
The Texas State Gazette of July 28, 1860, reported that Dallas and other North Texas towns had recently experienced a rash of fires, supposedly part of a “Black” Republican plot against Texas. The paper warned “the citizens of Texas everywhere to be on their guard.”[13] Vigilance committees were formed in all parts of Texas. [14] On August 1, 1860, Roberts recorded in his diary that Negroes and abolitionists were burning towns and houses up the country.[15] The citizens of Port Sullivan, and in Robertson County, followed the advice of the Austin paper and formed a Vigilance Committee. Roberts was elected secretary, and Robert Calvert of Sterling, in Robertson County, was elected president of the committee. The group was formed on August 8, 1860, and four days later, on August 12, Roberts reported that an abolitionist was in town. He went to a meeting later that day, but no action was taken concerning the abolitionist. Between August 13 and August 20, Roberts was out of town and did not mention the abolitionist again. The Texas State Gazette of September 15, 1860, in an item from Robertson County stated: “Two men, Richard Broadwright and nephew, were hung in this county on the 19th of August for tampering with slaves.”[16] Roberts did not mention this incident until August 22, 1860, when he recorded in his diary that the “citizens hung 2 men, Boatwrights.” In commenting on the aftermath of the event, Roberts reported, on August 23, that there was “no excitement about hanging, all has subsided,” but two days later he added, “rumors going on around the country.”[17] It could not be established by this writer if any link existed between the abolitionist reported to be in Port Sullivan on August 12, and the hanging in Robertson County on August 19, 1860.
The persons responsible for the hanging of the Boatwrights, no doubt believed they were doing what was necessary to protect their lives and property from an abolitionist plot. The action taken in Robertson County and in many other counties in Texas was condoned by many of the leading citizens and organizations in the state. John H. Reagan, an important figure in Texas politics before and after the Civil War, reported the day before the hanging in Robertson County that he believed there existed an abolitionist plot against Texas. All persons who might be found to be clearly involved, Reagan said, should not “be permitted to leave the state alive.”[18] The Texas Baptist, published in Anderson, Grimes County, Texas, was not silent in regard to the abolitionists. The paper considered the abolitionists to be the slaveholders most deadly enemies.
"It is now our painful but positive duty to repel their assaults by such means as will most certainly prevent their recurrence. It may be said that it is unchristian-like to hang a fellow-being, and religious editors should oppose it. To this we reply: “The powers that be are ordained of God for the punishment of evil doers;” and it is seen that no other means will stop those men from stealing and murdering, we are under the necessity of hanging them to save our own lives and property."[19]
One could conclude from this article that the hanging of the Boatwrights was merely doing what God ordained.
After the excitement of August and September cooled down, more attention was given to the coming presidential election. The likelihood of a “Black” Republican president did not rest well with many in Robertson County. In a letter from Robertson County, dated October 22, 1860, a traveler reported that he had “met with many in Robertson county who openly advocated resistance to a “Black” Republican President. There are old Texans who feel now that a sight of the “Lone Star Flag,” in such a contingency would do them good.[20] The reporter went on to say that the people of Robertson County would prefer Santa Anna to a “nigger-loving Northern President.”[21] The election created considerable interest in Port Sullivan. Roberts wrote in his diary on the day before the election, “Election on hand tomorrow.”[22]
The election of 1860 was between four parties: Abraham Lincoln, Republican; Stephen A. Douglas, Northern Democrat; John C. Breckenridge, Southern Democrat; and John Bell of the newly formed Constitutional Union Party. Sam Houston, the Governor of Texas, whose name was circulated as “The People’s candidate,” withdrew on August 19, 1860.[23] As far as Port Sullivan and the South were concerned, the only two men in the race were Breckenridge of the Southern Democrats and Bell of the Constitutional Union Party. On Tuesday, November 6, 1860, Roberts recorded that “224 votes (were) Polled in Port Sullivan. Democrats 186, Bell 38. Some excitement on hand. Cloudy all day. Union (decided or divided).”[24] No votes were cast for Lincoln or Douglas. It probably would not have been safe to do so, judging from the fact that two men were hanged in Coryell County for voting for Lincoln.[25]
The national election results were not known in Port Sullivan for nine days. On November 15, 1860, Roberts said “Abe Lincoln is Elected President of U. S.”[26] The election of Lincoln, in combination with the alleged abolitionists plot against Texas in the summer of 1860, paved the way for the secessionist movement in Texas.[27] In a little over a week after the results of the election were known, Port Sullivan, in a fitting ceremony, declared itself in favor of the secession of Texas from the United States.
"Yesterday November 24, 1860 was quite a merry day in Port Sullivan. The ladies having previously made a Texas Lone Star Flag, presented it at 1 p.m. to the citizens. Mr. Herndon received the flag on the part of the sons of old Milam, in a neat and appropriate speech of an hour in length, reviewing the acts and measures of Northern fanatics, which had brought about such an outburst of Southern disapprobation and disgust. His eloquent appeals were frequently disturbed by enthusiastic applause from the assemblage. The crowd was large and everything passed off quietly. Everyone seemed to have the same opinion - now’s the day and now’s the hour. After the address the crowd formed into a procession and marched to the library pole, (erected near the Masonic Hall and some 80 to 90 feet in height) the ladies marching in front. The flag was then run up amid deafening shouts for the Lone Star, Texas, Southern Republic."[28]
The citizens of the town believed that a “Black” Republican President would not govern to suit the South and its institutions, and they talked of a new nation made up of the Southern States.
Even after the election and the return to calmer times, there was still trouble near Port Sullivan in connection with slavery. Robert Calvert, president of the Vigilance Committee, should have kept a better vigil at his own plantation. Two of his slaves, Sam, age 22, and Sam’s wife, Betty age 20, ran away from his plantation. Betty was described as a mulatto, crossed by Indian, medium sized, and slender and delicate in appearance. Both slaves had been raised in the Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory, and could not speak English very well. Calvert offered $100 reward for their apprehension and delivery to Sterling in Robertson County or $50 reward if delivered to any jail.[29]
After the election of Lincoln, Many of the leading citizens of Texas began to urge Governor Houston to call a session in the state legislature so that it could make arrangements for a special state convention to consider seceding from the Union. Houston refused to give in to the demands of the secessionists. On December 3, 1860, a self-appointed group, including John Marshall, editor of the State Gazette, issued an address to the people of Texas urging them to hold elections in each representative district to choose delegates to a special convention to meet in Austin.[30] The citizens of Port Sullivan quickly responded to this request. A meeting was held over which R. J. Davis presided and in which John C. Roberts was elected secretary. Citizens from the town and the nearby area came to the meeting in Port Sullivan, which featured speakers from Owensville, the county seat of Robertson County. The group adopted two resolutions, both unanimously. The first resolution requested the chief justice of Milam County to call a special election to choose delegates to the special convention, and the second resolution nominated E. P. Gould of Cameron to be a delegate.[31] In the meantime, seeing that the delegates had been elected throughout the state, and the convention was going to meet anyway, Houston agreed to call a special session of the state legislature, which in turn called for the election of a special convention, along the procedures already carried out. Houston succeeded in getting the legislature to include a provision in its call that any decision reached in the convention must be submitted to the voters for final approval.[32]
When the convention met on January 28, 1861, it lost no time in adopting an ordinance of secession from the United States. The reasons given for seceding included the election of Lincoln, the failure of the United States to protect the frontier areas from Indians and Mexican bandits, the administration of the territories of the United States in a way to exclude Southern people from them, and doctrine of the “higher law” fanatics that believed that all men were equal.[33]
The ordinance of secession was submitted to the voters of Texas on February 23, 1861. The day set aside for voting proved to be a big day in Port Sullivan. The people of the town were treated to a barbecue by the “generous old farmers,” before going to the church to hear speeches on the topics of the day. A “Lone Star” flag was placed on the wall at each side of the speaker’s stand. The name of Lewis T. Wigfall, an ardent secessionist and later a member of the Confederate Senate, was place beneath one flag, and under the other flag was the name, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America. In the course of the speeches, Captain Barton of the Port Sullivan Grays asked all ladies present who might be in favor of secession to rise. It was a race to see who was first on her feet as all the women down to the age of ten stood up. It was said that all of the ladies of Port Sullivan were united for secession. The voters of Port Sullivan favored secession 227 to 24, or almost 10 to 1. At least one person, the author of the article describing the event in Port Sullivan, believed that February 23, 1860, would be looked back to by future generations as one of the “Most glorious achievements that was ever won, either in the fields or anywhere else, by Texans.” The Port Sullivan Grays, it was said, intended to be ready to “meet old Abe or any of his stripe.”[34]
Not long after the voters of Texas decided to separate Texas from the United States, a showdown came between the Federal Government and the seceded states. After the firing on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, and Lincoln’s call for volunteers to crush the insurrection, Texans began to organize into military groups in order to resist anticipated invasions from the North.[35] Citizens of Port Sullivan were quick to join the newly formed volunteer guards and militia companies.
[1] United States Census Returns, 1860, Schedule No. 2, Milam County.
[2] Ibid., Robertson County.
[3] Lone Star, September 20, 1851.
[4] Washington American, September 24, and December 30, 1856.
[5] Texas State Gazette, July 31, 1858.
[6] Galveston Weekly News, August 31, 1858.
[7] Roberts Diaries, May 10, 1860.
[8] Texas State Gazette, June 2, 1860.
[9] Anna Irene Sandbo, “The First Session of the Secession Convention of Texas,”
Southwestern Historical Quarterly, XVIII (October, 1914), p. 163.
[10] Texas State Gazette, June 1, 1860.
[11] Waco Democrat quoted in Ibid., June 16, 1860.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Ibid., July 28, 1860.
[14] Anna Irene Sandbo, “The First Session of the Secession Convention of Texas,”
Southwestern Historical Quarterly, XVIII (October, 1914), p. 164.
[15] Roberts Diaries, August 12, 1860.
[16] Texas State Gazette, September 15, 1860.
[17] Roberts Diaries, August 19-25, 1860.
[18] Texas State Gazette, August 18, 1860.
[19] Texas Baptist (Anderson), September 13, 1860.
[20] Texas State Gazette, November 3, 1860.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Roberts Diaries, November 5, 1860.
[23] Rupert Norval Richardson, Texas: The Lone Star State, 244.
[24] Roberts Diaries, November 6, 1860.
[25] Galveston Weekly News, November 22, 1860.
[26] Roberts Diaries, November 15, 1860.
[27] William W. White, “The Texas Slaves Insurrection of 1860,” Southwestern
Historical Quarterly, III (January, 1949), p. 259.
[28] Texas State Gazette, December 22, 1860.
[29] Tri-Weekly Telegraph, December 20, 1860.
[30] Richardson, Texas: The Lone Star State, 246.
[31] Texas State Gazette, December 29, 1860.
[32] Richardson, Texas: The Lone Star State, 246.
[33] Ibid., 247.
[34] Texas State Gazette, March 9, 1861.
[35] Richardson, Texas: The Lone Star State, 250.
1840 Census: Name: Richard Boatright Township: Fulton County: Sevier State: Arkansas Roll: 20 Page: 168 Household: 1 male: 20 - 30, 1 male: 30 - 40, 1 female: 0 - 5, 1 female: 5 - 10, 1 female: 20 - 30, 5 total, 2 agriculture, 2 over 20 that can't read or write 1860 Census: Name: Richard Boatwright Date: July 9, 1860 Age in 1860: 53 Birthplace: Tennessee Home in 1860: Precinct 7, Robertson County, Texas Occupation: Farmer Gender: Male Value of real estate: $500 Post Office: Owenville Roll: M653_1303 Page: 190 Year: 1860 Head of Household: Richard Boatwright
1850 Census: Name: Barbara Boatwright Date: November 20, 1850 Age: 37 Estimated birth year: abt 1813 Birth place: Missouri Gender: Female Home in 1850 (City,County,State): Myatt, Lawrence County, Arkansas Page: 247 Roll: M432_27
1860 Census: Name: Nancy Boatwright Date: July 9, 1860 Age in 1860: 50 Birthplace: Illinois Home in 1860: Precinct 7, Robertson County, Texas Gender: Female Value of real estate: $0 Post Office: Owenville Roll: M653_1303 Page: 191 Year: 1860 Head of Household: Richard Boatwright
Children of RICHARD BOATRIGHT and BARBARA are:
8-170. i. TRAVIS FIELDING BOATRIGHT, b. 1831, Arkansas. 8-171. ii. ELIZABETH BOATRIGHT, b. 1832, Texas. 8-172. iii. ELIAS BOATRIGHT, b. 1834, Arkansas. 8-173. iv. MARTHA J. BOATRIGHT, b. 1836, Texas.
Children of RICHARD BOATRIGHT and NANCY are:
8-174. v. JASPER BOATRIGHT, b. 1846, Texas. 8-175. vi. NEWSON BOATRIGHT, b. 1849, Texas. 8-176. vii. NANCY A. BOATRIGHT, b. 1852, Texas.
7-58. THOMAS BOATRIGHT (THOMAS7, THOMAS6, THOMAS5, JOHN4, JOHN3, JOHN2, Not Yet Determined1) was born 1808 in Illinois, and died 1835 in Pope, Arkansas. He married LYDIA. She was born 1812.
Notes for THOMAS BOATRIGHT:
The original settler (Thomas Boatright Sr.) should not be confused with Thomas Boatright, aged twenty-seven, who brought his wife, Lydia, and one son to Texas in 1833 and applied for land on the Navasota River. This second Boatright murdered John Loyd on February 24, 1839, and fled from Texas, probably back to Arkansas.
As Thomas Boatright was involved in a deed action in Montgomery County, TX., on 19 August 1839, he either did not flee back to Arkansas at all, or fled after 19 August 1839, or fled after the killing and then returned, or was cleared of wrongdoing. Research in court records or newspapers might reveal the outcome of the case and help determine if the Thomas Boatright who killed John Loyd is the same as the Thomas Boatright shown here.
1830 Census: Name: Boatright, Thos Township: Not Stated County: Pope State: Arkansas Territory Year: 1830 Roll: 5 Page: 174 Household: 1 male: 20 - 30, 1 female: 15 - 20, 2 total
7-59. MARY "POLLY" HARRELL BOATRIGHT (THOMAS7, THOMAS6, THOMAS5, JOHN4, JOHN3, JOHN2, Not Yet Determined1) was born 1809 in Gallatin County, Illinois, and died 1863 in Falls County, Texas. She married WILLOUGHBY SPARKS Abt. 1825 in Arkansas Territory, son of ABSALOM SPARKS and MARY ELSBERRY. He was born Abt. 1802 in Clark County, Georgia, and died Abt. 1860 in Parker County, Texas.
More About MARY "POLLY" HARRELL BOATRIGHT:
Burial: Hills Cemetery, Parker County, Texas
Notes for WILLOUGHBY SPARKS:
Willoughby Sparks was born about 1802 in Clarke County, Georgia , and was a son of Absalom and Lydia (Elsberry) Sparks and a grandson of Matthew and Sarah (Thompson) Sparks. Absalom Sparks was in Clarke County in 1802 when he gave an affidavit to the Clarke County Court pertaining to the losses he and his mother, Sarah Sparks, had suffered from the uprisings of the Creek Indians in 1793-94.
Willoughby Sparks accompanied his parents to the Illinois Territory about 1807, and it was there that he grew to manhood. He also went with his parents to the Territory of Arkansas when it was opened up for settlement in 1819, and it was probably there that he married Mary "Polly" Harrell about 1825. She was born about 1810 in Illinois Territory.
Willoughby joined his father, Absalom Sparks, and his brothers Elsberry Sparks, William Sparks, and Matthew Sparks, in Miller County, Arkansas, in 1825 in presenting a petition to the President and to the U.S. Congress asking for help in keeping possession of their land in Lovely County, Arkansas Territory, which lay just north of Miller County and which later became a part of Oklahoma Territory. The federal government, in a treaty, had ceded the land to the Choctaw Indians that included the farms belonging to the Sparks families. Willoughby was in Crawford County, Arkansas, in 1829, but by 1830 he was living in Pope County. It was there, on October 17, 1830, that he was given replacement land by the federal government. On the 1830 census, he and his wife were shown has having three children, a son and two daughters.
On November 5, 1832, Willoughby and his wife, Polly, of Hot Springs County, Arkansas, sold 320 acres of land to Elias Rector of Pulaski County, Arkansas. In this deed, Willoughby's wife was referred to as "Polly Sparks nee Harrell." Willoughby paid taxes in Hot Spring s County in 1834, but by 1837, he was in Sevier County, Arkansas, where he paid taxes in 1837 and 1838. By 1840, he was back in Hot Springs County, and then on the 1840 census, he and Polly were listed there with seven children. The following year, he moved over into Tennessee where four more children were born. In all probability, he moved to Carroll County, Tennessee, to be near his uncle Isaac Sparks, although he also had an uncle, Nathan Sparks, in Wilson County, Tennessee, and an uncle, Jesse Sparks, in Hickman County, Tennessee.
Willoughby did not remain very long in Tennessee, and by 1845, he was in Robertson County, Texas, where he paid taxes that year. His move to Robertson County may have been prompted by the fact that he had a brother and four sisters already there. His uncle, William Sparks, was also there, along with several cousins who had participate d in the Texas-Mexican War in 1835-36; they had been granted land for their services.
Edy Sparks, sister of Willoughby, died shortly after he moved to Texas, and, since she apparently had never married nor had any children, her estate (consisting of a rather large tract of land) was divided by her brothers and sisters. On September 8, 1849, Willoughby sold his share of the estate for one dollar and "other considerations." He also apparently traveled to Scott County, Arkansas, to obtain the releases of Edy's estate from his brother, Elsberry, and also from Elsberry's son, Willis Sparks. The releases were signed on November 271851, but by 1853 Willoughby was in Falls County, Texas, where, on March5th, he witnessed the release of his sister, Lydia (Sparks) Boatright, to her share of Edy's estate.
The family of Willoughby Sparks was listed on the 1850 census of Limestone County Texas; however it was in that portion of the county that became a part of Falls County that same year. In August 1850, Willoughby was one of the petitioners who asked for a voice in locating the new county seat. The following year, he served as a juror for the Falls County Commissioners Court, and at the december 8th session of the court he was appointed to "review" the road from Springfield, Texas, to Marlin, Texas.
Sometime in 1852, Willoughby and Polly Sparks were in Parker County, Texas, where their last child, Rachel, was born on April 7th, but by the spring of the following year they were back in Falls County where Willoughby witnessed the release of his sister Lydia for her share of Edy's estate.
Willoughby was also active in buying and selling land in Falls County during the 1850s; he was a party to at least five transactions . He bought (and sold) land in July 1854, August 1854, August 1855 , december1857, and March 1858. Among the persons involved in these sales and purchases were: David Clark and John A. Goudy of Big Creek; James Burton and John H. Walker of the Pin Oak Branch of Brushy Creek; Samuel D. Barclay, James Cook, James Long, and Isaac Cook of Rocky Creek; and D. F. Garrett.
When a special school census (called "The Texas Scholastic of 1854-1855") was taken, Willoughby Sparks was in Limestone County. School-age children in his household included his own children: Clarinda, Nancy, Bailey, and John, and also three other children with the surname of Nelson: John, Willoughby, and Minerva. The latter three children were probably his grandchildren.
By 1959, Willoughby Sparks was back in Parker County; however, he did not appear on any 1860 census of Texas counties. He may have been missed by the census taker because he was making one of his frequent moves between Parker County and Falls County. These moves were the result of the frequent Indian uprisings during the period 1849-1865, and Willoughby was following a pattern adopted by the pioneer settlers in this area of Texas. Simply stated, these families would settle along the Brazos River in the general area of Parker, Palo Pinto , and Jack Counties. Periodically, the Indians would "go on a rampage," and the settlers would return to the relative safety of Falls and Limestone Counties until order was restored, after which they would return to their former homes.
Willoughby Sparks apparently died between March 1858 (when he participated in his last land transaction) and 1862 (when his wife, Mary, apparently received a tax exemption in Parker County, probably because of her widowhood.) Mary may have died the following year. She was buried in an unmarked grave in the Hills Cemetery in Parker County. Some relatives believe that Willoughby was also buried there.
(A great many years ago, two great-grandchildren of Willoughby and Polly (Harrell) Sparks, Frank Sparks and Segonia (Sparks) Pritchett ,found Mary's (Polly's) grave in Hills Cemetery. It had a headstone marker then which read "Polly Sparks, 1813." When they revisited the cemetery the following year for the purpose of replacing the marker, someone had removed it.)
Hill Cemetery is in Parker County, TX. It is off of I-20 on Gilbert Pit Road. Go down the road past the gravel pit and the cattle guard. It is on the right back off the road.
Children of MARY BOATRIGHT and WILLOUGHBY SPARKS are:
i. LEVI SPARKS, b. 1825, Miller County, Arkansas.
ii. WILLIAM SPARKS, b. 1832, Arkansas; d. Falls County, Texas.
iii. TILLMAN SPARKS, b. 24 Jul 1837, Hot Springs, Garland County,
Arkansas; d. 23 Oct 1912, Parker County, Texas.
iv. MOLLY SPARKS, b. 1838, Arkansas.
v. MINERVA SPARKS, b. 1839, Arkansas.
vi. CLARINDA SPARKS, b. 1840, Tennessee.
vii. NANCY C. SPARKS, b. 1842, Tennessee; d. Bef. 1871.
viii. BAILEY MILTON SPARKS, b. Jan 1847, Texas; d. 27 Jan 1931, Wise
County, Texas.
ix. JOHN SPARKS, b. Oct 1847, Texas; d. 13 Dec 1925, Limestone County,
Texas.
x. RACHEL A. SPARKS, b. 07 Apr 1852, Parker County, Texas; d. 07 Feb
1930, Young County, Texas.
7-60. JANE BOATRIGHT (THOMAS7, THOMAS6, THOMAS5, JOHN4, JOHN3, JOHN2, Not Yet Determined1) was born 1810 in Illinois, and died in Texas. She married (1) DAVID LAWRENCE. She married (2) EDWARD H. HORTON 11 Feb 1844 in Galveston, Texas.
Children of JANE BOATRIGHT and DAVID LAWRENCE are:
i. ADAM LAWRENCE, b. 1830.
ii. ELIJAH LAWRENCE, b. 1832.
iii. BENJAMIN F. LAWRENCE, b. 1837.
7-61. WILLIAM BOATWRIGHT (THOMAS7, THOMAS6, THOMAS5, JOHN4, JOHN3, JOHN2, Not Yet Determined1) was born 1814 in Illinois, and died Abt. 1866 in Missouri. He married MARY A.. She was born 1824 in Missouri.
Notes for WILLIAM BOATWRIGHT:
Information submitted September 2006, by Kay Clerc-Fakhar, Jacksonville, FL. (KayClerc@yahoo.com). Any additions or changes made by others to her information should be documented accordingly. Please always include this reference when using or sharing the information.
Thoughts concerning William Boatwright from Kay Clerc-Fakhar:
-From Buttonhole Kinfolks by John S. Woodward:
Texas Records page 180-181 Thomas Boatright came to Texas with his wife, three sons
and a daughter
While another resource states that 10 children traveled with Thomas and Amy.
- From the The Handbook of Texas Online
The General Libraries at the University of Texas at Austin and the Texas State
Historical Association.
BOATWRIGHT, THOMAS (1760-ca. 1830). Thomas BOATWRIGHT, early Texas settler, was born in Virginia, moved to Illinois, and by 1819 was living in old Miller County, Arkansas. In the early fall of 1821 he and his wife, Amy, and their ten children traveled with the Gilleland, Kuykendall, Williams, and Gates families down Trammel's Trace to Nacogdoches.
First of all, I think they had 11 children, so '10' was a puzzling number, especially when I'm trying to prove (with certainty) my William, b. 1814 IL was a son to Thomas & Amy (vs. a grandson). Then it occured to me that Martha 'Patsy' [b. 1796 NC; d. 1835 AR; married THOMAS TRAMMELL 1814 IL] does not appear to have ever gone to TX.
It's speculation - but she was married years prior to the family's move to Austin, and all her children were born in AR. According to their births, she seems to have remained in AR during the years the Boatwrights made the trip to TX. This would explain the number 10 vs. 11.
Furthermore, on this same thought...
The youngest children of Thomas and Amy Boatwright were 3 sons and 2 daughters.
Since only one daughter was mentioned, this in a way, validates that Patsy was not
with them. Assuming '10' is an accurate number quoted in the resource, William,
b. 1814 IL would be the 10th child (including both those living in the household and
those living in their own households) who moved to TX.
Next,
The resource also mentioned that the below William could be the son of the original
settler, Thomas. I feel in agreement with this and wondered if you also believe it
to be William, born 1814 IL:
-From the Memorandum of Land Applicants in Austin's Colony - 1833 Land A book:
Thos. Boatwright from Arkansas, 27 years old, 2 male children, and his wife Lydia 23
applied for League D on Navasota river.
Anny Boatwright from Arkansas, 72 years old, with one male child, a widow applied for League M on the Navasota river.
Wm. Boatwright 22 and single, applies for 1/4 league on the Navasota river.
Richd. Boatwright from Arkansas, 24 years old, with one girl and Barbary 21 years old, his wife, applied for league No. 1 on the Middle Barnard.
Friend Boatwright from Arkansas, 32 years old, with 3 boys and 4 girls, and his wife Lydia 25 years old, applies for a league.
-From Austin Colony Pioneers the First List of Taxpapers 1837 of Washington Co.,
Texas:
Boatright F. (Friend)
Boatright M. - is this William? (Sometimes a cursive W looks like an M....)
Boatright Richard
Boatright Thomas
Determining that William, b. 1814 IL is actually the son of Thomas and Amy is one question of two that I have regarding him.
The other is to discover when/when/who he married. Have you run across anything listing the maiden name of Mary, wife of Wm, b. 1814 IL, or the place/date of marriage?
I'm assuming this is also William, b. 1814 IL:
1836 - 1838 Washington County AR Tax Lists Index -WILLIAM BOATWRIGHT
1837 - TX land/tax records - poss overlap in time, or different time periods within
the year.
1838 & 1839 Madison County AR Tax Lists Index - Name: WILLIAM BOATWRIGHT
1840 Cain Hill Washington County, Arkansas Census:
Wm Boatright: 1 male: 20 - 30;1 female: 20 - 30
1843 Arkansas Land Records
WILLIAM BOATWRIGHT FAYETTEVILLE Issue Date: March 1st
Document Number: 3433
Total Acres: 80
Act or Treaty: April 24, 1820
Description: 1 W½SE 5TH PM No 14N 32W 2
1846 - Birth of William & Mary's second child, which is the last AR birth.
1850 Madison, Missouri Census: [Madison Co, MO became Iron Co, in 1857/58].
William Boatright 36/1814 IL Occupation: Farmer; Mary A Boatright 25/1825 MO
I tend to think that William and Mary married in TX or AR. The reason I include TX as a possible marriage state is that the question arises as to when William returned from TX to AR. And did he return with a wife, or did he marry after returning to AR?
Since the first two children were born in AR, it would seem most likely they married in AR.
However, Mary was listed with a MO birth in most census records, and if I'm not mistaken, the Washington Co, MO area (which borders Madison and Iron Counties) also had citizens migrate to TX w/ Austin, so it's possible that William met Mary in TX, and could explain why the ended up back in this area....
In 1855 William is hauling Iron and Lead to Little Rock Landing, Missouri, on the
Mississippi River, just north of St. Genevieve, Missouri. He is noted several times
in the associated records of the Landing.
Update from Kay - January 2012: I traveled to the Rolla, Missouri location of the Missouri
Historical Society a few months ago to track down exactly what type of
lodge records they had
for William Boatwright of Iron County, Missouri.
While there I found a few things of interest - William disappeared in the Fall of 1866, per a letter written by his wife to the West Star Lodge. No 133.
My guess is that in 1870, she hoped he would still return home, and thus included him on the census listing for that year.
By 1871, their son committed suicide in the home they previously resided, and two of his daughters were known to have married.
What became of their oldest daughter is still in question, but I believe I have found a marriage record for her also.....this needs further verification.
By 1880, his wife, Mary and their youngest daughter, Josephine, appear in the 1880 Illinois census. This is the last place I find them. (I did locate descendants of Josephine's two illegitimate sons born in Illinois, but they have no additional information on the family).
I suspect that the William Boatwright who is listed in the Civil War hospital in Cape Girardeau in mid-1865 is this same William, b. 1814, Illinois. It leads me to wonder if he became despondent after his return...and if this is the reason he disappeared by the fall of 1866 (approximately 1 year later?) Or, if he continued to try to do wagoneer work, driving to Little Rock, Missouri and was ambushed during one of those trips. Research proves this area was not safe during that time.
Whatever the reason/cause, I believe he died in the Fall of 1866.
This is now proven -
Home in 1880: Murphysboro, Jackson, Illinois
Name: Mary Boatwright
Age: 46 Estimated Birth Year: abt 1834 BirthPlace: Missouri
1880 Murphysboro, Jackson, Illinois:
Mary BOATWRIGHT Self Wd Female W 46 MO Keeping House
Josie BOATWRIGHT Dau S Female W 21 MO At Home MO
Robert BOATWRIGHT GSon S Male W 3 IL At Home IL MO
William BOATWRIGHT GSon S Male W 8M IL At Home IL MO
Year: 1836 Name: WILLIAM BOATWRIGHT State: AR County: Washington County Pages: 004, 005, 006 Database: AR 1830-1839 Tax Lists Index Year: 1838 Name: WILLIAM BOATWRIGHT State: AR County: Washington County Page: 003 Database: AR 1830-1839 Tax Lists Index Years: 1838 & 1839 Name: WILLIAM BOATWRIGHT State: AR County: Madison County Pages: 001 Database: AR 1830-1839 Tax Lists Index 1840 Census: Name: Wm Boatright Township: Cain Hill County: Washington State: Arkansas Census Place: Washington County, Arkansas; Roll: 20; Page: 265. 1 male: 20 - 30 1 female: 20 - 30 Arkansas Land Records WILLIAM BOATWRIGHT FAYETTEVILLE Issue Date:March 1, 1843 Document Number: 3433 Total Acres: 80 Signature: Yes Canceled Document: No Mineral Rights Reserved: No Metes and Bounds: No Statutory Reference: 3 Stat. 566 Multiple Warantee Names: No Act or Treaty: April 24, 1820 Multiple Patentee Names: No Entry Classification: Sale-Cash Entries Land Description: 1 W½SE 5TH PM No 14N 32W 2The William Boatwright family moved to MO from ARK between 1846-1850.
1850 Census: Name: William Boatright Date: September 3, 1850 Age: 36 Estimated birth year: abt 1814 Birth place: Illinois Gender: Male Home in 1850 (City,County,State): Not Stated, Madison, Missouri Occupation: Farmer Page: 233 Roll: M432_405 1860 Census: Name: William Boatright Date: June 16, 1860 Age in 1860: 45 Birthplace: Illinois Home in 1860: Arcadia, Iron, Missouri Occupation: Farmer Gender: Male Value of real estate: $800 Post Office: Ironton Roll: M653_624 Page: 0 Year: 1860 Head of Household: William Boatright 1870 Census: Name: William Boatwright Date: August 18, 1870 Estimated Birth Year: abt 1814 Age in 1870: 56 Birthplace: Illinois Home in 1870: Township 34 Range 3 East, Iron, Missouri Occupation: Farmer Race: White Gender: Male Value of real estate: $800 Post Office: Ironton Roll: M593_780 Page: 542 Image: 617 Year: 1870(note: 1850 & 1870 census list the mother's birthstate as MO; 1860 census lists it as TN)
Notes for MARY A.:
1850 Census: Name: Mary A Boatright Date: September 3, 1850 Age: 25 Estimated birth year: abt 1825 Birth place: Missouri Gender: Female Home in 1850 (City,County,State): Not Stated, Madison, Missouri Page: 233 Roll: M432_405 1860 Census: Name: Mary A Boatright Date: June 16, 1860 Age in 1860: 35 Birthplace: Tennessee Home in 1860: Arcadia, Iron, Missouri Gender: Female Value of real estate: $0 Post Office: Ironton Roll: M653_624 Page: 0 Year: 1860 Head of Household: William Boatright 1870 Census: Name: Mary Boatwright Date: August 18, 1870 Estimated Birth Year: abt 1824 Age in 1870: 46 Birthplace: Missouri Home in 1870: Township 34 Range 3 East, Iron, Missouri Race: White Gender: Female Value of real estate: $0 Post Office: Ironton Roll: M593_780 Page: 542 Image: 617 Year: 1870The following 1880 Census entry from Illinois census appears to be Mary with daughter Josie and grandsons, but not proven:
1880 Census: Name: Mary Boatwright Date: June 22, 1880 Home in 1880: Murphysboro, Jackson, Illinois Age: 46 Estimated Birth Year: abt 1834 BirthPlace: Missouri Relation to head-of-household: Self Father's birthplace: --- Mother's birthplace: --- Occupation: Keeping House Marital status: Widowed Race: White Gender: Female Census Place: Murphysboro, Jackson, Illinois; Roll: T9_215; Family History Film: 1254215; Page: 136.3000; Enumeration District: 40; Image: 0032.
Children of WILLIAM BOATWRIGHT and MARY A. are:
8-177. i. SARAH JANE BOATWRIGHT, b. 1845, Arkansas.
8-178. ii. JOHN BOATWRIGHT, b. 1849, Arkansas; d. 01 Apr 1871, Iron County,
Missouri.
8-179. iii. MARY BOATWRIGHT, b. 26 May 1851, Missouri; d. 09 Jan 1902, Flat
River, St. Francois County, Missouri.
8-180. iv. JULIA ANN BOATWRIGHT, b. 1857, Missouri.
8-181. v. JOSEPHINE BOATWRIGHT, b. 1859, Missouri.
last modified: December 2, 2009
URL: http://www.boatwrightgenealogy.com
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