An Arkansas Preacher

My apologies for the lengthy time away from this blog. The pandemic has kept me away from home and my computer. I’m now home all the time, so I can hopefully produce this blog on a little more regular basis.

I started the evening thinking to research a bit more about Ann “Nancy” Boatright Steger. Nancy is my 4th great-grandmother. Nancy and Skip Steger’s daughter, Sarah, married John Anderson. Their daughter, Mary Anderson, married Franklin Ingram. Their daughter, Sarah Elizabeth married William Henry Moore and had my grandmother Mary Margaret Moore. She, in turn, married William Robert Jones and had my father, John Louis Jones. Is that clear as mud? Now back to Ann “Nancy” Boatright. Researching family history, requires you to try to expand the family and find as many siblings as possible. In this case, Nancy had 19 siblings. Her father, James Boatright (Boatwright) first married Elizabeth Kidd, I think in 1768. They had 6 children, the last being born in 1777, which is also the year Elizabeth died. Perhaps from childbirth or complications from delivery. We’ll probably never know that fact.

In about 1778, James married Mary Kidd, who is believed to have been Elizabeth’s sister, although I haven’t found much about this family. They had 13 children, Nancy being the fourth of these. As often happens in family history research, I get distracted by other members of the family, such as Calvin Henry, who looked like my brother Rodney. This time, it was Nancy’s baby brother, Chesley Hood Boatright. Chesley is my fifth great uncle.

Chesley was the youngest of all James Boatright’s children. Chesley was born November 25, 1797 in Cumberland County, Virginia. He moved to Grainger County, Tennessee when he was about 20 years old. There he met and married Louisa Taylor on March 24, 1818. He was ordained by the Mt. Hebron Church in Knox County, Tennessee on November 1, 1833. He was active as a preacher, started and served multiple churches and ordained several new preachers.

On October 9, 1849 at 11 am, the family left for Arkansas. Their travel varied between a low of 3 miles to a high of 22 miles. Chesley was frequently a guest preacher at churches along the way. He doesn’t note what day they arrived at their destination, but noted that he preached at Brush Creek Church on January 6, 1850. It is said that Chesley Hood Boatright began the first Baptist Church in Madison County, Arkansas. For those of you not familiar with the area, my brother Craig, lives in Madison County, Arkansas although not near where the Boatrights lived. It is said that Chesley was a frequent visitor to the Cherokees in Oklahoma to preach there as well. Another odd coincidence I found: Chesley’s wife, Louisa was born in Bean Station, Grainger County, Tennessee. This is the same place that Ferdinand (aka Frederick) Lewis was captured by the Confederates (still the Jones side of the family).

Elder Chesley Hood Boatright died May 27, 1867. Chelsey’s brother, John Wade Boatright also lived in the area and is buried in the same family cemetery, which is now on someone’s farm.