Daniel J. Boatwright
(1831-1907)
DANIEL J. BOATWRIGHT, farmer, Cleburne, Texas.
- All his life Mr. Boatwright has followed, with substantial results,
the occupation to which he was reared and in which he is now engaged
- farming. He is justly recognized as one of the leading tillers of
the soil, and as a man, no less than a citizen, he is highly esteemed.
He was born in Elbert county, Georgia, in 1831, and was the eighth of
ten children born to Daniel and Elizabeth (Carpenter) Boatwright, the
father a native of Virginia. The elder Boatwright moved to Elbert county,
Georgia when thirty years of age, was married there and there resided
until 1837, when he moved into Cherokee purchase, North Georgia. There
he made his home until 1856, when his death occurred. The father served
as a substitute in the Creek or Cherokee (Indian) war in Florida. The
paternal grandfather, a native of Virginia, was in the war for independence.
Daniel Boatwright, the father of the subject of this sketch, was six
years of age during the latter year of the Revolutionary war, and remembered
distinctly the battles fought near him. The paternal grandfather of
Mrs. Boatwright, also fought through the war for independence. He was
a native of North Carolina, and was over 100 years of age at his death.
The family of Daniel Boatwright scattered, and Daniel J. and his brother, William, started for Texas, in 1857, leaving their mother in Georgia, who died in 1864. She had been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church ever since she was a child. The brothers Boatwright came across the country in wagons. Daniel J., our subject, remained two years in Grand View, and in 1860 settled on the farm adjoining where he now lives. He is the owner of 280 acres, and has given his children 200 acres.
He was married in Whitfield county, Georgia, in 1852, to Miss Martha O'Rear, daughter of Benjamin O'Rear, of that county. Her mother, whose name before marriage was Elizabeth Cook, was of English parentage, and was reared near Macomb, Georgia, and died when Mrs. Boatwright was a small girl. Her father, of Irish ancestry and a farmer during life, died in 1855, in Georgia, his native State. Mr. and Mrs. O'Rear were the parents of nine children: William, deceased, whose family are now in the Indian Territory; Mary, deceased, was the wife of Madison Atkins, the family now in Georgia; Franklin, deceased, whose family are in Arkansas; Louis, also deceased, was a soldier in the Confederate army, and his family now reside in this State; Martha, wife of D. J. Boatwright; Munroe, who resides in Columbia county, Arkansas; Elizabeth married W. C. Boatwright, and is deceased; Emery died at the age of eighteen years, and Thomas at the age of twelve. Mr. O'Rear was married three times, and by his first wife had three children: Daniel, deceased, whose family is in Louisiana; James, deceased, whose family is in Texas; and Faraby [Feriba O'Rear Harp], who married Cleburne Harp [Seaborn Harp], and died, and the family now reside in Johnson county.
Mr. and Mrs. Boatwright are the parents of seven children, six now living: Amanda, married A. Waldaver, a farmer of this county, and they have two children; Daniel F., a physician of Wilson county, married Etta Deeson, of this county, and they have one child; Thomas, farmer, married Delila Luper and they have four children; Rhoda; Laura; Benjamin, married Cynthia Thurman. When Mr. Boatwright settled in Johnson county his nearest neighbor was two miles away and the country was wild and unsettled. In 1862 he enlisted, at Buchanan, in the Thirtieth Texas Cavalry, made up first as Partisan Rangers, and served in Kansas and Indian Territory. He was in the following engagements: Poison Spring, Arkansas; Roseville, Arkansas; Cabin Creek, Indian Territory, where his command captured 600 well loaded wagons, and many other minor engagements. He served until a short time before the surrender, when he came home on a furlough.
Mr. Boatwright is a Democrat and is deeply interested in political affairs but has never held office. He was a Royal Arch Mason, Cleburne Lodge, No. 315. About twenty-four years ago he joined the Missionary Baptist Church and has held membership in it ever since. He is of English descent on the paternal, and of Dutch on the maternal side of the house.
Source: The Memorial and Biographical History of Johnson
and Hill Counties, Texas. Lewis Publishing Co., 1892.
Contributed by Brad Willis