Biography - Samuel A. Boggs

SAMUEL A. BOGGS Samuel A. Boggs came to this locality in 1844 from his native county of Madison, Ala., his birth having occurred there May 25, 1816, his parents, Samuel O. and Mary (Kent) Boggs, being born, reared and married near Savannah, Ga. They moved to Madison County, Ala., when it was a new country, and there continued to reside until the father’s death, which occurred at the age of eighty-four years, the mother being about the same age at the time of her death, she dying at the home of a daughter in Talladega County. Mr. Boggs was a planter all his life, was a soldier in the War of 1812, also in one of the Indian wars, and he and his wife were members of the Methodist Church. His father, Joseph Boggs, came from Ireland to the United States prior to the Revolution, and he became a member of the Continental army and was captain of a company, being in a number of hard-fought battles. Samuel A. Boggs was the tenth of eleven children born to his parents, nine of whom grew to maturity and married, he being the only one now living. He spent his school days in Alabama, and in 1836 or 1837 he joined a company to help gather together the Creek Indians before their removal to the reservation prepared for them west of the Mississippi River. Soon after this he commenced to farm in Alabama, and by energy and economy he soon gained a good start, and in 1844 he gathered to gather all his possessions, and came to Louisiana, and started to opening a farm in the wilderness. He has always resided within two miles of where he first located, and has opened up a great deal of land. His marriage, which occurred in 1838, was to Miss Jane Cavett, a native of Madison County, Ala., who died December 3, 1861, her birth having occurred in 1822. She became the mother of seven sons and one daughter, five sons and the daughter now living: Alexander C. (who is engaged in saw-milling in the Choctaw Nation), Samuel T. (a member of the well-known mercantile firm of Martin, Boggs & Hughes), Moses J. (who is managing the home place), Henry Luther (is a merchant of Plain Dealing), Jefferson D. (is a clerk in a railroad office in Texas), and Mary L. (who is the wife of Thomas Martin, a planter of Caddo Parish), Arthur (died at the age of thirty-nine years on Red River), James C. (died when a child in Alabama), and Richard V. (who belonged to a Louisiana regiment, and died in St. Mary's Parish). Alexander C. was also a soldier in the Confederate army, and lost his right arm at Atlanta. The mother of these children was a member of the Baptist Church. In 1863 Mr. Boggs wedded Louisa (Fowler) Davis, widow of J. J. Davis, she being born in the State of Tennessee. She had, by her first husband, one child, A. G. Davis, who recently died, leaving a widow and four children. He was a planter by calling, was also a successful educator and was a member of the Missionary Baptist Church at the time of his death, which occurred when he was thirty-four years old. Mr. Boggs and his wife are Missionary Baptists, and he has been a member of the same for the past forty-one years, this being the first church established here. He has been a Democrat all his life, and for six years prior to the war was a member of the police jury. He has always been noted for his great strength, and, although seventy-four years of age, he is yet hale and hearty.

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Contributed 29 Aug 2020 by Norma Hass, extracted from Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana, published in 1890, page 128.

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