Hi, I am hoping that you can help me. I am researching to document that John W. Boler is the son of William Riden Boler, both of whom were listed in the 1880 Franklin Izard Co., AR census (see the 1880 and 1900 census data at the end of this e-mail). John was born in Mississippi. William was born in Alabama. William's 1st wife, Martha Gordon, was born in Alabama also. John's birthdate was 1/1851, according to the 1900 Franklin, Izard Co., AR census. Carol Shrader tells me that there are errors in the James Boulware geneology (Attachment 3). Wilma (Younger) Nation of Arkansas kindly did a Violet Hill Cemetery (Arkansas) lookup in Carroll Hayden's cemetery book. Here is it lists for William R. Boler, Martha Boler, and Elizabeth Boler. William R. Boler 26 Sep 1824 - 28 Oct 1891 Violet Hill Cem. Husband of 1) Martha 2) Elizabeth (Forrest) Boler. Martha Boler 6 Apr 1826 - 10 Sept 1886 - Violet Hill Elizabeth Boler 4 Jun 1847 - 18 Sept 1915 - Violet Hill I found this online at http://www.msgen.net/co/scott/1860/scott1860v.html: Scott Co., MS, 1860 US Census (W131-134) 886/886 Boler William 37 M farmer 3060 500 Ala Martha 32 F Ala Mary 15 F Ms Andrew 12 M Ms John 10 M Ms Donely 4 F Ms Theodore 1 M Ms Also, please see the three attachments at the end of this e-mail. Does anyone have 1) family bible pages that show John W. Boler as the son of William Riden Boler? 2) newspaper birth announcement for John W. Boler? 3) church christening information for John W. Boler? 4) birth certificate or whatever was in effect in those days for John W. Boler? 5) Mississippi census that lists John W. Boler as the son of William Riden Boler? (He moved to Arkansas after the Civil War.) 6) some other avenue I should pursue? If so, I'd like to get a copy of items that document this relationship. Some items that I have are these: a.. John Boler is listed as the son of William Riden Boler in a James Boulware genealogy provided to Delores Sanders by R. Robert Jr. Abney in 1999. I'm told by Carol Schrader and believe that Delores Sanders probably agrees that it has errors in it. Please see Attachment 3. a.. The Izard County Historian, April 1985, Volume 16, Number 2 has an article entitled "History of the Boler Mill and Boler Family" by Glenon Williams of Mammoth Spring, AR, a granddaughter of Jefferson Boler, son of William R. Boler (with input from Myrtle Billingsley Batterton, Mildred Jackson Davis, and Ada Jennings Mullins). Attachment 1 consists of some excerpts from this article. Attachment 1: pp. 18 - 20 of The Izard County Historian Boler article: Carol Schrader told me this: "The date that is listed on the historical marker for Boler's Inn is also incorrect. Norfleet Staton, who built the house, was only 4 years old in 1835. The area was newly acquired from the indians and there wasn't much but rough cabins. The actual construction can be dated by an 1856 letter from Norfleet Staton to his father in North Carolina." "...The history of the Boler family in Arkansas is short and rather pathetic. They were Mississippians of Scotch-Irish descent. William R. Boler (father of J. D.) was the eldest of six Boler brothers in the Confederate Army at the same time. They were the sons of Wesley Boler and Eliza Walton, were plantation and slave owners in Union, Newton County, Mississippi. Wesley Boler had also built the Boler Inn in that town in 1835. That was about half way between Jackson, Mississippi and Mobile, Alabama. It has now become a local landmark. It is used in all their centennial celebrations and is pictured often in their local paper. The Boler Inn was still standing in 1975 when Mother and I visited there, but very rundown. A bronze plaque in the year reads: BOLER'S INN Built by Wesley Boler in 1835. Used as stage coach inn on the Jackson Road. During Civil War Gen. Wm. T. Sherman Spent the night here during raid of February, 1861. It is not known why he did not burn it. Had he but known that two or three of the owner's sons were fighting his forces within a short distance of town, he probably would have lit the torch. I'm sure my great-great grandparents did not enjoy having him as a guest. One of the Boler brothers was killed on the last day of the fighting, one went to Texas, William R. Boler moved his family to Arkansas, the rest of the family stayed in Mississippi. It was never clear why he chose to come to Arkansas. Some of his family thought he had probably been in a number of Arkansas battles and liked the state. They knew he spent four years in the army and fought through Tennessee, having been on Lookout Mountain in the "Battle Above the Clouds: overlooking Moccasin Bend on the Tennessee River. During the battle, the Confederate forces were on top of the mountain above the clouds, so it did not rain on them but they could see a big storm on the Federal forces below. Of course, history shows they could not hold the mountain and retreated down the back side at night in order that they might live to fight again. Others have speculated that by leaving Mississippi he missed part of the harsh Reconstruction Period, while some thought the Boler family had lost everything in the war. Since they had been rather big slave owners, the former slaves might still expect to be fed but wouldn't want to work and he simply could not feed them. That very thing happened to many of my Mississippi relatives. However, it is known that several loyal black people made the move to Arkansas with William R. Boler. He had married Martha Gordon, also of Union, and all of their children were born in Mississippi. My mother got her given name from her grandmother's maiden name and all her life had to explain to the curious why she had a man's name. Some of their Gordon relatives either came on the move to Arkansas or came a little later. They settled farther south in Arkansas and Jeff Boler corresponded with a cousin down there for a long time but the cousin had the "big head", wouldn't write him any more, so we lost that branch of the family. One of Arkansas' best known World War II heros, who later was elected to a high state office several times, is a descendant of that group. The family history, "The Gordons of the Deep South" makes good reading. W. R. and Martha Gordon Boler settled first at Wild Cherry with some friends named Smith who were already settled there. They didn't stay long until he bought a section of land on Big Strawberry between Wiseman and Franklin. Wiseman, the town I called home the many years we lived on the Horseshoe Bend Ranch, was not Wiseman back in that day. The post office was established and named later. I understand that Three names were considered for the new town. They were Montgomery, Wiseman, and Boler. There were a lot of Montgomerys in the area, even more Wisemans, but only one set of Bolers, so the name Wiseman was selected. This information came from Lee Williams of Wiseman, my cousin, whose mother was a Wiseman. He said he got his information from Bertha Montgomery Smith. Monroe Montgomery, Bertha's father was the first postmaster of Wiseman. On the farm on Big Strawberry, he built a house, barns and out buildings. Pine was hauled from the Wideman area, probably by ox wagon, for this purpose. He also built and operated a cotton gin on the farm. This land was later owned by Jeff Boler and is where my mother was born and lived until she was twelve. The land, all or part, had been owned by the late Homer Harber and his family for many, many years. William R. Boler had five sons and two daughters. Mary married Peter Smith and moved to the state of Washington. Donia married Tink Nicks, the eldest son was Dr. Andrew J. Boler, who owned a drug store and general mercantile store in Franklin, and who was murdered by another doctor in the Boler Drug Store when he was a little less than 30 years old. Son John moved to Oklahoma. Theodore lived at Harrison until his death. Only Jeff and William (Uncle Billy to me) stayed in this area. At this time, I know of very few descendants of William R. Boler who carry the Boler name. It seems his sons and grandsons were destined to die young and without male children." ..." Attachment 2: Census Information: I was so lucky to have had the census information provided from two sources, one Betty McCollum, and the other Delores Sanders of Mississippi. They are pretty much the same, except that the sister-in-law listed with John Boler was interpreted "Suckie" in one and "Lucky ?" in another. Source 1: ======================================== 1880 Census for Izard Co., Ar.; Franklin Twp.: #170/172: BOLER, John farmer 29 Miss/Ala/Ala Leona V. wife 26 Ga/?/? Henry G. son 6 Ark/Miss/Ga (This is my grandfather Henry Garland Boler) Minnie dau 1 Ark/MissGa Lucky ? sis-in-law 23 Ga/?/? Andrew T. nephew 2 Ark/Miss/Ga #173/173: BOLER, William R. farmer 55 Ala/SC/SC Martha wife 54 Ala/SC/SC Theodore son 21 Miss/Ala/Ala Jefferson son 18 Miss/Ala/Ala William son 16 Miss/Ala/Ala Riles, James T. Laborer 20 Ga/SC/Tn William Laborer 24 Ga/SC/Tn ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1900 Census for Izard Co., Ar.; Franklin Twp. #43/43: BOLER, John W. hd. (1/1851) 49 (md.26) Mlr/fl Ms/Al/Ga Leona B. wife (9/1853) 46 " " (8) (7) Ga/Ga/Ga Henry G. son (9/1874) 25 S frm lbr. Ar/Ms/Ga Minnie V. dau (3/1879) 21 S Ar/Ms/Ga Myrtle L. dau (8/1881) 18 S Ar/Ms/Ga Laura E. dau (6/1885) 14 S Ar/Ms/Ga Arizona dau (11/1887) 12 S Ar/Ms/Ga Raymond R. son (12/1889) 10 S Ar/Ms/Ga Truman C. son (1/1894) 6 S Ar/Ms/Ga Source 2: 1880 Federal Census Census Place: Franklin, Izard, Arkansas Source: FHL Film 1254047 National Archives Film T9-0047 Page 354D Relation Sex Marr Race Age Birthplace William R. BOLER Self M M W 55 AL Occ: Farmer Fa: SC Mo: SC Martha BOLER Wife F M W 54 AL Occ: Keeping House Fa: SC Mo: SC Theodore BOLER Son M S W 21 MS Occ: Farmer Fa: AL Mo: AL Jefferson BOLER Son M S W 18 MS Occ: Farm Laborer Fa: AL Mo: AL William BOLER Son M S W 16 MS Occ: Farm Laborer Fa: AL Mo: AL James T. RILES Other M S W 20 GA Occ: Farm Laborer Fa: SC Mo: TN William RILES Other M S W 24 GA Occ: Farm Laborer Fa: SC Mo: TN Census Place: Franklin, Izard, Arkansas Source: FHL Film 1254047 National Archives Film T9-0047 Page 354D Relation Sex Marr Race Age Birthplace John BOLER Self M M W 29 MS Occ: Farmer Fa: AL Mo: AL Leona V. BOLER Wife F M W 26 GA Occ: Keeping House Fa: --- Mo: --- Henry G. BOLER Son M S W 6 AR Fa: MS Mo: GA Minnie BOLER Dau F S W 1 AR Fa: MS Mo: GA Suckie BOLER SisterL F W W 23 GA Occ: Living In Family Fa: --- Mo: --- Andrew T. BOLER Nephew M S W 2 AR Fa: MS Mo: GA Attachment 3: Excerpt from the James Boulware geneology: : . Wesley Boulware (Boler) of South Carolina (1797-dec.) : . +Eliza Walton . . . . : : . . William Riden Boler of Alabama (1824-dec.) : . . +Martha n.n. . . . : : . . . Mary Eliza Boler (1845-1916) : . . . Andrew Boler of Mississippi (1847-dec.) : . . . +Nancy R. n.n. . . : : . . . . Wesley P. Boler (1869-dec.) : . . . John Boler of Mississippi (1850-dec.) : . . John M. Boler of Alabama (CSA) (1827-1904) : . . +Martha Adeline Boyd (?-1890) : . . . William W. Boler of Mississippi (1851-dec.) : . . . John M. Boler of Mississippi (1852-dec.) : . . . +Francis Victoria Germany : . . . Martha Virginia Adelaide Boler of Mississippi (1855-dec.) : . . . +George H. Abney of Georgia (1852-1881) : . . . . Ora E. Abney of Mississippi (1873-1889) : . . . . Mattie E. Abney of Mississippi (1876-dec.) : . . . . Joseph L. Abney of Mississippi (1879-dec.) : . . . Walter J. Boler of Mississippi (1866-dec.) : . . . +Pallie W. Germany . : : . . +Margaret Blondell Walls : : . . Mary Boler (1829-dec.) . : : . . +James Alexander Johnston : : . . . Amanda Elizabeth Johnston : . . . +James Kimbrell Meador : : . . James Hilry Boler of Mississippi (CSA) (1831-1863) : . . +Mary Josephine Camber . : : . . . Barnabas Boler of Mississippi (1849-dec.) : . . . Elizabeth Boler of Mississippi (1851-dec.) : . . . Mary Virginia Boler of Mississippi (1854-1933) : . . . +Anel Darvel Crenshaw : : . . . . Mary Elizabeth Crenshaw of Mississippi (1870-1959) : . . . . James Pleasant "Ples" Crenshaw of Mississippi (1872-1936) : . . . . +Mary Lucy Bassett : : . . . . Otho Dominico Crenshaw of Mississippi (1875-1914) : . . . . +Lottie Belle Gully : : . . . . +Ellen n.n. . . : : . . . . William Anel Crenshaw of Mississippi (1878-1974) : . . . . +Emma R. Waller . : : . . . . Eddie Eugene Crenshaw of Mississippi (1880-1881) : . . . . Leona Winfred Crenshaw of Mississippi (1882-1964)