Calvin Francis Morgan Boggess will be 187 years old this Friday, February 2, having been born in 1820.
Calvin Francis Morgan Boggess for
years was thought to be an embarrassment to the Boggess family, in that the
little known of him for so many years in this part of the family indicated he
was an illegitimate son of Bennett Boggess born within two or three years
following Bennet's1830 marriage to Eliza Wellborn. This unpleasant idea was
thought for two reasons.
Calvin's name appeared among those listed and receiving items in the 1842 will
for Bennett Boggess, though the will did not indicate why Calvin was named or
what was his relationship. The will is on file in Huntsville, Madison County,
Alabama in the courthouse files, which I have examined in my visit in 1980.
Calvin apparently was a soldier of fortune and published a book in his later
life about his exploits in life. Reportedly, he hoped the sales revenue of the
book would enable him to acquire an operation he needed for which his poor
financial condition did not enable him to afford. In the book, he claimed a
birth year of 1833. He also claimed his mother's name was Delilah Harland. So,
it seemed that Bennett had roamed! This book was known by quite a number of
folks in the Boggess family, but nobody had given much conversation or credence
about it. It was almost like a hidden family secret.
The stealth of my investigations, I hope, have relieved our family of thinking
that. On my visit to Fort Meyers, Florida about 1983, I took occasion to visit
the Fort Ogden Cemetery in near-by Fort Ogden, DeSoto County, Florida, where I'd
been led to believe was Calvin's burial place. Sure enough, I located his grave
marker. On it was his birth and death dates. The birth date was February 2,
1820, which meant that Bennett must have had a first marriage about which we did
not know, and that Delilah Harland was his first wife. I trust the report of
date information on the grave marker more than the book published designed to
promote his personality. Calvin just took literary license to make his age
appear younger in the book! We do not know why.