Francis CalvinMorgan Boggess
By D. A. Sharpe
Francis Calvin Morgan Boggess was born Feb 02, 1820 in
Alabama, and died Jun 27, 1903 in DeSoto County, Florida. He married (1) MARGARET HALL Jul 22, 1852 in
Hillsborough, Florida. She was born
1827 in Florida, and died 1874 in De Soto County, Florida. He married (2) PAULINE R. SEABROOK Jan 04, 1874 in Mandarin,
Manatee County, Florida. She was
born Sep 1854 in Bluffton, Beaufort County, South Carolina, and died Sep 03,
1926.
Francis Calvin Morgan Boggess for years was
thought to be an embarrassment to the Boggess family of which my wife, Suzanne
Margaret Boggess Sharpe, is a part, in that the little known of him for so many
years led us to believe he was an illegitimate son of Bennett Boggess born
within two or three years following Bennet's1830 marriage to Eliza Wellborn.
This unpleasant idea to accept, and such was thought for two reasons.
His name appeared among those named and
receiving benefits in the 1842 will probated for his father, Bennett
Boggess. The will did not indicate
why Calvin was named or what was his relationship to Bennett Boggess. The will
is on file in Huntsville, Madison County, Alabama in the courthouse files,
which I have examined around 1980.
Calvin apparently was a soldier of fortune and
published a book in his later life about his exploits in life, A
Veteran of Four Wars, 1900. In the book he expressed hope that the sales
revenue of the book would enable him to acquire an operation he needed. His poor financial condition did not
enable him to afford the operation. In the book, he claimed a birth of November
21, 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 not
given much conversation or credence.
The sums of my investigations, I hope, have
relieved our family of thinking that Bennett Boggess adulterously fathered a
child. On my visit to Fort Meyers, Florida about 1983, I took occasion to visit
the Fort Ogden Cemetery in near-by Fort Ogden, De Soto 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 data
on the grave marker more than the book he published in 1900, designed to
promote his personality. Calvin apparently
took literary license to make his age appear younger in the book! We do not
know why. It could have been
to generate more sympathy for his need of the operation, which sales of the
book was to support. If he was age 67, instead of age 80, maybe some would think that
kind of money was appropriate to spend, whereas trying to raise it for an 80
year old might make some hesitate.
So, my conclusion is that Francis Calvin Morgan
Boggess was a legitimate son of Bennett Boggess, born in his first marriage to
a Delilah Harland. IÕve not
located a marriage certificate, but one may exist, and I hope some day to
locate it.
D. A. Sharpe, 805 Derting Road East, Aurora, TX, 76070-3712;
H: 817-638-5560; C: 817-504-6508