JULIA ELLEN TEAL BOATWRIGHT
23 February 1860 – 12 June 1931
Chesterfield County, South Carolina
Julia Ellen Teal Boatwright spent her entire eighty-one years within a few miles of the Teal family homeplace near Chesterfield, South Carolina. Daughter of a Pee Dee-region farm family, wife of Drew Lewis Boatwright for over fifty years, and mother of three, Julia lived through the aftermath of the Civil War, the hard turn-of-the-century farm economy, the First World War, and the early years of the Great Depression — all without ever, so far as the records show, leaving Chesterfield County for long.
Quick Facts
| Born | 23 February 1860 — Chesterfield, Chesterfield Co., South Carolina |
| Parents | Benjamin Franklin Teal (1822–1868) and Eliza A. Davis (1819–1883) |
| Married | abt. 1878 (late 1878 or early 1879) — Chesterfield, SC, to Drew Lewis Boatwright |
| Spouse | Drew Lewis Boatwright (1 April 1860 – 9 February 1939) |
| Children | George R., Benjamin F. (infant), and Fannie Mae Boatwright |
| Died | 12 June 1931 (age 71) — near Chesterfield, SC |
| Buried | Teal Cemetery, near Zoar, Chesterfield County, SC |
Early Life: A Teal of Chesterfield County
Julia Ellen Teal was born 23 February 1860, just months before South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union. She grew up on the farm of her father, Benjamin Franklin Teal, and mother, Eliza A. Davis Teal, in Chesterfield County, deep in South Carolina's Pee Dee region.
The 1860 census, taken when Julia was just an infant, captured the whole Teal household together: Benjamin, a 38-year-old farmer, his wife Eliza, and eight children ranging from teenagers down to baby Julia herself, listed at one year old. Her older siblings — William, David, Thomas (also recorded as Benjamin T.), Isabella, Daniel, Frank, and Wesley (C.W.) — would have made for a lively, crowded farmhouse.
| Name | Approx. Birth Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| William Teal | abt. 1843 | age 17 in 1860 census |
| David Teal | abt. 1845 | age 15 in 1860 census |
| Thomas (Benjamin T.) Teal | abt. 1847 | age 13 in 1860 census |
| Isabella Teal | abt. 1848 | age 12 in 1860 census |
| Daniel Teal | abt. 1850 | age 10 in 1860 census |
| Frank Teal | abt. 1852 | age 8 in 1860 census |
| Wesley (C.W.) Teal | abt. 1854 | age 6 in 1860 census |
| Julia Ellen Teal | 1860 | the subject of this biography — age 1 in 1860 census |
Household of B. F. Teal, 1860 U.S. Census, Chesterfield County, SC, Dwelling #351, Family #350.
A family research note preserved with these records asks a fair question — was Julia Ellen a Rivers or a Teal by birth? The documentary evidence settles it firmly in favor of Teal, corroborated by an Anson County, North Carolina deed record (Book 22, pages 356–358) in which Julia's mother, recorded as “Eliza A. [Davis] Teal,” conveyed land to Daniel B. Lisenby.
Julia's father Benjamin Franklin Teal died in 1868, when Julia was only about eight years old — during the chaotic years of Reconstruction in South Carolina, a period marked by military occupation, the reorganization of the state government, and profound upheaval in the rural economy that the Teal family, like most Chesterfield County farm families, would have felt directly. Her mother Eliza lived on until 1883, so Julia would have known her mother well into her own adult married life.
Historical Note
South Carolina bore some of the heaviest scars of the Civil War of any state, and Chesterfield County itself saw the passage of Sherman's forces in the war's closing weeks in early 1865. No direct record ties the Teal family to specific wartime events, but the family would have lived through the occupation, emancipation, and the reordering of Southern farm labor that followed — the backdrop against which young Julia grew up.
Marriage to Drew Lewis Boatwright
Sometime around 1878, Julia Ellen Teal married Drew Lewis Boatwright, a young man from another well-established Chesterfield County farm family. The exact wedding date has not survived, but it can be closed in on two ways: the birth of the couple's first child in September 1879 points to a marriage no later than late 1878, and the 1900 census — which recorded the couple as married 21 years — points to the same window, late 1878 or very early 1879.
Drew was born 1 April 1860, the son of George R. Boatwright (1819–1894) and his first wife, Lauretta Hurst (1831–1863). Drew's mother died when he was only about three years old, and he was raised for at least part of his childhood in his father's household alongside siblings from that first marriage. By 1880, Drew and Julia — both listed as 19 years old — were keeping their own household at Court House, Chesterfield County, with infant son George, not yet a year old, completing the family.
Family Life Through the Decades
Building a Household (1880s)
The young couple's household grew through the 1880s. Son George R. Boatwright arrived in September 1879, followed by Benjamin F. Boatwright in May 1881 and Fannie Mae Boatwright in June 1885. Sorrow touched the family early: baby Benjamin lived only three months, dying in August 1881 and being buried that same month. The 1900 census would later confirm this loss in its own quiet way, recording that Julia had borne three children, with two living.
Turn of the Century (1900)
By 1900, the family was settled at Court House, Chesterfield County. The census taker recorded “Drury L.” Boatwright, age 40, and his wife “Julia E.,” also 40, married 21 years, with son George (age 20) and daughter Fannie (age 14) still at home. Cotton remained the backbone of the Chesterfield County farm economy at this time, though the boll weevil's advance into South Carolina in the years just ahead would soon test farm families across the Pee Dee region.
A Daughter Marries (1902)
On 27 July 1902, Fannie Mae Boatwright married Charlie Lester Davis in Chesterfield. The couple settled nearby and, by the 1910 census, had four young children of their own — Elma, Blanche, Lila, and Atlas — giving Julia and Drew their first grandchildren.
Middle Age and the World War I Era (1910s–1920)
The 1920 census found Drew, now 59, and Julia — recorded that year as “Jenn E.,” clearly a mishearing or misreading of Julia Ellen — still keeping house together at Court House, Chesterfield County, their children grown and gone. This was the decade of the First World War and the 1918 influenza pandemic, both of which touched rural South Carolina communities broadly, though no specific family record here documents their direct impact on the Boatwright household.
Later Years (1930)
By the 1930 census, Drew was 69 and Julia 70, still together at Court House, Chesterfield County — more than fifty years after their wedding. This was the eve of the Great Depression, which would soon bear down hard on small Southern cotton farmers, though Julia would not live to see much of it.
Children of Julia and Drew
Julia and Drew Boatwright raised two children to adulthood, having lost their middle son in infancy.
| Name | Born | Died | Married |
|---|---|---|---|
| George R. Boatwright | Sept. 1879, Chesterfield Co., SC | 21 Sept. 1939, Chesterfield Co., SC | Garphelia F. Swinnie (1883–1933) |
| Benjamin F. Boatwright | 22 May 1881, Chesterfield Co., SC | 23 Aug. 1881, Chesterfield Co., SC | — (died in infancy) |
| Fannie Mae Boatwright | 12 June 1885, Chesterfield Co., SC | 19 Oct. 1970, Florence, SC | Charlie Lester Davis (1882–1953), 27 July 1902 |
Family Group Sheet, Drew Lewis Boatwright and Julia Ellen Teal.
Their elder son, George R. Boatwright, married Garphelia F. Swinnie and remained in Chesterfield County his whole life, dying there in September 1939, just months after his father. Their daughter, Fannie Mae Boatwright, married Charlie Lester Davis in 1902 and lived to age 85, passing away in Florence, South Carolina, in October 1970 — outliving both of her parents by decades. Fannie's obituary named her five surviving children: Elma (Mrs. John William Purvis) of Wadesboro, Blanche (Mrs. Wallace) of Monroe, P. Melton Davis of Chesterfield, and sons Drew (of Kannapolis) and Loubert (of Key West, Florida).
Family Connection
Elma later married John William Purvis, Jr. — a connection of particular interest, as he was Charles Purvis's first cousin once removed, linking this Boatwright/Teal line directly to the preparer's own family.
Final Years and Death
Julia's health declined in her last years. According to her obituary in the Chesterfield Advertiser, she had been in poor health for about two and a half years before her death and had been confined to bed for over a year of that time. She seemed to be holding her own until the Saturday before she died, then took a turn for the worse and passed away the following Friday, 12 June 1931, at her home near Chesterfield — just eleven days shy of her 72nd birthday.
From the Obituary (Chesterfield Advertiser, 2 July 1931)
“She was a faithful mother and grandmother and was always ready to welcome all who came in to see her… She bore her pains well and did not worry about her troubles.” The obituary recorded that Julia left behind her husband, two surviving children (George Boatwright and Mrs. Lester Davis), seven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
Her funeral service was conducted at the home by her pastor, Mr. Gobe Smith, and she was laid to rest in the Teal Cemetery near Zoar — the same burying ground where her own parents and, eight years later, her husband would also be buried.
Drew Lewis Boatwright outlived Julia by nearly eight years, dying 9 February 1939 at home in Chesterfield, just shy of his 79th birthday. His obituary described him as “a loved and respected citizen of Chesterfield… upright in character, kind and generous and truly loved by a wide circle of friends.” He was buried beside Julia in the Teal Cemetery following services at Zoar Methodist Church, the same church that had figured throughout the family's life in Chesterfield County.
The World Julia Lived Through
Julia Ellen Teal Boatwright's life — 1860 to 1931 — spans an extraordinary stretch of American and South Carolina history. She was born on the eve of the Civil War and secession, came of age during Reconstruction and the difficult rebuilding of the Southern farm economy, married and raised children through the height of the cotton era, and lived to see the arrival of the automobile, the First World War, and the early rumblings of the Great Depression. None of these larger events are documented as touching the Teal or Boatwright families directly beyond what the census and obituary records show — but they form the backdrop against which this quiet, close-to-home farm life was lived.
- 1860 – Julia born; South Carolina secedes from the Union that December
- 1861–1865 – Civil War; Sherman's forces pass through South Carolina in early 1865
- 1865–1877 – Reconstruction era in South Carolina
- 1868 – Julia's father, Benjamin Franklin Teal, dies
- abt. 1878–1879 – Julia marries Drew Lewis Boatwright
- 1879–1885 – Children George, Benjamin, and Fannie Mae are born
- 1902 – Daughter Fannie Mae marries Charlie Lester Davis
- early 1900s–1920s – Boll weevil infestation disrupts Southern cotton farming
- 1917–1918 – World War I and the influenza pandemic
- 1929 – Stock market crash; onset of the Great Depression
- 1931 – Julia dies in Chesterfield County
- 1939 – Drew Lewis Boatwright dies; buried beside Julia in Teal Cemetery
Open Research Questions
- The exact marriage date for Julia and Drew has not been located; it is currently estimated (abt. 1878) from the birth of their first child and the “21 years married” notation in the 1900 census.
- Julia's death certificate lists her age at death as 75 and an implied birth year of 1856, which conflicts with the 1860 birth year given on her tombstone and consistently used throughout the census record. This discrepancy is unresolved and worth further investigation.
- The burial date of 13 June 1931 is an estimate only; neither the death certificate nor the obituary specifies a burial date.
- Precise birth years for Julia's Teal siblings (William, David, Thomas/Benjamin T., Isabella, Daniel, Frank, and Wesley) are approximated from ages given in the 1860 census and have not been individually verified against other records.
Sources
This biography draws on a family group sheet compiled 7 July 2026, incorporating U.S. federal census records (1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1920, 1930), tombstone transcriptions from James C. Pigg's Chesterfield County, South Carolina Cemetery Survey (1995), South Carolina death records, Find A Grave memorials, and obituaries published in the Chesterfield Advertiser (1931, 1939, 1970). Full source citations are preserved in the underlying research file.
Prepared by
Charles Purvis
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