The Wife of Lewis Boatwright

The seventh child of my 4^th great grandparents, Thomas Davis and Nancy Rivers Davis, was a daughter named Elizabeth.

Elizabeth Davis was born about 1800 or 1801; no document has been found that provides her birth date. Census record for Chesterfield County shows her as age 50 in the 1850 Census.  She married Lewis Boatwright about 1818. This date is based on the birth of their firstborn George R. Boatwright, born 19 Jan 1819.

In the three censuses where she is enumerated, by name, she is listed as Elizabeth Boatwright.  In 1929 a book entitled "The Davis Family of Wales and America: the Genealogy of Morgan David" was published by Harry Alexander Davis.  Mr. Davis in his book has Elizabeth listed as Margaret Elizabeth Davis:

VII  Margaret Elizabeth: b. 1801-2, m. 1818 Lewis Boatwright, b. S.C. 1798; he  d. 1861-9; she  d. after 1870; res. Chesterfield Dist. They had:[1]

So Elizabeth Davis full given named is Margaret Elizabeth Davis according to Mr. Davis ; but, Is It? A search for sustaining documents turned up three additional documents that named Elizabeth Boatwright.

The first document was  a  "Bill for Partition" found in the Chesterfield District Court of Common Pleas, Equity Side, 1823-1869,[2]

Smith, E.B. Adm. & others vs. Elizabeth Boatwright & others - Bill for partition & c 1864

Lewis Boatwright died intestate 7 March 1863, leaving his widow, Elizabeth Boatwright and children: George R. Boatwright; Louisa Ann intermarried with Duncan Teal; Lucinda Boatwright; and grandchildren: William B. Davis, Elizabeth J. Davis and George R. Davis, the children of a deceased daughter, Elizabeth, intermarried with C. Washington Davis; Catherine J. Davis, Lewis Davis, Margaret Davis and Mary E. Davis, children of a deceased daughter, Mary the 2nd wife of C. Washington Davis; and William Boatwright, Calvin Boatwright, Isaac Boatwright, Nancy Boatwright, and Lucinda Boatwright, the children of a deceased son Samuel Boatwright.

Again, Elizabeth is only listed as Elizabeth Boatwright so is no help to determine if her full given name is Margaret Elizabeth Davis Boatwright as documented by Harry Alexander Davis in his book.

No newspapers exist for this time period. Next we turned our attention to Land Deeds. While almost no deeds exist prior to the Civil War, a large portion of their life existed after the Civil War.

In Deed Book 1, we found two land deeds, one dated 15 April 1854[3] and the other dated 6 July 1868[4] that states that Lewis Boatwright wife was Elizabeth R. Boatwright. Later Elizabeth Rebecca Boatwright relinquishes her rights of dower.  In the second deed Elizabeth R. Boatwright is transferring land formerly belonging to her husband Lewis Boatwright.

These two land deed, with Elizabeth's presence at the time occurrence, is enough to convince me that her given name was Elizabeth Rebecca Davis instead of Margaret Elizabeth Davis. Until additional documents surface, I will list her as Elizabeth Rebecca Davis. I have no faith in a name written down in an unsourced book 56 years after her death.

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[1] [1] Harry Alexander Davis, The Davis family (Davies and David) in Wales and America :: genealogy of Morgan David of Pennsylvania (Washington, D.C.: Lancaster Press Inc, 1927; reprint, Lancaster, PA: n.p., n.d.), page 55.

[2] James C. Pigg, Index and Genealogical Abstracts of the Chesterfield District Court of Common Pleas: Equity Side, 1823-1869 (Tega Cay, South Carolina: Self-published, 1995), page 130.

[3] Chesterfield County, South Carolina, Deed Book #1: pages 47-48, Lewis Boatwright to Samuel Boatwright dated 15 April 1854; Register of Deeds, Chesterfield, Chesterfield County, South Carolina.

[4] Chesterfield County, South Carolina, Deed Book #1: page 280, James T. Talton to Elizabeth Boatwright dated 6 July 1868; Register of Deeds, Chesterfield, Chesterfield County, South Carolina.