Boles Family
Photo Album
Abraham Lincoln Boles
These excerpts from the History of Fentress County, Tennessee, published by the Fentress County Historical Society in 1987, were transcribed by Michael Allen in 2000. Please see the notes at the end of this article.
Robert F. Boles
by Wilma Reagan Pinckley, a greatniece of Martha and Robert F. Boles and a distant cousin to 1810 Matilda Beaty Boles
Robert (Bob) Boles was born in Overton County, Tennessee and was the son of Captain John Boles, (June 6, 1802-March 18, 1869). Bob’s mother was Matilda Beaty, the daughter of George Beaty (1785) and Lydia A. Wilson of Boatland, Tennessee. Tinker Dave Beaty was Matilda’s brother. Bob Boles’ first wife was Naoma Worley, (11-7-1829 to 1-14-1873). His second wife was Martha Reagan, the daughter of 1802 John Reagan and Nancy Findley Reagan, (1813). Bob’s third wife was a sister to the above Martha. Her name was Susannah Reagan Owen. Martha was born December 16, 1855 and died November 3, 1886. She left six young children, so her sister, Susannah, said she married Bob in order to raise her sister Martha’s children. Susannah had been a widow for years before she married Bob.
Bob and Naoma had ten children. Listings of these may be found on pages 478-479 in Oma Smith’s book, Garrett and Allied Families.
Bob and Martha Reagan Boles’ children were: Ulysses Grant, born June 6, 1875; William, born June 3, 1876; Mary A., born June 26, 1877; Sarah, born December 25, 1881; Savage, born March 19, 1883; and Blaine, born October 23, 1885.
All of Martha’s children were born in Fentress County. Bob and Martha and some of their children are buried in the Bob Boles’ Cemetery which is located in the yard of the Bob Boles home place just off the Sandy Mountain on the head waters of East Fork of Obey River in the Big Piney Creek area. The old home is now occupied by Bob and Martha’s granddaughter, Alice Boles Ledbetter and her daughter, Peggy. This former home of Bob and Martha is well-preserved. The surroundings, including the yard cemetery of about fifteen graves, are unusual because of the cemetery being located so near the dwelling. According to granddaughter Alice, Bob Boles was about five feet, eight inches tall, weighed about 400 pounds, and had to turn sideways to enter the front door of his home. He had an enormous appetite, and it has been said that he and his sister, Katy, ate a whole sheep at one meal. John and his son, Bob, both fought in the Civil War on the Union side. Bob served in the 2nd Tennessee Volunteer Regiment. In the war, he was injured by a musket ball in his knee. He was captured by the Confederates and imprisoned at Bells Island but escaped. Father, John Boles, served with Captain David (Tinker) Beaty’s Independent Scouts. Note that John had married Tinker’s sister, Matilda. This same John can be called a politician. He represented Overton County in the General Assembly 1851-1853 as a representative. From 1853-1857, he was senator for Overton, Fentress, Morgen and Scott Counties. After the war he was sheriff in Overton County, 1865-1867. During this period he officiated at the only public hanging in Overton County.
Bob and his father, John, (1802-1869) were both large land owners. On October 3, 1835, John received Tennessee land of 1000 acres in Fentress County on the East Fork of Obey River. On July 31, 1882, Bob transferred for $1.00 (and other considerations) to Claiborne Beaty 3,000 acres on Piney Creek in Fentress County. There was other buying and selling of lands in Fentress and Overton Counties which was the usual for the pioneer of that period. Bolestown, now in Pickett County near State Highway 52 west of Jamestown, is where many of the early Roles settlers are buried.
Source: https://homepages.rootsweb.com/~bp2000/fentress/boles_rf.htm
Lincoln and Parthena Boles
by Jo Ann Shoemaker
Abraham Lincoln Boles born Nov. 1, 1867 Overton Co. TN died Dec. 12, 1954 Scott Co. TN.
The Boles or Bowles family in America dates back to Pre-Revolutionary War years. Not much is known about the first ancestor of whom we have records, John Bowles, Sr., except that his wife was either May, Mary, or Polly; that they were married probably in 1761 or 1762; that they were parents of James b. ca. 1763, in PA. – d. bet. 1850-1860 in Overton Co., Tn.), John and Thomas, John’s wife was probably born in the 1740’s and died between Apr. 27, 1828 and June 17, 1828 in Washington Co., Va. John died between Nov. 2, 1793 and Aug. 19, 1794. The Boles families that now live in Fentress, Overton, Pickett, and Scott Counties are descended from this James, who fought at the Battle of Kings Mountain.
Col. John Boles, the son of James and Elizabeth Franklin Bowles (b. 1768, VA d. Apr. 1850 Overton Co., Tn) was born June 6, 1802 in Blunt Co., TN. His wife, Matilda Beaty Boles, was born on July 12, 1810 in TN. They were married in June 1827. Their first child, Robert F. (b. July 4, 1829 in Overton Co., d. Sep. 27, 1912 in Fentress Co.), married Naomi Worley (b. Nov. 7, 1829), daughter of Hiram and Polly Whisenand Worley and they were the parents of ten children – John, Alexander, James B., George, who died stage 3, Hiram, Matilda, Robert, Abraham Lincoln, (b. Nov. 1, 1867), Fleming, and Catherine (Little Katy).
After the death of Naomi on Jan. 14, 1873, Robert married Martha Reagan, daughter of John Reagan and Nancy Finley Reagan, and they were the parents of Grant, William, Mary, Sarah, Savage, and Blaine. Then after Martha’s death on Nov. 3, 1886, Robert married Martha’s sister, Susan. Robert and Martha and later, Susan lived in a log house at Big Piney near Wilder, in Fentress Co., Tn., and they are buried a the Boles Cemetery in the front yard of the home they shared.
Robert and Noami’s son, Lincoln (Link) moved to Scott Co., in 1883, when the Southern Railway was being built. He worked for a time on the railroad, later working at the Southern Clay Mfg. Co., a brick making plant, in Robbins. He married Parthena Pemberton (born Jan. 14, 1874) on Jan. 27, 1895 and they were the parents of one daughter, Annie who died at birth and four boys, Hobart, born Jan. 14, 1898, George W., born Jan. 25,1901, James, born Sept 30, 1902 and Theodore, born Mar. 19, 1909.
In his younger days, Link had floated huge logs from the virgin forests down-river to the mills located near the river. He had also returned to Overton Co., to attend the old Alpine Institute during the time that A.H. Roberts was teaching there. Link was a very colorful character, in later years having a long, white beard and mustache, very little hair and enjoying playing with the local children, some of whom thought that he was Santa Claus. He sometimes kept snakes in his basement and was not afraid of even the poisonous varieties. He was a mail carrier during the time that mail trains grabbed the mail sacks that were hung from a post along the tracks. He was very patient and loving with his great-grandson, Alan Shoemaker, whom he would lift onto the arm of a rocking chair. Then they would sit for a long time, rocking and talking until Alan would ask Link to stop and let his imaginary friend rock also. So, Link would stoop over and pickup the “friend” and they would all continue rocking. After the amputation of one leg, due to circulatory problems, Link was bedfast for a year before his death on Dec. 12, 1954, at the home of his son, George W., with whom he had lived for several years. He and his wife, Parthena, who was paralyzed for 23 years before her death on Jan. 12, 1951 are buried in the Robbins Baptist Memorial Cemetery.
Source: https://homepages.rootsweb.com/~bp2000/fentress/boles_l.htm
Savage Garfield Boles
by Peggy Ledbetter
Savage was born on March 19, 1883 at the Boles homeplace on Big Piney Creek in Fentress County, near Wilder, Tennessee. Savage was the son of Robert F. Boles and Martha “Fatsy” (Reagan) Boles. His grandparents were John and Matilda (Beaty) Boles and John and Nancy (Findley) Reagan. Savage was the second generation to live in Fentress County and the fifth generation born since the arrival of the Boles in America. Savage was part of a very large family being the fifteenth child of sixteen fathered by Robert Boles.
Savage married Nicie Catherine Smith (born 8-2-1886 Died: 4-10-1966), the daughter of Preacher Dave and Agnes (Hall) Smith, on February 18, 1906. They were married by a Reverend Allred at Wilder and of this union were born twelve children. The children were, in order of birth, Martha, Robert, Johnnie, Alice, Ruby, Myrtle, Leeta, Savage Jr., George, Billy, Bonda, and Sue. Savage and Nicie were fairly strict in the upbringing of their children. Savage didn’t believe much in “whipping” but was a firm believer of “needling”; and for those who do not know what “needling” is let this granddaughter explain, for I remember it well. Grandpa Savage wore an old felt hat and when child or grandchild misbehaved Grandpa Savage jerked off that old hat and whacked you across your rear or the hack of your legs with it. It felt like a hundred needles all at once. This granddaughter is willing to bet that not a one of Grandpa Savage’s grandchildren have forgotten that old hat and that they all remember it with affection as I do.
Savage worked in the Horsepounds and Wilder coal mines and in the early 1930’s was a deputy-sheriff at Wilder. In later years he worked as a land agent and overseer for Wilson W. Wyatt and Huber Corporation, a large timber and land corporation based in New Jersey at that time.
Savage was made an Honorary Kentucky Colonel in 1963 by Lieutenant-Governor Wilson W. Wyatt, under Governor Bart Combs. Savage had strong political views and was known in and around Fentress County as “Republican” Boles. “Republican” would have been an apt nickname for several generations of the Boles for most of their male children were named for Republican Presidents. Save “Garfield”; “Abraham Lincoln”; “Ulysses Grant” were but a few. There are even a few “George Washingtons.” When Savage was asked to account for his long life he would answer by saying he never smoked, he walked a lot and he never shook hands with a Democrat if he could help it.
Savage was a firm believer of God and one of his favorite things to do was to visit different churches. There were very few church homecomings that he missed. His daughter, Alice tells of Savage taking them to Sunday School on “Old Jude”, the family’s mule, when she was a child. And of the four or five children that rode the mule she was somehow always the last on and the first to slide off going up the hill.
Savage’s father, Robert died in 1912 and at his death the Boles homeplace, which was part of a land grant from the State of Tennessee to Robert for service in the Civil War, was willed jointly to Savage and his brother, Blaine Roles. In 1925 Savage bought his brother’s share of the homeplace and spent the remaining years of his life there.
Savage’s wife, Nicie and five of their children, Myrtle, Billy, Robert, Johnnie, and Martha preceded him in death. Savage died on July 6, 1968. Savage and Nicie are both buried in the Boles Cemetery, at the homeplace on Big Piney where they lived out their marriage and life.
Source: https://homepages.rootsweb.com/~bp2000/fentress/boles_sg.htm
Transcriber’s note: Most, but not all, [transcribed] excerpts relate to Beaty families. Don’t forget the first rule of genealogy — everything should be backed by primary documentation — This book was written by the Fentress Co. Historical Society. It’s mainly a collection of personal histories told from memory and family tradition with little documentation, and should be taken as such.
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