Lewis Alexander Boggs (Ancestry)
Hugh Corrans Boggs was born in County Donegal, Ireland on June 6, 1763. His family emigrated to the United States, where in 1789 he was ordained as an Episcopal priest by the Right Reverend William White, Bishop of Pennsylvania. That same year, Reverend Boggs was appointed rector of the Berkley Parish in Virginia and served as the pastor at Mattoponi Church in King and Queen County until his death in 1828. Mattaponi was built as an Anglican church in the 1730s and still stands today as Mattoponi Baptist Church. During his years in Virginia he preached at a number of churches and taught at the Llangollen Academy in Spotsylvania.
Map detail of southern Spotsylvania County, 1863
Reverend Boggs settled in Spotsylvania County, where he married Ann "Nancy" Holladay on December 29, 1796. He built a fine house called "Livingston" on land given to him and Nancy as a wedding gift by her father, Lewis Holladay. In the map detail above Livingston--denoted as "Boggs"--can be seen at center right They had one son, Lewis Alexander Boggs, who was born on December 27, 1811. When his father died in 1828, Lewis obtained possession of the pulpit Bible of Mattoponi Church which had been published in England in 1754.
Mattoponi Baptist Church today (Wikipedia)
Lewis Boggs was married three times (he outlived all three wives) and was the father of eight children, all of whom lived to adulthood. Lewis lived at Livingston until his death on July 15, 1880. He was a man of great energy who contributed much to the civic life of Spotsylvania. He served as a lieutenant in the 16th Regiment of the Virginia Militia, was active in Whig politics, served for many years as justice of the peace and was a lay-delegate for the Berkeley Parish to many annual conventions of the Virginia Diocese. He served on the first vestry of Christ Church when it was built at Spotsylvania Court House in 1841. He donated the church Bible from Mattaponi to Christ Church, where it continued to be used as the pulpit Bible for many years, and is still brought out on special occasions.
For decades, Livingston was a large and prosperous farm, consisting of 2,000 acres, and as of 1860 it utilized the labor of 63 enslaved people. Among them was Julia Ross Frazier, who was born at Livingston about 1856. She, her parents and her 16 siblings accounted for almost one-third of the slaves at Livingston. By the 1930s, Julia was living at 311 Hawke Street in Fredericksburg, where she was interviewed by WPA researcher Claude W. Anderson on April 20, 1937.
During her interview with Mr. Anderson, Julia remembered Lewis Boggs as a "good man. There wasn't any beating. My master wouldn't allow any." Julia's mother was the cook for the Boggs family, and Julia was put to work cleaning the house. She enjoyed dusting in Lewis's "reading room." She loved looking at his books when no one was around, even though she would not learn to read until after the Civil War.
Once the Ross family was emancipated, Julia's father took her and one of her sisters to Fredericksburg, a walk of some 20 miles, to get work. He found employment for Julia as a house servant for George Aler, a prominent citizen of the town who owned a brick manufactory, was Director of the Water Power Company, Superintendent of Streets and a member of the Fair Committee. He also had been for many years one of Fredericksburg's most active slave traders.
Fredericksburg News
Julia remembered this from her time with the Alers: "Man cussed every breath he took. Had a saint for a wife. He couldn't help it; just natural with him. One day he told me 'By God you go down and get so-and-so out of the closet.' His son was a doctor and I didn't know there was anything in the closet. I opened the door and a skeleton was hanging in there just a-shaking. I let out a whoop and fell right out. Did he laugh! Biggest joke he had in a long time."
Another event from Julia's days at Livingston involved Lewis Boggs, his mule and a slave named Charlie:
"One day Charlie saw old Marsa coming home with a keg of whiskey on his old mule. Cutting across the plowed field, the old mule slipped and Marsa come tumbling off. Marsa didn't know Charlie saw him, and Charlie didn't say nothing. But soon after a visitor came and Marsa called Charlie to the house to show off what he knew. Marsa say 'Come here, Charlie, and sing some rhymes for Mr. Henson.' Don't know no new ones, Marsa,' Charlie answered. 'Come on, you black rascal, give me a rhyme for my company--one he ain't heard.' So Charlie say, "All right, Marsa, I give you a new one if you promise not to whip me.' Marsa promised, and then Charlie sung the rhyme he done made up in his head about Marsa:
Jackass rared,
Jackass pitch,
Throwed old Marsa in the ditch.
"Well, Marsa got mad as a hornet, but he did not whup Charlie, not that time anyway. And child, don't you know we used to set the floor to that there song? Mind you, never would sing when Marsa was around, but when he wasn't we'd swing all around the cabin singing about how old Marsa fell off the mule's back. Charlie had a bunch of verses:
Jackass stamped,
Jackass neighed,
Throwed old Marsa on his head.
"Don't recollect all that smart slave made up. But everybody sure bust their sides laughing when Charlie sung the last verse:
Jackass stamped,
Jackass hupped,
Marsa hear you slave, you sure get whupped."
Julia Ross Frazier was an active member of Shiloh Baptist Church (Old Site) in Fredericksburg. She founded the Church Aid Club there in 1921. She died shortly after her interview with Mr. Anderson, and is buried in the Shiloh Baptist Cemetery (Old) on Monument Avenue in Fredericksburg.
Sources:
Weevils in the Wheat: Interviews with Virginia Ex-Slaves. The University Press of Virginia, 1976.
Thank you for this history. Am now living on Boggs Dr very near the farm.
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