Alden B. Boggs ^229,629

  General Notes:

Vernon Banks, great grandson of Alden B. Boggs made the following comments in a March/April 1992 tape recording (in possession of his son Don Charles Banks).

“Pauline Neeper Treadwell (aunt of David Jonathan Hooker) of Malvern, Arkansas states that Margaret C. “Maggie” Boggs (sister of Alden B. Boggs) married Joseph Neeper, Jr. on September 1, 1842. It appears that Alden B. Boggs had come to Arkansas with Joseph and his sister, Margaret and had been married at one time. They built a power mill or water mill on Big Chickalah Creek about three miles south of Chickalah village. The date is not all that accurate but it shows that they paid taxes jointly in 1853, 1854, and 1855; then after 1855 it only appeared in Alden B. Boggs’ name. Joseph Neeper had passed away by that time (ca. 1860). His wife, Margaret C. “Maggie” Boggs Neeper remarried and moved to the Malvern, Arkansas area (it has not yet been verified that she ever remarried).

“I have other information that the (Boggs) mill was built somewhere in the 1840’s, which quite possibly could be true. I do know that the mill was built on Big Chickalah Creek, in a bend, somewhere south of Chickalah, on a high bank on the east side of the creek. A rock dam was erected and, I suppose, dirt was piled up against it. A three story mill house was built to take care of the needs of the mill. They ginned cotton, ground wheat, sawed lumber, and they ground corn for the general public. This mill was in use for many, many years. Many stories were told about it.

“It was, of course, a center for the communities around about to get theri grains ground and their other needs taken care of. There is a story, which I am sure is true, that they had a small skirmish during the Civil War between a roving group of Northerners and a roving group of Confederates. The Confederates won out and the mill remained in use for many years. I remember stories that my Dad used to tell about taking corn to the mill when he was 8 or 10 years old, a distance of some 5 miles. He had a vivid memory of how Alden Boggs looked with a long black beard and so forth. We found a big picture not too long ago that showed him to be a man of just such appearance.

“The mill was there, much in use, and many stories have been told about it. Marion Hill, who was a grandson of Alden B. Boggs, told how it was built. He had at least one slave (I don’t know how many more); they went up on the ridge south of the mill and cut down white oak trees. They snaked them in between two big elm trees, just to the east of the mill, and there in the shade, they hewed and shaped the timbers that went into the three story building. All tendons and all the mortises were made, holes were bored, and pegs made to fit them before any piece was ever put together. When they put them together every piece fit like they were supposed to. Alden B. Boggs was a master carpenter; evidence of that has been known for many years. He also built a house that had tongue-and-grooved lumber in the floors, walls, and ceilings that he did by handwork. I still have some of his old hand planes that he would use.

“There was a rent house just a little to the east of the mill. When I married into the family, 55 years ago, there were boards of walnut lumber, some 24 to 26 inches wide, on the joists of this old house. Some of it had been there so long that it was ruined but I took what was good and built a bedroom suite for Lorraine, my wife, using this lumber for drawer fronts, dresser tops, and bed panels. Very beautiful lumber; very, very smooth and beautifully grained.

“Many things have gone on around that old mill, centered around it, and I am sure that many stories could be told. One humorous story was told about the fellow who did not have a very good crop. He wasn’t very energetic, he didn’t work his corn, and it did not mature too well. He shelled the whole crop and didn’t have but just a little bit of corn in one end of his sack. The custom was to separate the grain and balance it over your shoulder or the horse’s shoulder whichever way you were going to carry it. He decided there was not enough to separate, so he put a rock about the same weight in one end and the corn in the other end, threw it up on his horse, and went to the mill. They ribbed him a little bit about that; teased him a little bit about the old horse not being able to carry him and the corn both. So when he started home, he took the meal, put it over his shoulder, then got on the horse, so the horse would not have to bear the weight. These humorous stories all originate from people’s observations of other people and so on and so forth.

“At the time Alden B. Boggs homesteaded the land where the mill was situated the Patent Office, the so-called, or the Office of Homestead Rights were located in Clarksville, Arkansas. Somewhere along the time this was being done, he evidently met and married his second wife, Susan Thompson.”181 <../PS_SRC.htm>

In 1859, A. B. had 200 acres valued at $900, six slaves valued at $600, one mill valued at $300. Total value of $2,190.

He owned one slave in 1861 with an accessed value in Yell County, Arkansas of $1,000. His Grist Mill was accessed at $300 in the same year.

In 1862, he owned 560 acres valued at $1,680, six town lots valued at $200 and four slaves valued at $2,500.

Boggs mill was located 9 miles due west of Dardanelle, Arkansas. It was on the Chickalah Creek, named after the Indian chief of the Cherokees. It was built by John Miller in 1845. It was located on his father’s (Ezekiel “Zeke” Boggs) farm.

  Life Events:

1. Occupation: Miller. ⁶²⁹

Alden married Margaret Atchison.

Alden next married Susan C. Thompson on 26 Feb 1856. (Susan C. Thompson was born on 20 Dec 1834 in Clarksville, Johnson, Arkansas, USA,⁶²⁹ died on 17 Oct 1899 ⁶²⁹ and was buried in Hale Cemetery (Chickalah, Yell, Arkansas, USA) ⁶²⁹.)