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Boat(w)right Family Genealogy in America

BOATRIGHT FAMILY PRIMARY DOCUMENTS

COMPILED BY

NORMAN HURD RICKER, JR.

WILLIAM VAN RENSELEAR BOATWRIGHT - 1803 - 1867
Extract, Pg 801, W.E. Boatwright Manuscript
The Boatwright And Allied Families

William Van Renselear Boatwright's home in Gentry County, 
Missouri was used by the Primitive Baptist Congregation for a meeting house, and was the first 
meeting house in Gentry County west of the Grand River.

There was a large one room log cabin in the yard of the farm a short distance from the main 
building.  This cabin was occupied by the family's colored woman, whom they called "Aunt Riar," 
her name was Mariah.  Aunt Riar had been a slave of the family in Kentucky, and when asked if 
she would like to go to Missouri with William, is supposed to have answered, "of course, I 
want to come with them, Marse William is my boy for I raised him."  Aunt Riar went with William 
and his family to Missouri, leaving her children and friends in Kentucky, not as a slave, but 
as a trusted member of the household.  During the Civil War, she is supposed to have kept 
William's money in a secret hiding place for him, and he had to ask her for it whenever he 
needed some money.  The purpose of this was to enable William to say that he did not have any 
money whenever marauders came.  Aunt Riar died in her cabin, the date is not known, and is 
buried in the Old Boatright Cemetery about two miles from Darlington, Gentry County, Missouri.

URL: http://www.boatwrightgenealogy.com

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