Taylor Family Stories

In tracing back the ancestors of the Boston family, the great grandfather of Thomas Y. Boston is supposed to have been born in Germany and upon his arrival on American Shores settled in Virginia where his son, James Ewell Boston, the grandfather of Thomas Y., was born, reared and married. He became one of the pioneers of Greene County, Ky., and there spent the remainder of his days in tilling the soil and fighting the Indiana and the British in the War of 1812, in which he took a prominent part.

His son, James Boston, was born in Virginia, prior to their removal westward, and on Blue Grass soil he received his rearing and such education as could be had at that day, which was by no means of the best. He was married there to Miss Biddy Slinker, who was also born in the Old Dominion and was taken by her parents to Kentucky when she was a child. After their marriage they resided for some time in Greene County, after which they moved to Hart County and from there came by wagon to Greene County, Mo., in 1856, locating on a small partially-improved farm one and one-half miles west of Cave Springs, where they spent the rest of their lives. Mr. Boston died in 1887 and Mrs. Boston in 1871, both having for some time been members in good standing of the Christian Church. Mr. Boston was a life-long farmer and being industrious and intelligent, he accumulated a comfortable competency, amply sufficient to meet all the requirements of himself and family. He was a Republican in politics, but was quite conservative in his views. The maternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, Christopher Slinker, died in Metcalf County, Ky., in 1876, having been a farmer and mechanic by occupation. He was of English descent and be and his wife, who also died in Kentucky, became the parents of five children: Murphy, who died in Hart County, Ky.; Lemuel, who also died there; Biddy (Mrs. Boston); Amaryllis, wife of Edmund Galloway; Fannie, who died in Kentucky.

Mr. Thomas Y. Boston received such education and rearing as usually falls to the lot of the youth reared on a pioneer farm. During the warm months his days were spent in falling timber and in general farm work, but at the age of seventeen years, in 1853, his birth having occurred in Hart County, Ky., June 24, 1836, he left home to make his own way in the world and went to Clinton County, Mo., where he spent three years working on a farm. In 1857 he returned to Greene County and began farming in Cass Township, and here, in 1861, he married Nancy, daughter of William and Matilda Killingsworth, who were natives of North Carolina and Tennessee, respectively. The father was taken by his parents to Tennessee in his youth, where he lived until 1839, when be came by ox team with his family to Greene County, Mo., being nearly two months on the road. He located on what is now Section 1, Boone Township, the country at that time being rough prairie land, and here he made a fine farm on which he contentedly spent the rest of his days, dying in 1866, and his widow in 1886, both having been members of the Baptist Church of many years standing. Mr. Killingsworth was at one time sheriff of Monroe County, Tenn. James McClure, the father of Mrs. Killingsworth, came to Polk County, Mo., from Tennessee in 1839, and here died prior to the Civil War. To Mr. and Mrs. Killingsworth a family of twelve children were given: James, a farmer of the county; Margaret Ann, the deceased wife of William Hamilton; William A. John (deceased); Mary, widow of Hughey Gilmore, of Dade County; Alfred, of Texas; Bennett, of this county; Nancy (Mrs. Boston); Robert, of this county; Oliver, also a farmer of Greene County, and two children that died in infancy.

Mr. Thomas Y. Boston lived on the old home farm until 1864 when he removed to his present farm, purchasing 240 acres, which he has succeeded in increasing to 1,247 acres, but has given considerable to his children, and now has 821 acres in different farms, all in Cass Township. He received a small inheritance from his father's estate, but the bulk of his property has been acquired through his own efforts. His land is some of the finest and most productive in the county, and it is handsomely and substantially improved with excellent buildings. He is a prominent member of Nicholas Lodge, No. 435 of the A. F. & A. M. at Willard, and he and his wife have been members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church for thirty years. Mr. Boston, is one of the following children: Abner, who died young in Kentucky; Mary, wife of Hayden Taylor, of Lebanon, Mo.; Reuben, of Oklahoma; William, of Oregon; Thomas Y.; Elizabeth, wife of S. P. Collins, of Cedar County; James, of Cedar County; Martha, who is the deceased wife of John Kime; Emily, wife of David Elam: George, of Oklahoma, and Sarah Ann, who died in 1862.

James H. Boston was born May 19, 1827, in Barren County (now Metcalfe), Ky. He is the eldest of four boys and five girls - all of whom lived to be grown - born to Abner and Susan (Skaggs) Boston. Abner Boston, a great hunter, was born in Albemarle County, Va.; when a lad of seven was brought to Green County, Ky., by his father, James Boston, who married Nancy Hill. They were both born and reared in Albemarle County, Va., and immigrated to Green County, Ky., about the close of the war of 1812. James Boston was a soldier of the war of 1812, was of Irish descent and died at the age of seventy-five years.

Mrs. Susan Boston was born and reared in Barren County (now Metcalfe), on the farm where James H. now resides. She was a daughter of Henry Skaggs, who married Sallie Lacefield, who were natives of Barren (now Metcalfe) County, Ky., and North Carolina, respectively. Henry Skaggs was a Baptist preacher and a son of William Skaggs. James H. Boston was reared on a farm and received a common school education. He started in life for himself at the age of twenty-one at farming. He married, January 1, 1857, Mary M. Pierce, of Barren, now Metcalfe County. She was a daughter of William Pierce, who was born in 1808, in Barren County, and married Temperance Patterson, who was born in 1799 in Washington County, Ky. William was a son of John Pierce, who married Margaret Lacefield. They were natives of Green County, Ky., and North Carolina, respectively.

To Mr. Boston and and wife were born eleven children- nine now living: Patrick R., Martha A. Patterson, Leonidas, James H., Eugene P., William A., Mary L., Florence G. and Olive W. Mrs. Boston died March 23, 1879, a member of the Baptist Church. Mr. Boston next married, August 19, 1880, Marilda J. Marcum, of Barren County, a native of Overton County, Tenn., a daughter of Solomon and Mary (Howard) Marcum, natives of North Carolina and Tennessee, respectively. Solomon was a son of Balam Marcum who was born and reared in North Carolina, and who married Aggie Roberts, of North Carolina. They moved to Tennessee about 1828; were of Irish origin and were slave holders. To Mr. Boston, by his second wife, two children were born: Otha E. and Ottie Lee. He and wife are members of the Baptist Church.

Mr. Boston, when first married, located wehre he now lives, and where he owns about 650 acres of good land, 150 of which are cleared and improved. He owns two other farms containing 150 and 200 acres, both well improved, and which he has acquired by his own industry, perseverance, and indomitable energy. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and has belonged to all temperance organizations. Thirty-eight years ago he resolved never to handle or taste a drop of intoxicating drink during his life, and has been fighting intemperance ever since; neither have his children handled or tasted intoxicants. Mr. Boston cast his first presidential vote for Gen. Taylor; after the war was a Democrat; for the last two elections he has voted the Temperance ticket.

Lewis Goss (1838-1920) and Henrietta Fluftin-Boskey (1838-1919) were married in 1858 and moved to Pulaski County in 1867. Henrietta was born and raised in Germany, and immigrated by steamship to the United States, St. Louis, Missouri, in 1852, where she took a job as a maid in a hotel. There she met Lewis Goss, her future husband. He worked for a steamship company and sailed the Mississippi River. Their first home was in Jefferson County, Missouri. They moved to Pulaski County with their four children: Hannah (who later married Ransome Taylor), Willie, Mary, and Melinda, who was three years old at the time. (Melinda later married Thomas Reed Cox.) Another son, Henry, died as an infant. The children attended the old Pleasant Grove School in the community of Pleasant Grove, now called Buckhorn.

Lewis Goss was of Scottish descent, and had been raised in a Pennsylvania Dutch settlement. He Americanized the spelling of his surname from Goas to Goss. During the Civil War he served in a hospital for the Union Army. His mustering-out pay amounted to severty-five dollars, and with this, (about 1870) he purchased their eighty acre farm, from a railroad company on the "Old Wire Road", now called Colley Hollow Road. Today it is bordered by the Colley Hollow Road and the Colley Hollow Cemetery. The land was heavily wooded when Lewis purchased it. He logged it out, built a cabin, and prepared the land for farming. Henrietta died there in 1919, and Lewis in 1920. Today it is owned and occupied by the Charles Storey family. Henrietta loved flowers and planted a lilac bush which still lives and blooms there.

"With the help of Bedford Militia, 75 Tory offenders (including Christopher Slinker) were imprisoned at New London and tried between June and september 1780. Simultaneously 2300 acres of loyalist property was confiscated and auctioned off. Minor offenders were given the choice of volunteering to fight the British in the Continental Army or a local trial. Many who chose to serve six month enlistment were troublesome - refusing to fight and generally being unmanageable or deserting altogether."

Tory Prisoner List:
Tuesday - Dec 5, 1780 being the names of 75 prisoners comitted to the care of the keeper of the Bedford County jaul during sumer of 1780 - suspicion of treasonable practice against the sate - kept for 18 deys: (The list of 75 names includes Christopher Slinker)