My Great Great Grandfather, Joshua Boatwright was born 1823 in Elbert, Georgia. I didn’t have much problem tracing his paternal line back beyond the original Boatwright immigrant, John Boatwright (1635 Fressingfield, Suffolk Co, England – 1704 New Kent, Virginia).
Joshua’s mother, Elizabeth Carpenter (1800 Madison, Virginia – 1864 Murray, Georgia) proved to be a bit more challenging. Searching other Boatwright trees on Ancestry I found a reference to a German settlement, “Germania” in Virginia. Seems a small band of German miners and their families were brought over by Lt Governor Alexander Spotswood (later Governor of Virginia) in 1714 to work in the silver mines, indentured for four years. Additional settlers arrived from Germany over the next several years. This small settlement is well documented in Virginia history.
Elizabeth is descended from John Carpenter (born Johannes Zimmerman but “naturalized” as John Carpenter), born 1700, Dingolfing-Landau, Germany, and Anna Barbara Kerker, who was the daughter of a member of the second settlers of Germania. This map of Madison County shows the holdings of John Carpenter and that of Andrew Kerker (who I believe is Anna's father).
Beyond John and Anna remains unproven but it appears that John’s family is probably of Swiss origin, probably of one Michael Zimmerman, 1617 Steffisburg, Bern, Switzerland and his wife Benedicta. There’s still more digging to prove this theory.
Working forward from John:
John Carpenter (Johannes Zimmerman); 1700 Germany-1782 Culpepper, Va
His wife: Anna Barbara Kerker
John Carpenter Jr.; 1727 Va-1795 Va
His wife: Unknown
John Carpenter III; 1749 Va-1804 Va
His wife: Susanna Delph
Jashua Carpenter; 1771 Va-1843 Va
His wife: Leah (Schmidt) Smith
Elizabeth Carpenter; 1790 Va-1864 Ga
Her husband: Daniel Boatwright; 1777 Va-1856 Ga
Their son, Joshua, my Great Great Grandfather, was named after Elizabeth’s father.
Joshua R. Boatwright; 1823 Elbert, Ga - 1900 Alabama
Angeline P. Drake; 1828 North Carolina - 1900 Alabama
Marcellus C. Boatwright; 1849 Murray, Ga - 1911 Franklin, Arkansas
Mary E. Hooper; 15 Sep 1850 Etowah, Ala - 24 Oct 1910 Porum, Muskogee, Okla
Martha Eugena Boatwright; 26 Jul 1891 Franklin, Ark - 25 May 1928 Hartford, Sebastan, Ark
William Walter Rockholt; 6 Dec 1887 North Fork White River, Ark - 1 Oct 1980 Phoenix, Ariz
My Parents:
William Franklin Rockholt; 16 Jan 1909, Arkansas City, Ark - 26 Dec 1971 Arvin, Kern, Calif
Bertha Lillian Perry; 14 Mar 1913 Keota, Haskell, Okla - 7 Oct 2004 Arvin, Kern, Calif
