Back to the Very Beginning

I have done quite a bit of research, mainly on the internet, into the family trees of the Bagwells and the Boggses. I found that we don’t know a lot about our Bagwell family, but through inference we can piece together an ancestry. I found on one site an “Order of Descendants of Ancient Planters” with references to Bagwells in America around 1616. Two Bagwells, Henry and Thomas, are listed, who survived the Jamestown Massacre of 1622. The survivors of the massacre received the first patents of land in the new world as authorized by Sir Thomas Dale in 1618. A contribution from Sherry Gritzbaugh, researcher, states that the Bagwells of English descent first appeared in the American colonies in Virginia as early as 1608. Two of them, the above mentioned Henry and Thomas, served in the House of Burgess for their respective areas. Bagwells were in the state of North Carolina by the 1760’s.
I have no information which connects Henry and Thomas to the Bagwells in North Carolina, but thought it was interesting that the Bagwell name is associated with the early history of our country. Three or four of the North Carolina Bagwells served in the American Revolution and settled in the Donalds-Honea Path-Princeton area of North Caroline after the war. These were listed as William, Frederick, John, and James Bagwell. Our Bagwell family is attributed to be descendants of James Bagwell (ca1764 – ca 1810). (ca means about and is used when specific dates are not verified by birth or death certificates, etc.) There were at least six Bagwells from this area who served in the war of 1812, including Flurney (Furney), Redmond, William, and John.

Though he has not been actually connected to James Bagwell through documentation, it is believed that Flurney (Furney) Bagwell was his son. Flurney, which henceforth will be known as Furney, was born August 29, 1797, in South Carolina. This information came from the Bible of Parthenia “Parthy” Bayless. Parthy married Furney Bagwell on October 18, 1818. Among their children was George Washington Bagwell, born ca 1833. George married Sara M.J. Lewis in 1855. She died in 1856. Our great-grandfather, Elbert Franklin Bagwell, was born in 1856. The reason I have connected these two is because our Aunt Leoder (Bagwell) Thornton, told me at one time that she rememberd her father (E.F. Bagwell) telling her that his mother was a Lewis. Also, if Sara died in 1856, and E.F. was born in 1856, it is logical to assume that Sara died in childbirth or soon after. This accounts for Daddy having no knowledge of aunts or uncles on his father’s side, as E.F. was the only child of that union. George Washington Bagwell married a second time to Margaret Ann Feazel and had about twelve children with her. I have a communication from Christie Bagwell Stewart, a descendant of Furney and Parthy, which states that in talking with a cousin of hers, she got the information that Elbert Franklin was raised by his grandparents, Furney and Parthy Bagwell. They also agree that Sara M.J. Lewis was Elbert Franklin’s mother.

Concerning the inferences I spoke of earlier, one of Furney and Parthy’s daughters was named Cynthia, and our Aunt Leoder’s full name was Cynthia Leoder. Could it be that Elbert Franklin remembered an aunt called Cynthia, and named one of his daughters for her? The name “Furney” also seems to be carried down in the family. It is known that Elbert Franklin was married at least three times and had children with each wife. Daddy knew two of his half-brothers, Knox and Furney Bagwell, who were from E.F.’s family before he married our Grandmother Ruth (Townsend) Bagwell.

I hope all this is not too confusing. I do have our Family Tree in my computer. Anyone who might be interested, let me know, and I can make you a copy of it.