Photo Submitted by Wendy Bebout Elliott

These are my line of BOYETTs. In the middle is my grandmother Nancy Eveline BOYETT b. June 1864 in Gibson Co., TN who married William Edward Graves in Scott Co., Ark. The other lady is her older sister Mary Lecy BOYETT born in Dunklin Co. MO and md several times & lived in Scott Co., Ark. The gentleman is Nancy "Nannie" BOYETT's twin brother Josiah S. BOYETT also b. June 1864 in Gibson Co., TN. He m. a sister of William Edward GRAVES, whose name was Elizabeth "Betty" Clementine GRAVES. They were married in Scott Co., Ark.

The picture is of the three children of John William and Mary Catherine (Whitley) Boyett of Gibson Co., TN, Dunklin Co., MO, and later the mother & children moved to Scott Co., Ark.

Although Josiah S. Boyett has four sons, none had sons, so we have no males to donate for DNA. I'm still NOT sure that he is the oldest son of Eli Boyett of Gibson Co; he may be a son of Nathan Boyett of Gibson Co., who d bef 1850 & whose wife Lecia is listed as Lecia Boytt " thus indexed as Greer. The children in the HH in 1850 include Nathan 21, John, 18, and Lucinda 24. All but John b in NC; John b in TN. When John William & Mary Catherine took out their marriage license in Gibson Co., TN, he gave only initials: J. W., and his son Josiah's death certificate says his father's given name was John.

Since John William and Mary Catherine named their oldest daughter Mary Lecy (Mary Catherine's mother was Mary "Polly" (House) Whitley, I think there is good reason to doubt the connection to Eli's family. Anyway, it's just a guessing game for me. I spend a whole week in west Tenn. going thru early courthouse records, trying to find records for Nathan and Lecia and basically discovered little and nothing that helped resolve my questions.