Slaves of Williams Boykin of St. Helena Parish

Williams Boykin,  1829   File B-3

July 30, 1829- Petition of late wife of Williams Boykin decd. He left property and the following heirs; Susan Boykin, wife of Simpson Hutchinson; with two minors James 19, Frank 17. She requests that here son John Boykin be appointed curator with petitioners, that and inventory be made.
July 10, 1851-In a suit Daniel Weston VS John Boykin et el: by s writ of geri facies issued, the sheriff J.J. Gormon has seized and will sell at the courthouse door at Greensburg on the first Saturday in Sept. 1851, all the title of John Boykin in the following: 540 acres bounded W. by Joiner Greek, N. by Mrs. Rachel Boykin, C. by Pearson Celis, S. by Leonard tract; also the interest of John Boykin in the succession of his decd father William Boykin, viz; the undivided interest in the following: 340.2. acres, being S.5. T 2, S 4, also slaves. (No further papers found.

Souces: St. Helena Conveyance Book

Slaves in George W. Fluker Family

James Fluker Kent

James Fluker Kent was born on January 17, 1843, he was the second child of twelve children and the oldest son of Amos and Susan Fluker Kent of Kentwood, Louisiana. He died August 18, 1886. James Fluker Kent grew up in Kentwood, and worked in his father’s brick factory. In 1860, his father sent him to Alexandria, Louisiana, to attend the Louisiana Seminary for Learning, a military-style college founded in 1860, which later became Louisiana State University. Fluker Kent was in the first class. The Superintendent was an ex-army Major named William Tecumseh Sherman.

He settled there on Cool’s creek, and built a sawmill and brick factory in an area which became known as Kent’s Mill. Later, when the town was developed, it was named Kentwood, in honor of old Amos Kent.

File  F-2

George W. Fluker, 1854

Dec. 8, 1854- Mrs. Martha A. C. Collinsworth represents that she is the surviving widow of George W. Fluker who died leaving minor children: Robert Fluker, Anna J. Fluker, Amos Kent Fluker, Elizabeth C. I. Fluker, and Georgiana Fluker. She is appointed natural tutrix with Robert Fluker under tutor. 

Inventory: Separated property, $174.50: Community, 224 acres bounded W by 700 acres on Amite River bounded W by the river, S. by land of the estate of C.W. Fluker decd, C by B. Pipkin, N by Mrs. Nettles: slaves, cattles, etc. Total $3649. 

March 8, 1856-224 acres purchased by Robert Fluker $100

July 30, 1858-Mrs. Martha A.C. McCoy, adm, of the estate of her decd husband Georege W. Fluker, filed her final account.

Richard Amacker Kent was born at Kentwood, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, June 28, 1871, a son of James Fluker Kent and Delilah Amacker Kent, and a grandson of Amos Kent. He comes of fine old Colonial American stock, originally from Scotland (sic) and the founder of the family in Louisiana was his grandfather, many generations later. Amos Kent was born in Massachusetts (sic), probably about 1811, and engaged in lumbering and brick manufacturing in New England until about 1840 (sic), when he came to Louisiana and married Susan Fluker, who was born at Clinton, Louisiana, in Feliciana Parish. In 1850 he came to Tangipahoa Parish, and recognizing great business opportunities here, founded the town of Kentwood, where he engaged in lumber and brick manufacturing and lived to be ninety-four years old.

R.A. Kent Merc. Co. Inc. Fluker, LA

Sharecroppers Coin

Sources: File-2, St. Helena Parish, Louisiana Conveyance Book B

               thoseflukerkents.com/RichardAKentSr.htm

               thoseflukerkents.com/kenhomes.htm

The Boykin Family History of Fluker, Louisiana

Jake and Martha Boykins
Photo Courtesy of Linnie Walls

Today my colleague Leonard Smith lll of L3S Studios and I decided to conduct genealogy research on my father's side of the family. I searched the Louisiana Statewide Death Index at the Louisiana State Archives and found my 2nd great grandfather Jake Boyins death record. On the death records, they called him "Jack" Boykins. Leonard searched the U.S. Census from 1940 back to 1870. He found Sam Boykins, wife and children living in St. Helena Parish.

Grandfather Jake died in Fluker, Louisiana. He was born in 1860 according to the 1870 census. According to his death record, he was born July 3, 1868, and died on March 29, 1941, at the age of 72. Jake is the son of Sam and Catherine (Elleneria), Boykin.

Jake and Martha were the parents of my grandfather Ernest Boykins and Johnnie Boykins according to the 1930 census. There may be other children, I haven't yet found on the census.

One day while talking with a man named Roy Curtis and his brother J.C. Curtis from Fluker-- they both told me that Jake was the kind of man that stood up for himself and the community. According to the 1930 census, Jake could read and write. His wife Martha couldn't read or write.  Jake's occupation was a truck farmer in Fluker, Louisiana. Records show that Jake didn't fight in any war. The Boykins always lived in Fluker, Louisiana up until recent years. Many of my father's siblings moved to California.

My father's brother Lonnie Boykins was elected to the City Council as Councilman of District A. Lonnie Boykins, Sr., died Saturday, Jan 31, 2004, at St. Tammany Hospital.  He was survived by his wife, Paulette Boykins; one daughter Shellean Daniels of Covington; three sons, Lonnie Boykins, Jr., John and Malcolm. Two sisters, Florence Basby of Gardenia, California., and Frances Sibley of Gardenia, California who is now deceased; 15 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Walter  Boykins

Uncle Lonnie was preceded in death by his father, Ernest; his mother Mary; and two brothers Ernest Jr., and Jerry. Many Boykins are buried in Community Baptist Church Cemetery in Fluker, Louisiana.

Jake and Martha are buried on the Kent property in Fluker. My father told me where they were buried. I tried to access the cemetery but because it's on private property I couldn't get to their graves. Most of the older people who lived in Fluker in the late 1800s and early 1900s is buried in this cemetery.

My father's mother Mary was a McKay from Mississippi. Not much is known about her side of the family. My father remembers staying with his grandmother Martha as a little boy. I can't wait to interview him again. It's very important to document our own family history. If we don't who will?

State of Louisiana 

Bureau of Vital Statistics 

Certificate of Death

Jack (Jake) Boykin

"United States Census, 1930," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XMT4-326 : accessed 06 Apr 2014), Ernest Boykin in household of Jake Boykin, Police Jury Ward 3, Tangipahoa, Louisiana, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 0008, sheet 18A, family 336, NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 822.