Genealogy of the thomas boaz, christopher wayne miller
JOHN DAVID EVERS BOAZ (1867-1943)
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| JOHN DAVID EVERS BOAZ (1867-1943) John David Evers Boaz, the ninth child of James Nelson and Martha Evers Boaz, was born in Graves County, Kentucky, on January 26, 1867. He became the principal of the school of that district and earned a teaching certificate from the University of Kentucky. He soon became the principal of the school at Union City, Tennessee. Here he met and married Annette Jane Gardner (March 12, 1877, Obion County, Tennessee-August 21, 1942, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the second daughter of Southerland Mayfield Gardner (December 18, 1833, South Carolina) and Nancy Katherine Harper (July 28, 1845, Obion County, Tennessee—May 15, 1921, Union City, Tennessee) Gardner, December 21,1899. Nancy Katherine Knox Gardner (1845-1888), mother of Annette Jane Gardner Boaz, was the daughter of Benjamin Knox and Margaret Elizabeth Harper who were married September 1, 1838 at the home of Angus Polk in Obion County, Tennessee. Benjamin Knox was the seventh child of John Knox (1708-1758) and Jean Gracey (1708-1772) who came to the colonies about 1740. John Knox was great-great-great-great grandson of John Knox, the famous Scottish Reformer, and was born in Renfrewshire, Scotland, around 1708. They came to the colonies byway of Northern Ireland. (Jane Knox, daughter of Captain James and Lydia Gillespie Knox, married Major Samuel Polk. They were the parents of James Knox Polk, eleventh President of the United States. James Knox was the brother of Benjamin Knox. Later John DE. Boaz was Assistant Post Master at Union City. He was a Republican and all the Harpers were Democrats, and politics was taken very seriously in Tennessee. He took employment with the Oliver Typewriting Company. Working for this and other typewriting companies, he and his family moved from Union City to Knoxville and from thereto Nashville and to Memphis and to Chicago and finally to Oklahoma City, where they settled in 1911. Hereafter operating fora short time as an insurance agent, he returned to the typewriter business in which he remained for most of his later life. While engaged in this work he undertook the collection of information concerning the Boaz family in America. In this task he traveled extensively and collected many very valuable facts. Much of the information found in the volume published by Bishop Hiram A. Boaz was collected by him and from members of his family whom he visited in person. John DE. Boaz was divorced from Annette Gardner Boaz in 1922. He was married twice after that, but each marriage was short lived and to him no children were born of either of those marriages. His first wife, Annette Gardner Boaz, died in Oklahoma City, August 21, 1942. He was struck by a truck or automobile in Salem, Illinois, and died of compound skull fractures on December 23, 1943. He lived the last ten years of his life in Salem, and was married to Mary at the time of his death. He is buried in Eastview Cemetery, Salem, IL. To him and Annette Gardner Boaz five children were born, the first of which died in infancy David Franklin (November 30,1900, Union City, Tennessee—February 7, 1901), Knox Gardner (January 6, 1902, Union City, Tennessee-May 3, 1977, Sun City, Arizona, Evers Harper August 10, 1908, Union City, Tennessee-March 8, 1983, Ft. Pierce, Florida, Ruth Baird (August 22, 1912, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma-February 1, 1976, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Joseph Nowlin (July 20, 1917, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma- ). Knox married Felma Louise Carden (daughter of Mrs. WW. Cochran Butler) in 1935. Their children were Knox Gardner Boaz, Jr. (died in infancy, Nancy Annette Boaz Morrison (1939- ), and James Knox (1945- ). He attended Central High School, Oklahoma City, and the University of Oklahoma. He was employed by Security National Bank and in 1925 became a paint sales manager for the Oklahoma City office of Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company. In 1949 he was transferred as branch manager of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company office in Joplin, Missouri. Next he was made branch manager of the Springfield, Missouri, office. In 1963 he became District Manager of PPG in Kansas City, a post he held until he was 67, two years beyond the company’s normal retirement age. Then, for several years he managed a suburban Kansas City country club, finally retiring with Felma to Sun City, Arizona. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church. Ruth married Frank Duane Wood (September 11, March 13, 1955) in 1935, and they were divorced in 1942 without having any children. With truly remarkable secretarial abilities, she possessed a typing skill by which she could reach a speed that produced a virtual hum on a manual typewriter. She first worked as secretary to the manager of the Oklahoma City branch of International Harvester Company. For 15 years, she was the Secretary of Oklahoma City’s Downtown Kiwanis Club, wherewith an outgoing personality she took special pleasure in working with her members and producing their weekly newsletter. She went into business operating a secretarial service and finally worked as a legal secretary. She attended Oklahoma City schools and the Draughon School of Business, and enjoyed many years of dedicated membership in Sigma Sigma Chi and The Sorority Councilwomen s business clubs. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church. Joseph (Joe) was five in 1922, the year his parents divorced. Knox was 20, Evers 14, and Ruth was 10. For many years the constant interstate traveling of John DE. had left the home and child rearing to the warm heart and capable hands of their mother. Subsequent to the divorce, Knox who had worked part time since an early age left the University of Oklahoma (O.U.), immediately assumed financial responsibility for the family, and began sharing many other home responsibilities with Annette. He was an instant father figure for Joe and continued to be a caring older brother for the younger Boazes. Evers began part time work that year, and three years later became Knox's partner in home finances, to be joined by Ruth three years later. Joe started work at nine, attended public schools in Oklahoma City, was graduated by the University of Oklahoma, B. Architecture and BS. Architectural Engineering, 1940 and by Columbia University in New York City, MS. Architecture, 1941. He interned in Washington, DC, and New York wherein, he became a registered architect and was certified by the National Council of Registration Boards. He was licensed for practice in New York, Oklahoma, Texas, Connecticut, North Carolina and Georgia. In 1955 in Oklahoma City, after a two year courtship, Joe married Helen Fast Byrd (1917-1998), and that year with her two children, John H. Byrd, Jr, 8, and Jane Marie Byrd (now Melton, almost 6, the new family moved to Raleigh, NC. At this 2006 writing the children, some of the grandchildren and a great-grandson live in North Carolina, a few hours from Joe/Dad/Pop in Clemson, SC. Joe's professional pursuits included several intervals away from practice, including four months of travel and study in Europe in 1948; Teaching Assistant, Columbia University Extension (evenings, 1944-45; Assistant Professor of Architecture, Yale University, 1950-51; six five-week terms as Visiting Critic forth year classes, twice each in the sands, at Cornell University, Syracuse University and Virginia Tech (then "V.P.I."). In 1962 he joined the faculty at North Carolina State University, wherein he resigned as a full professor to return to private practice. Ina total revision (6th edition) of the standard drafting room reference Architectural Graphic Standards was published. The project required six years to complete with Joe serving as the Editor under a contract with the American Institute of Architects. During those years he made over 100 trips to the project offices in NYC at John Wiley and Sons, publishers. Download 1.62 Mb. Share with your friends:
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