John Boatwright (Botwright), Jr. traveled to Virginia around 1654 as an indentured servant. Three years later he imported eight individuals including two uncles (Thomas and William Cropley - brothers of John Boatwright, Sr.'s wife, Elizabeth Cropley) and his father, John Boatwright, Sr. It is assumed that Elizabeth Cropley Boatwright has passed away by 1659, and thus John Sr. traveled alone.
Land certificate to John Botwright, Jr. for 400 acres of land for the importation of William Powell, Thomas Cropley, William Cropley, John Botwright (Sr.), Henry Farloe, James Cassett, Elizabeth Bridge and Anne Scarlett; recorded January 24, 1657, York County, Virginia. This key record, discovered by Dr. Ron Boatright, records John Botwright Jr. receiving a land certificate for 400 acres for importing eight individuals including his father (John Botwright Sr.) and two uncles (Thomas and William Cropley). There is no subsequent record of a land patent for the 400 acres by John Boatwright, so it is assumed that John sold or traded the land certificate rather than claiming the 400 acres of land.
"Cert. is granted to Mr. John Botwright for four hundred acres of land for ye importeen of William Powell, Thomas Cropley, William Cropley, John Botwright, Henry Farloe, James Cassett, Elizabeth Bridge and Anne Scarlett."
The Boatwright family established themselves in Virginia, settling in the county of New Kent and a portion of New Kent that became Hanover County in 1720. In 1714 William Byrd argued before the Colonial Board that the cost of the government in Virginia, which had become a burden on the King, could be defrayed by selling the land outright at 5 shillings for 50 acres. This produced a profound effect on the colony and by 1755 almost all of present Virginia had been claimed, mostly by descendants of the early colonists. Persons arriving in years after that were obligated to purchase land from the conglomerate landholders and speculators at the market rate.
With land in Virginia at a premium, branches of Boatwright family migrated west in Virginia, to the counties of Cumberland and then Buckingham. Other branches of the family migrated to North Carolina and South Carolina during the second half of the 1700s.
In the early 1800s branches of the family moved westward to Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois and Ohio. In the south, branches of the family moved to Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. In the 1830s and 1840s, migration to Arkansas and Missouri occurred. The migration of Boatwrights mirrored the migration within America in general, as families moved to undeveloped, former Indian land, looking for better farming conditions and better economic opportunities.
For the first 200 years of our family in America, we were farmers. As the country began to industrialize during the 1850s and beyond, many of our family left the farms and immigrated to the cities of America.