William B. Boyett & Elizabeth Katrina Allen Family

William B. Boyett was born in Covington County on 1 Jan 1840, the oldest son of 
Bennett J. Boyett and Sarah Bryan Boyett.  He married Elizabeth Katrina “Katie” 
Allen in Pike County, Alabama on 14 Feb 1859.  Katie was born 17 Mar 1841.  
Her parents are not known at this time, but a Joseph Allen who may have been 
her father or brother signed the marriage bond.  The newlyweds returned to 
Covington County and were living in the house next to his parents in Rose Hill 
with their one-year-old son in the 1860 census.

William was enlisted by Captain James T. Brady in the Confederate Army at 
Selma, Alabama on 26 August 1862 and served in Company E of the 42nd 
Alabama Infantry. His company was engaged in the Battle of Corinth, Mississippi 
in the fall of 1862 during which half of the force of 700 in the 42nd Infantry was 
killed.  William was in the hospital at Meridian, Mississippi during some or all of 
the engagement and was not among those captured at Vicksburg in 1863. 
When the unit was reorganized soon after the surrender, William rejoined. He 
was later wounded in the Battle of Atlanta on Peach Tree Creek on July 22, 
1864.   He was shot through both legs above the knees and the bullet fractured 
the left leg.  He was sent to the hospital in Macon, Ga. and from there was given 
a furlough home. The battle wound left him crippled for the rest of his life.  He 
remained on furlough until the war was ended and he was paroled at 
Montgomery, Alabama on June 19, 1865. 

When William went off to war, he left his wife Katie to care for their two children—
three-year-old Benjamin and six-month-old Mary Jane. Struggling to provide for 
her family, she plowed the fields to make a crop so they could eat.  She built a 
small cradle that she attached to the plow stock for Mary Jane to ride in and little 
Benjamin toddled along beside her.  Katie was a big-framed woman who was 
called “Kit-Ma” by her grandchildren.

Their two children later married children of Jesse Bryan and Sara Ann Boyett.
1. Benjamin Jackson, born 29 Sep 1859, died 18 Mar 1910.  He married Tempie 
Melina Bryan.
2. Mary Jane, born 16 Feb 1862, died 21 Oct 1946.  She married Andrew 
Jackson Bryan, brother of Tempie Melina.

After the war, the family apparently lived at their farm in Rose Hill, Alabama until 
December 1895.   At that time, they moved to Portland in south Walton County, 
Florida and lived near their daughter and son-in-law, Andrew and Mary Jane 
Bryan.

William died 5 July 1910 and is buried at Pleasant Ridge Cemetery near 
DeFuniak Springs, Walton County, Florida.  A CSA tombstone marks his grave.

Elizabeth Katrina died 13 April 1926 and is buried beside her husband. 

Sources:  US Census, Tombstone inscriptions, Bureau of Land Management 
Records, Covington County Land Records, interviews and personal knowledge of 
the writer.

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