Biography:  Thomas Kendall Boggan of Itawamba and Lee Counties, Mississippi

Source:  Rowland, Dunbar.  The Official and Statistical Register of the 
State of Mississippi, Centennial Edition, 1917.  Madison, Wisc.: 
Democrat Printing Company, 1917.  Pages 805-807.

Submitted for inclusion in the USGenweb Project Archives by Lori Thornton
<lorithor@yahoo.com>.

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THIRTY-EIGHTH DISTRICT

THOMAS KENDALL BOGGAN of Tupelo, Miss., State Senator from the Thirty-
eighth District, was born February 2, 1880, at Mooresville, Lee County, 
Miss., the son of Thomas Armstrong Boggan and Mittie Catherine Mitchener 
of Lee County.  His father was a native of Alabama, from which state he 
removed to Mooresville.  At the early age of fifteen, he joined the 
Confederate army and served until the close of the Civil War.  He 
represented Lee County in the State Legislature one term, and was health 
officer for that county in 1911-12.  He resided a few years in Itawamba 
County, but spent the latter part of his life in Tupelo, Miss.  He was 
the son of Dr. James Hardy Boggan and Mary Anne Prewett Boggan of 
Alabama, and later of Monroe County, Miss.  Dr. James Hardy Boggan 
joined the Confederate army from Itawamba County at the beginning of 
the Civil War.  However, his services as a physician were in such demand 
that the people of his vicinity petitioned for his return and he 
practiced medicine among them until his death.  Senator Boggan is of 
Irish and English ancestry and is descended from one of three Boggan 
brothers who came from Ireland and settled in the Carolinas.  Sarah 
Grizzard, his great-grandmother on the paternal side, was also of Irish 
descent.  His English ancestry was derived through his great-grandmother 
Prewett, who was a Miss McGee.  A maternal ancester [sic.] was Catherine 
Boone Mitchner, a descendant of Daniel Boone.  In his family also appear 
the names of Smith and McMeans.  It is a matter of great interest and 
pride to us that Mississippi's population is made up of such families 
as are found in this sketch of Senator Boggan.  Senator Boggan's early 
education was obtained in the public schools of Mooresville.  He later 
attended the public schools at Fulton, Miss., and in Septebmer, 1898, 
he entered the Tupelo High School, finishing the entire course of study.  
With the foundation of a good education well laid, he entered the 
University of his own State in 1899, from which institution he was 
graduated with the degree of B. P. in June, 1903.  Deciding upon the 
legal profession, he attended the University of Michigan for three 
summer sessions and afterwards took a senior course in the Law Department 
of the University of Mississippi, graduating there with the degree of 
LL. B. in June 1912.  While preparing himself for the practice of law, 
he engaged in school work for a number of years; was superintendent of 
the public schools at Collins, Miss., June 1903-07; superintendent of the 
Magnolia public schools, June 1907-08; superintendent of the Biloxi public 
schools, June 1908-11.  Like so many other young Mississippians, Senator 
Boggan depended upon teaching while he was preparing himself for his 
profession and this experience, has doubtless, been a most valuable one 
in after life.  In November, 1912, he began the practice of his 
profession in Meridian, Miss.  From that city, he removed to Tupelo, 
Miss., where he has been in a constant and successful practice.  He 
served as a member of the State Text-book Commission from the Sixth 
Congressional District, from 1905-10.  His election to the State Senate 
was the next step in his public career.  In political faith he is a 
Democrat; a member of the Methodist Church; and of the fraternal orders 
of Masons, Woodmen of the World, and Knights of Pythias, in which orders 
he has always held high positions.  On December 25, 1904, he was united 
in marriage to Shirley Sue Neill of Oxford, Miss.  Mrs. Boggan is the 
daughter of William Constantine Neill and Mary Emmeline Phipps of Oxford.  
Her father's family removed to Mississippi from Tennessee and originally 
came from Ireland to Burke County, North Carolina, some time during the 
18th century.  The Phipps came to Tennessee from Petersburg, Va.  A 
paternal ancestor of Mrs. Boggan, Richard Long, was a gallant solider in 
the Revolutionary War.