Henry Jefferson Boltz family papers

Collection

Identifier: SC-Mss. Coll. 103

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Henry Jefferson Boltz family papers primarily consist of documents and photographs related to the personal and professional lives of the Boltz family. Henry Jefferson Boltz’s life history details his activities as an itinerant minister in North Louisiana for the Louisiana Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. This features his accounts of traveling and working in rural North Louisiana during the late 19th century. Also included are items related to Emma Dubose, the African-American housekeeper who worked for the Boltz family in Shreveport during the 1930s. The materials about memorial homes relate to the 1983 dedication of the Bannerman Memorial Home and the Rev. and Mrs. H. J. Boltz Memorial Home in Bossier City, Louisiana.

Dates

1878 - 1983

Creator

Boltz, Henry Jefferson, 1855-1949 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Physical rights are retained by the Centenary College of Louisiana Archives and Special Collections. Copyright is retained in accordance with U.S. copyright laws.

Biographical / Historical

Rev. Henry Jefferson Boltz (1855-1949) was born in Camden, Alabama. He was the son of Michael and Lieuticia Daly Boltz. H. J. Boltz worked as an itinerant minister in North Louisiana for the Louisiana Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He was licensed to preach in 1879, became a deacon in 1883, was admitted into full connection in 1887, and became an elder in 1889. Boltz served seventeen different pastorates and built seven new churches and five parsonages. He was appointed to congregations at the following locations (some dates are approximate): Many and Sabine circuit (1879-1881), Sugar Town circuit (1883-1884), Many and Sabine circuit (1885-1888), Provencal circuit (1889), DeSoto circuit (1890-1893), North Bossier circuit (1894-1896), South Bossier circuit (1897-1899), Grand Cane (1900), Lanesville (1901-1902), Jonesboro (1903), Winnfield station (1904), Keatchie circuit (1905-1906), Pleasant Hill (1907-1908), Texas Avenue in Shreveport (1909), Grand Cane mission (1910-1912), Bayou Lachute circuit (1913-1915), Vivian (1916-1917), Elmore circuit (1918-1921), Simsboro circuit (1921-1924). These circuits included the following congregations: Bayou Scie, Pelican, Plain Dealing, Concord, Haughton, Ebenezer, Benson, Vivian, and Trees.

In 1880, H. J. Boltz married Amanda Louise Vidler (1856-1913) of Sabine Parish, Louisiana. The Boltz’s had five children: Dessye Marle Boltz Bannerman (1882-1963), Emma Lieu Boltz (1884-1886), Terresser May Boltz (1886-1888), Willie Henry Boltz (1889-1930), and unknown.