BOGAN

The Name Bogan

The name Bogan is derived from the Gaelic (Irish language) word bog, meaning soft, spongy ground, marsh or swamp. Dwellers of this kind of people in Ireland and Great Britain were called bog-ans because these particular people worked in these areas. The Bogans were mainly situated in the counties of Donegal and Wexford in Ireland. There were also Bogans in the counties of Devon and Cornwall in England. Incidentally, the Irish spelling of the name Bogan is O'Bogain.

The American Bogans

Little distinction was made between the Scots-Irish in the colonial period. About the time of the Revolution, distinctions began to appear. The majority of the Irish who came to the United States before 1820 were Protestants from Ulster-the-Scots-Irish. They tended to farm on the frontier and in the hill country. They spread into the Midwest and the West, into the Deep South and Texas and gave Appalachia its rich folk heritage. The Irish who came after 1820 were mostly Catholics from Southern Ireland, often laborers on railroads or canals, and they tended to cluster in urban areas. There are, of course exceptions to both patterns.
It would certainly seem that the early Bogans fit into this pattern.

The earliest name and date I have concerning the Bogans was a Cornelius Bogan who immigrated to this country prior to 1662. Skordas found this name and date in the book "The Early Settlers of Maryland," Another early name and date was a William Bogan who was involved in a land transaction in Accomack County, Virginia, in 1667. Another name and date was a James Bogan who failed to pay his taxes in Augusta County, Virginia, in 1756. The first Bogan that I have a record of in Ohio is that of a George Bogan who was listed in the 1807 census of Butler County, Ohio. The first marriage of a Bogan that I have is a Fanny Bogan married James F. Bogan on September 29, 1825, in Warren County.

There was at least one Bogan family in the valley of Virginia in the 1770's. This was the family of Andrew Bogan. There was also a Benjamin Bogan in the valley at the same time. Benjamin served in the Revolutionary War. According to one record, Benjamin had two brothers and one sister who resided in Anson Co., North Carolina. Their names were Patrick, James and Sarah. Patrick also served in the Revolutionary War from North Carolina. Sister Sarah married a Colonel Thomas Wade, for whom the town of Wadesboro, North Carolina, is named. Patrick donated the land for the town. (The above, concerning the brothers and sister of Benjamin Bogan, is purely circumstantial. This compiler wrote the Anson County Historical Society and they could not confirm this. The North Carolina Bogans spelled their name "Boggan.")
We shall now concern ourselves with the name "Andrew Bogan." Andrew Bogan came from Ireland. According to Marion Wesley Bogan, now deceased, Andrew sailed from the County of Cork. The date is not known. The approximate year of birth is 1750. This compiler has the tax records, which concerns the many places he lived. (William T. Owens Smith from Bethesda, Maryland supplied these. Mr. Smith is a descendant of Lucinda Bogan Smith who was the daughter of Andrew Bogan's second marriage.) Andrew's name is in the 1784 tax list (used as a substitute for the missing 1790 census of Virginia) for Rockingham Co., Virginia. In that particular year, his family was listed as "eight white souls." In the Virginia Valley Records, by John W. Wayland, an Andrew Bogan with four horses is found on page 100, under Militia Vouchers in Uriah Garlin's Company, November 3, 1788. Apparently Andrew surrendered four horses for the cause of the Revolutionary War. Andrew is also mentioned in the court records of Botetourt County, Virginia, on page 1052 of L.P. Summers, "Annuals of South West Virginia," 1769-1800, under the date March 20, 1780. The dates of Andrew's birth and death are unknown, as well as his first wife. However, much is known of his children.

Andrew Bogan was the father of nine children, according to the records. Their names, not in order of birth, were John, William, Benjamin, Dolly, Isabella, Elizabeth, and Andrew Jr. Lucinda and Sally were the daughters of his second wife, Nancy (Ann) Muse Deacon as mentioned in the first page of the descendant chart. All these children were born in Virginia.

William and Benjamin came to the Clinton and Warren County area in the fall of 1833. (It is presumed that John died about 1828.) It is not known the route they took from Virginia, perhaps over the mountains and possibly they came by flat boat from Pittsburgh to the Cincinnati area and then by road to Clarksville, Ohio, which is located in Vernon Township (Clinton County). They also settled in Washington Township, which is located in the eastern part of Warren County. There were many births in the Spring Hill area, which is located on Wilmington-Lebanon Road. Spring Hill was at one time a small community.

Many of the children of John, William and Benjamin married in Warren and Clinton counties. John and William's families moved from this immediate area to the area of Kirklin Township, Clinton County, Indiana. This migration started about 1836. They bought land in that territory paying $1.25 per acre.
A church was started in the Kirklin area in the year 1843. Among its original charter members were David Bogan, Elizabeth Bogan, William E. Bogan, Jane Bogan, Margaret Bogan, Rebecca Bogan, Andrew Bogan, Jane Wallace and Nancy Wallace; the two last ladies were formerly Bogans.
The original church was a log structure but has since been built as a frame structure. It is still standing. This compiler and his wife and also two sisters attended services in this church.

There was at one time a small settlement in Kirklin Township called Bogantown. There is a Bogantown Cemetery located in this area. The location of this church and cemetery is situated on S.R. 38 just east of the town of Kirklin.

As was mentioned earlier, Lucinda Bogan Smith was the daughter of Andrew Bogan and his second wife. William Smith has traced the route for Lucinda and her husband, Jesse B. Smith to the Clarksville area. Apparently they crossed the mountains of western Virginia to get to this area. Their arrival was before 1860 because the census records of 1860, Washington Township, Warren County, Ohio, has them recorded.

Lucinda and Jesse moved, along with Madison Bogan, alleged son of Benjamin and Mary Deacon Bogan, to the Pittsfield, Pike County, Illinois, and vicinity in the year 1864. Also along with them traveled the sons of Madison, Benjamin Franklin, William C. and James Alexander Bogan. They apparently arrived shortly before Christmas. A tragedy struck and Benjamin Franklin suddenly died. Madison was shocked by this death and, according to family tradition, returned home by boat. The route was down the Mississippi to the Ohio and then home. Pittsfield is situated near the Mississippi River. There are presently (1991) Bogans in this area.

Benjamin Bogan stayed in the Vernon/Washington Township vicinity. Most of the Bogans in this area are his direct descendants. However, some in this area were descended from Joseph Bogan who was the son of Benjamin's brother, William. Joseph is apparently the only member of William E. and Elizabeth Pullen Bogan's who actually raised a family in Ohio, the rest moving to Indiana and raising their family there. Joseph married Mary Snyder November 30, 1829, in Botetourt County, Virginia. They had one child there, Susan T.; moving to Ohio, they had three more children John, George and Allen; moving to Kirklin Township, Clinton County, Indiana, they had five more children, Sarah E., Barbary S., Martha, Lewis and William A.; moving again back to Ohio, they had their last child, Ida Jane. Many of the Butler County Bogans are descendants of John. Barbary S. Bogan married a son of Jesse and Lucinda Bogan Smith, namely John Oscar Smith.
Joseph and Mary Snyder Bogan are buried in unmarked graves in the Clarksville I.O.O.F. Cemetery in Clinton County.

Benjamin Bogan married Mary (Ann) Polly Deacon November 30, 1808, in Botetourt County, Virginia. Benjamin bought 116 acres of land on Buffalo Creek in Rockbridge County, Virginia on August 2, 1813. He later sold the land to William Pullen; deed dated July 7, 1833. His Wife, Mary Deacon Bogan, was also named in the later transaction. Benjamin moved in the fall of 1832 or 1833 to the Clinton County/Warren County area.
Benjamin Bogan died January 10, 1843, in Clinton County, Ohio. He is buried in the Rehobath Cemetery on Wisbey Road in Clinton County. This cemetery is located just off S.R. 730/Reeder Road south of the intersection of S.R. 350 and S.R. 730. I do not know the location of the grave of Mary Deacon Bogan. Some say she is buried in the same cemetery. She was listed in the 1870 census report as living with her daughter Minerva and son-in-law Wm. F. McCray. Her age listed at this time was 83.

FOOTNOTES: [a place to add additional information that you might want to submit]

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This page created 7 September 2004 and last updated 28 September, 2008
© 2004 Arne H Trelvik  All rights reserved