It has been out of loyalty and affection for members of my Boland, Goins, Hamer, 
Cummings, Barnes, Strange, Crouch, Fussell, Goyne, Driver and Lokey families that 
this history has been compiled.
I started this work in the summer of 1964, with only family Bible records and a few 
sheets of hand-written family records of my mother and sister, Sara Kate in addition 
to bits and pieces of family information mother had stored away. I started gathering 
these bits of information and occasionally would tell myself that someday I'll put 
them together never dreaming that I would some day attempt to do a family history.  
In the summer of 1981 my sister, Sara Kate, asked me why I didn't write a book of the 
family, as other family members would like to have a copy of it also. I decided there 
was no time like the present to start. Right then I began putting together what 
information I had, thinking I would do well if I could come up with eighteen or 
twenty pages that I could xerox and give to my family members. Doing any research had 
never entered my mind. I realize now that I was stung at at that time by the 
genealogy bug. During my working years I did not have the time to get involved in 
genealogy. To me it was something someone else did. One thing led to another and 
pretty soon I realized I was into genealogy whether I wanted to be or not.
I regret that I did not get started on this project earlier when some of the prior 
generation were still living.  Even with the resources I had I had started too late 
to get much information, so I started with census reports and courthouse searches. 
Compiling this book has been a labor of love, devotion, and an extreme challenge 
with  many hours of research and hard work writing, typing, re-writing and re-typing. 
It has been very interesting, fascinating, and rewarding. It has been a great source 
of knowledge, carrying me up and down many avenues in search of information. As I 
researched and studied each ancestor I felt I got to know each one of them, and they 
almost seemed to come alive. If my efforts can broaden the understanding and whet the 
interest of anyone,  my many hours of work will have been well spent.
Our ancestors were virtually unknown to me when I started on this. I knew only that 
my grandmother and grandfather Boland had died when my father was only four years 
old.   I have done research on all the above families for this book. 
I have written hundreds of letters with exceptionally good response. Old family Bible 
records, old hand-written family letters, and other family records were found and 
copied. Some relatives sent old family photographs, including tintypes dating back to 
1800s and other photos which I obtained from my Uncle Thomas and Aunt Bertha Goins 
when Aunt Bertha died in 1969. Prints were made and many can be found in this book. 
Numerous census records were copied, a number of cemeteries were visited, also many 
courthouses, where numerous land deeds, land lottery records, tax records, wills, 
marriages, probate court records, etc. were copied. Many of these types of records 
were obtained from courthouses and archives by correspondence.
Research was done at numerous libraries, at the Georgia State Archives, and at the 
State Museum in the Capitol Bldg., both in Atlanta, Ga. Information was also obtained 
from the University of Georgia Library and the Library of the University of South 
Carolina in Columbia, S. C. Numerous personal interviews were held and many long 
distance phone calls were made plus hundreds of computer e-mails. Telephone 
directories, world atlases, road maps, several encyclopedias, and hundreds of books 
were used in this research. Information was obtained from several churches, 
newspapers, and genealogical and historical societies here in America.  Data on our 
ancestors and family members who participated in the Revolutionary, and Civil Wars 
plus their widows' pension records were obtained from the National Archives in 
Washington, D. C.; the State Archives of Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, and Texas; 
and some World War I records were obtained from the National Personnel Records 
Center, St. Louis, Mo.. I did considerable research on all of these wars, to get 
authentic information, which enabled me to follow many of our ancestors and family 
members and their army outfits throughout these wars. 
Where there is a discrepancy in birth and death dates and a choice had to be made, 
preference is given to Bible records. In some cases where two dates for the same 
event have been found, both have been indicated. To a great extent I have depended 
upon legal documents found in courthouses, archives, family Bibles and tombstones. It 
is sad that so many records have been lost in wars and fires.
The text is not flawless some errors will be found. Some are typographical which were 
missed in the proofreading others from almost illegible photocopies or from material 
in difficult-to-read manuscript form. This text is submitted with the belief that out 
of it priceless facts may be culled which otherwise might have been lost to unborn 
generations. All facts stated were derived as accurately as possible from all the 
sources available. Many have more than one source of proof. A thorough study was made 
of all material used.
Due credit has been given and effort made to gain permission whenever it has been 
necessary to quote printed material or other authority. The stories related as family 
tradition have been handed down from generation to generation.
 On the Bolands I have primarily covered my direct family connection. I did not 
intend to cover all of the Bolands but I have since expanded my research to as many 
families as I could find. Four of my families have a known Revolutionary War 
ancestor, being James Goyne, John Boland, John Hamer, Sr., and Shadrack Crouch. There 
may be others whom I have not yet found.
The primary purpose of this family history is to honor my ancestors and their 
descendants by gathering, and preserving in book form the knowledge acquired on these 
families. I hope other descendants will be encouraged to use my published information 
as a starting point to build a more expanded family history. It is my desire that the 
living descendants of all families in this book and other readers will find this book 
of value, interesting, and enlightening.
Without the help and cooperation of my sister, Sara Kate Boland Griffith, my 
wonderful and beloved mother, Annie Lois Goins Boland, and of the many cousins who 
contributed information on their families this book could not have been compiled. My 
cousins Barbara Reed of Wharton, Texas, Gail Lindhurst of Wilmer, Alabama, Mary 
Boland May of Slaton, Texas, Willie Boland Shannon of Throckmorton, Texas, Carolyn 
Kay Wallace, Gladys and Clifford May of Livingston, Texas, Nelda Hamer of Memphis, 
Tenn, Tom Hooker whose mother Flora Janie Hamer Hooker wrote the book John Hicks 
Hamer of Anson County, N.C, Jay Stein a Hamer researcher, Colonel (retired) Carroll 
Heard Goyne, Jr. and many more cousins that space prevents me to mention here. I can 
never repay Reverend Otto Wilhelm of Heine, Hessen-Kassel, Germany for his tireless 
search of the Lutheran Church records in Frankenberg, Germany and the researching of 
the Boland family back to Johannes Bohland and Loys Dippel the earliest reported 
Bohland family in my records. He located and introduced me to a long lost cousin Otto 
Geitz who lives in the same town where my three great grandfather Johann Heinrich 
Bohland (John H. Boland) was born on June 02, 1755. Reverend Wilhelm died this year 
2003 at the age of 93 years. It is my wish that no one should feel neglected if the 
history of their particular family is not found herein. All of the family information 
that I have been able to gather is printed here. There has been no intent to miss any 
one. I am not a professional writer but I have enjoyed the research, the work and the 
challenge, and I hope you will gain an appreciation of our fine heritage. Readers 
will find my book is slanted to the layman rather than to the professional 
genealogist.
I stop this work for now, being thirty-eight years in the making.
It is with much pride and pleasure that this family history has been compiled.
As a gift to my children and others, this is the legacy I want to leave to represent 
me in the past, the present and the future generations to come.
                                                                                      
            Ernest Pope Boland 
             Author/Researcher