Powhatan Boatright was born in Amherst Co VA on 13 July 1790, the son of John Joseph Boatright and Frances Elizabeth Tinsley. He had little or no education as a child, for later in life he could not sign his name. He
served in the army during the War of 1812, with his service being in the year 1814. Later in life he received a pension based upon this service. By 1815, he was in Jessamine Co KY, where he married Lucy Utley on December 23. She
was the daughter of William Utley. In 1816, Lucy "Boteright" advertised for her missing husband, Powhatan "Boteright", and later she again advertised that she would not be responsible for the debts of her missing husband. It is not known if Powhatan deserted her, or, if perhaps he had traveled west of the Mississippi River after his marriage, looking for a place to settle, and remained gone for longer than expected. In any case, by 1818 Powhatan
Boatright was living in what later became Lawrence Co AR, and his eldest child, John Boatright, was born there in that year. As a resident of Lawrence
County, Powhatan was commissioned as an ensign in the Third Arkansas Militia on 10 July 1820. Shortly afterwards, he moved to Independence County, for he was commissioned as a First Lieutenant in the Seventh Regiment of Arkansas
Militia on 21 September 1824. By 1826, he had moved to north Louisiana, settling in the area that became Claiborne Parish in 1828. He married Mrs. Nancy Eleanor Burke, a widow, there on 24 July 1826. Powhatan Boatright bought government land in northern Ouachita Parish
Louisiana on 3 November 1836, and over the next 20 years, he gradually bought adjoining tracts from the government. He had moved from Claiborne Parish to his new plantation by 1839. In that year Union Parish was created from Ouachita, and Powhatan's new farm was in central Union Parish, near the present-day community of Zion Hill.