Hi, Cynthia. Jesse A. Boen (Newton County) has been quite a mystery, mainly because he was already married by 1850, i.e., no parents listed in the census to help establish heritage. I suspect that he and the Johnson County Boen family were related, possibly as a nephew of William Monroe Boen. This is circumstantially reinforced by Polly’s appearance in the 1870 Census for Mulberry TWP, Johnson County, within very close proximity of the Johnson County Jesse’s kin, as well as the bordering of Johnson County to Newton and Pope Counties. I’m sure you already know that Polly was also in the 1880 Johnson County Census next door to her mother, Barthena Cooper. I have seen Polly’s application for membership into the Choctaw Nation, which bears the date August 1896, and it does confirm her “intermarriage” with J.A. Boen, deceased.

Like you, I have been unable to find any record that proves Newton County Jesse’s participation in the war, which opens up the possibility that he could have died before the war started. No children were born after Nancy’s birth in 1860. If this were the case, his death would have occurred after 01 May 1861, because he acquired a Pope County Land Patent on that date.

Robert Boen might have been a brother. He enlisted in Company E, 14th Arkansas Infantry on 17 Jul 1861 at Yellville. Company E originated in Newton County. Robert appears with brother Joshua in the Levi Self household, 1860 Johnson County.

I am still actively working on this family, and I’ll post anything new. Good luck in your search.