100 Years of Boswell

“It never occurred to me that I would end up in agriculture . . .”

—JG Boswell II

James Griffin Boswell was born on May 13, 1882, in the small town of Penfield, Georgia, a place with deep roots in cotton country. Penfield, founded on land that was once part of a vast plantation, sat right in the heart of Greene County. James was the third child of Minnie Griffin and Joseph Osgood Boswell, both from families with generations of history in Georgia. Minnie’s father was a well-respected doctor and school commissioner for the county, while Joseph had quite the story himself. A former second lieutenant in the US Civil War, Joseph went on to become a successful farmer, working 1,500 acres of Greene County land. But that was not all—he also owned and ran two local stores, led the Southern Cotton Growers Association’s local division, and even served as a Georgia state representative in 1900.

Map of Penfield, Georgia, home of generations of the Boswells. In the early 1800s, the family helped fund the original Mercer University, located in Penfield.

100 Years of Boswell

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