
Good news! Through the efforts of House Representative Victor Gaston and Senator Chris Elliott HB 104 has been passed unanimously and Governor Ivey signed it into law. I made an application for a posthumous pardon to the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles in Montgomery, Alabama and the matter is being pursued. The Lede online magazine published a long article regarding this on April 16.
September 11, 2022: a presentation at Wetumpka Museum.
The Boyington Oak Society will present the Second Annual Boyington Oak Festival on May 14 & 15, 2022. Flyer
At Oakleigh House Museum in Mobile, Alabama, as well as the following Events:
Play – The Truth is in the Tree
(performed on Oakleigh balcony for social distancing)
Written by Mary S. Palmer,
Produced & Directed by Dr. Thomas Rowell
Signed Copy of Book – Boyington Oak: A Grave Injustice
Mary S. Palmer, author, Shannon S. Brown, editor
Tour – Oakleigh House Museum
Trolley/Bus Tour – Follows Footsteps of Boyington – Sights include: Fort Conde, Mobile’s First Jail (Conde Charlotte Museum), Battle house Renaissance Hotel, Government Street Presbyterian Church, The Boyington Oak.
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Alabama Speaker Pro Tem Victor Gaston has succeeded in getting House Bill 104 passed by the House of Representatives with no dissensions. Next, Senator Chris Elliott will present it to the house. The revisions in this bill would allow Boyington to be eligible for a posthumous pardon. https://selti.org/2022/02/27/2nd-annual-boyington-oak-festival-planned-for-may-and-a-criminal-pardon-may-be-in-the-works-for-the-main-character/
Through the Historic Mobile Preservation Society, a grant has been awarded to preserve the Boyington Collection by Americana Corner.
In 1834, unqualified jurors and circumstantial evidence determined the fate of journeyman printer, poet, and musician, Charles Boyington, a nineteen-year-old hanged for the murder of his critically ill best friend. As he predicted would happen to prove his innocence, an oak tree grew from his gravesite in Mobile, Alabama. It still stands 185 years later.
Boyington Oak: A Grave Injustice was released in late November 2019. It took extensive research but I dug out lots of new information. Article.
Boyington Oak video
TV interview with Mary!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4uEkftv_v8
Another TV interview with Mary:
wkrg.com/local-news/a-nearly-two-hundred-year-old-mobile-murder-mystery/