This Boykin Spaniel , said to be a male, was the forerunner of all Boykin Spaniels in existence today. Early ancestors of this breed are thought to be the Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Springer Spaniel, Cocker Spaniel and the American Water Spaniel. The private registry for the Boykin Spaniel breed began in 1977 under the name of the Boykin Spaniel Society.
On April 20, 1984 the South Carolina Wildlife and Marine Resources Commission endorsed the Boykin Spaniel as South Carolina's state dog. Governor Richard W. Riley proclaimed September 1, 1984, the first day of dove hunting season, as Boykin Spaniel Day. On March 26, 1985, Governor Riley signed into law the act making the Boykin Spaniel the official South Carolina state dog.
The Boykin Spaniel was recognized as a breed apart from any other spaniel by the United Kennel Club in 1985.The American Kennel Club began a foundation stock service for the Boykin Spaniel in 1998. Participation in the Foundation Stock Service does not imply AKC accreditation. The Boykin Spaniel remains in the rare breed classification with the AKC.
The Boykin Spaniel is a versatile hunting spaniel that can be found duck hunting in the morning, pheasant hunting in the afternoon and light goose hunting in the early evening all in the same day. There is no split between field and show types within the Boykin Spaniel. A Boykin Spaniel can be as equally comfortable in the show ring as he is in the field given the proper training and socialization.
He has strong drive and an excellent nose. He quarters the field within gun range at a steady moderate pace enabling him to hunt all day. Rather than charge into a flush with reckless abandon the Boykin will hesitate until it locates the bird through sight or scent and then force the bird into flight with an aggressive flush. This has been described as a hesitation flush. Blinking, sitting when a bird is located, pointing or a dog that needs encouragement or to be commanded to flush is not in character with the Boykin’s hunting style and is unacceptable. As a truly versatile hunting spaniel trained for water fowling as well as upland hunting, the Boykin readily takes to water and is a strong swimmer. He should show willingness to enter the water for retrieves across water on land or in the water.
Known to friends and kin as “Mr. Whit,” Lemuel Whitaker Boykin, wasm the son of military hero Alexander Hamilton Boykin Spaniel and Sarah JonesndeSaussure. Grandson of the first Boykin to come to the Wateree River area, Whit farmed Pine Grove Plantation, which had been cut from then original land grant and had been tilled by Boykins since the 1700s. Born on November 26, 1861, at Plane Hill, ten miles from Camden, Whit came into his majority in the early 1880s and became a land appraiser and farmer in Kershaw and Sumter counties. As many Camden families did during the time when Whit was growing up, the Boykins vacationed in cooler parts of the state during the sweltering summer months. Whit Boykin’s youngest daughter, Ellen Cantey “Wrennie” (Mrs. T. L. Alexander), said Alec White, whom she called “Uncle Knox,” became a friend of her father’s when both were young men courting the same girl, Lavolette McGowan (who later became Mrs. White). Miss McGowan and Whit Boykin had apparently known each other from the time they were teenagers because the Boykins and the Laurens County McGowans vacationed each summer at the same spot in the North Carolina mountains.
Born on March 11, 1860, Alexander Lawrence White had moved with his family in 1864 from his birthplace in Charleston to Spartanburg County. He was the son of John Thomas White and according to Men of the Time: Sketches of Living Notables by J. C. Garlington (1902) a greatgrandson of one of the original settlers of South Carolina, John White. Alec, his sister, Sarah Carolyn “Carrie,” and his two bachelor brothers, Thomas J. and Parker White, were raised in Spartanburg. His two brothers later resided at White’s Mill, outside Spartanburg. Alec White, who entered the labor market as a railroad worker, eventually became president of Farmers and Merchants Bank at 117 Morgan Square in Spartanburg and secretary-treasurer of Peoples Building and Loan Association. Records of the First Presbyterian Church of Spartanburg show the marriage of Alexander White to Miss Lavolette McGowan on May 20, 1885, by Rev. Thomas Hart Law. Also recorded there are the dates of the baptisms of sons Homer and Alexander in 1888 and 1890 respectively and the death of Mrs. White in June 1934.
A town about 130 miles from Camden by railroad, Spartanburg sits at the base of the Appalachian Mountains. The time it took to travel between Camden and Spartanburg was considerable in South Carolina’s prehighway era. Yet, despite the physical distance between Whit Boykin and Alec White, their friendship persisted throughout their lives. In 1975 Whit Boykin’s daughter Wrennie said that “Uncle Knox” and “Pappa Whit” wrote each other once a week and hunted together every time they got a chance. These two were united not only by friendship but also by a common commitment to preserving the game environment. Ahead of their time as hunters, they could be called game conservationists. In 1919 they were founders of the South Carolina Sportsmen’s Association, which demanded daily limits on quail, bag limits on tom turkeys, and no shooting of hens.
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