Record of the Boyd Family
Edgar E. Boyd,
Wheeling, West Virginia 1913
JOHN BOYD OF IRVINE,
SCOTLAND AND KINDERHOOK, NY
John Boyd was born at Irvine,
Ayrshire, Scotland 21 January 1739. He was
educated at the University
of Edinburgh, was a lawyer by profession, and
was made a notary in 1761.
Leaving Scotland 26 February 1770, he came to
America with his mother, and
settled in Richmond, Berkshire County,
Massachusetts, later moving
to Kinderhook, New York.
He was licensed 26 March 1774,
as a lawyer by Colonial Governor John
Tryon of the then Province
of New York. He married twice, the first time,
on 8 December 1772, to a New
York lady, name unknown, who died September
1 1773 leaving one child who
died five weeks later. On 18 April 1780 he
married Miss Christina Van
DUSEN of Kinderhook, New York a cousin of
Martin Van BUREN, later President
of the United States and daughter of
Robert Van Dusen (or Van Duesen).
According to his grandson's account
(John E. Boyd) he is said
to have also engaged in the dry goods business
in New York and to have failed
in 1781 owing to the depreciation of
Continental money. After the
birth of four sons the family removed to
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
then the Nations Capital, where Mr. Boyd
obtained a clerkship in Congress.
His wife Christina died 16 September
1797. He died September
1798 of Yellow Fever.
His wife's line---the Van Duesen---goes
back to Holland previous to the
year 1640, when the first
Van Duesen forefather came to New Amsterdam,
now New York
The children of John Boyd and
wife Christina were four in number: sons,
Robert, William Augustus,
John and James Boyd. The John Boyd from
Scotland was the Great-grandfather
of this compiler (Edgar E. Boyd).
ROBERT BOYD, son of John Boyd
of Scotland was born 19 Aug 1783 either at
Kinderhook, NY or Richmond,
Massachusetts. Little is known of him or his
family. He settled at
Port Tobacco, Maryland and is reported to have
married a southern lady, name
unknown and to have had at least three
children, one son and two
daughters, as in a letter from him dated 2 July
1830 at Washington City, he
speaks of a son Robert, then 18 years of age
the previous February, as
studying medicine with Dr. Washington of
Alexandria and also says that
his two daughters are with their aunt in
Port Tobacco, MD., calls them
"good scholars" that the "oldest daughter,
Ann, understands painting
and drawing" ---she was 17 years of age last
February, and Christina, the
younger, is about 14 years of age." The
dates of Robert's marriage
and death are unknown, but he married prior to
his brother, William Augustus.
It is said that Robert died at Washington
DC, poor and in an "asylum"
but was aided financially by his brothers,
William A., and James. According
to the ages of the above children, as
mentioned in the letter from
Robert, their names and years of birth are
as follows: 1. Robert
Boyd born Feb, 1812 2. Ann Boyd born Feb, 1813
3. Christiana Boyd born in
1816.
WILLIAM AUGUSTUS BOYD, (page
6 of original book) son of John Boyd of
Scotland was born in Berkshire
County, MA 10 Nov 1785. He was educated in
Philadelphia, PA and Albany,
NY. He trained as a merchant in a wholesale
dry goods store in Albany
and followed that occupation. He later moved to
Hartwick, Otsego County, NY,
then to Ovid, Seneca County, NY. He married
Ruth SEYMOUR of Otsego, in
January, 1811. She was born at Berlin, CT on
28 August 1789 daughter of
Jonathan SEYMOUR and Abagail HART.
Mr. and Mrs. Boyd removed in
the year 1839 to Monroe, Michigan where they
lived the remainder of their
life. William A. Boyd died there 26 July
1854 and Ruth died there 6
March 1875. They were actively engaged in the
services of the Presbyterian
Church. There were three children:
1. William Hart Boyd.
2. Erasmus James Boyd. 3. Mariet Boyd.
page 2
JOHN BOYD, (page 11 of original
book) son of John BOYD of Scotland was
born at Kinderhook, NY 25
August 1787. He was a playmate of his cousin,
Martin Van Buren, afterwards
President of the United States. When a boy
he accompanied his parents
to Philadelphia, PA later removing to
Alexandria, Virginia then
a city of the District of Columbia. He was a
saddler by trade, and several
of his sons learned the same trade. He
married 1 July 1810 Miss Mary
Gough (or Goff) KIRK, born at Philadelphia
3 July 1793, said to have
been an only child. Her parents had emigrated
to America from England about
four years prior to her birth. Little is
known of her family. (Kirk
is a Scottish name). According to her son
Charles Boyd, she had two
uncles, William and Thomas KIRK the later born
blind. They moved from
Alexandria to Guenrsey County, Ohio, thence to
some point in Ohio west of
Columbus. Mary's father seems to have come
with them, or possibly later,
to Guernsey County for he is buried near
the village of Antrim in that
county.
John Boyd above was a Mason
and member of the lodge to which George
Washington had belonged in
Alexandria. In the early 1820's the family
moved to Washington, DC and
about 1830 they moved to Gratiot on the
National Road in Licking County,
Ohio. Here he died on 26 January 1862,
his wife on 9 December 1868.
They were Methodists in religion. John and
Mary G. Boyd were the parents
of thirteen children, three of whom died in
infancy, one of these unnamed.
1. William Alfred Boyd. 2. John Edward
Boyd. 3. Mary Emmilene
Boyd. 4. Thomas Henry Boyd. 5. Charles Albert
Boyd. 6. Sarah Louisa
Boyd. 7. Samuel James Boyd. 8. Robert Edgar
Boyd. 9. (twins) Leroy
Augustus Boyd. 10. Augustus Leroy Boyd. 11.
Adelaide Virginia Boyd.
12. George Washington Boyd.
JAMES BOYD son of John Boyd
from Scotland (page 32 original book) was
born at Kinderhook, NY in
July 1790. He married a Miss THAYER of
Butternuts, Otsego County,
NY. He trained as a merchant and made his home
in Laurens, NY. He conducted
a store there and became Justice of the
County Court. About
the year 1830, a Mason named Morgan having published
a published a book exposing
the secrets of the order, and the Masons
being suspected of having
killed Morgan---so it was rumored---James Boyd
was defeated for re-election
to the County Court because he was a Mason.
At this time his nephew, John
E. Boyd, later of Virginia, was employed in
his uncle's store. James
Boyd was at that time in delicate health.
James Boyd and his wife were
the parents of two children, who died young,
a boy and a girl, names unknown.
The parents died some time during the
19th century, but the dates
are not known.
(From the book "Record of the Boyd Family"
Edgar E. Boyd, 1913, Wheeling, West Virginia)
Contact RG Boyd if you need more data on this line of Boyds
111111111111111111111111111
8 Oct 1999
Dear Richard
Passed down from my mother
I have a small book entitled "Record of the
Boyd Family: John Boyd from
Scotland and Descendants", written by Edgar
E. Boyd of Wheeling, WV in
1913.
My gggg-grandfather, the "John
Boyd from Scotland" is described in this
book as having been born on
Jan 21, 1738/39 in Irvine, Ayr, Scotland,
and was educated at the University
of Edinburgh. He was a lawyer and
notary who left Scotland on
Feb 2, 1770, coming to America with his
mother and settling in Richmond,
Berkshire Co, MA and later moving to
Kinderhook, Columbia Co, NY.
He married (his 2nd marriage ) Christina
Van Dusen (of Kinderhook),
supposedly a cousin of Martin Van Buren.
John and Christina's son, John
William Boyd (1787-1862), married Mary
Gough Kirk (1793-1868). Their
daughter, Sarah Louisa Boyd (1821?-1890),
married William Driggs (1813?-1890).
Their daughter, Estella Adelaide
Driggs (1852-1930), married
John Henry Rust (1851-1921). Their daughter,
Lenora Edith Rust (1883-1970),
married Clifford Guy Call (1880-1954).
Their daughter, Thela Frances
Call, was my mother.
More
on Boyd/Driggs connection
My little book begins with
a description of the descendancy of the Boyds
who became Earls of Kilmarnock.
The earldom ended with William Boyd, the
4th Earl of Kilmarnock, born
May 12, 1705 and beheaded for treason at
the Tower in London on Sept
16, 1747. He left three sons who I have
identified from other sources
as being William Boyd (b Mar 16, 1724/25),
James Boyd (b Apr 20, 1726),
and Charles Boyd (b Feb 10, 1727/28). The
middle son, James, changed
his name from Boyd to Hay when he became the
Earl of Errol in 1758.
My little book, immediately
after describing the Kilmarnock/Errol
descendancy, continues "John
Boyd, born in Scotland, was of this family,
and one of the younger sons
of the Earl of Errol, but according to
another account, was an only
son."
I have definite problems with
this connection, and wonder whether anyone
out there has a way to clarify
it -- or to give me other information
about the ancestors of my
John Boyd.
Problem #1: James Boyd/Hay
was born in 1726 so was unlikely to be having
a son in 1738/39.
Problem #2: The family of the
Earls of Errol, as I understand it, had
the last name Hay, not Boyd.
According to the LDS ancestral
files James Boyd/Hay married Rebecca
Lockhart (c1728-1761) in 1749,
but no children are listed. He then
married Isabella Carr (1742-1808)
in 1762 and a bunch of children are
attributed to this marriage,
most of them born between 1763 & 1778
(although one is listed as
having been born in 1754 so might have been
Rebecca's). Most of these
children are shown with the last name Hay, not
Boyd.
I suspect that the author of
my little book was simply indulging in
wishful thinking that he had
illustrious ancestors, but the way he
states the connection is so
vague that it's possible I'm just not
understanding what he meant.
Approaching the problem from
another direction, I have looked for
information about my John
Boyd in the IGI records made available on the
WWW by the LDS. I have found
three different IGIs for the birth of a
John Boyd, born Jan 21, 1739
in Kilmarnock, Ayr, Scotland to John Boyd
and Janet Dunlop. [Irvine
and Kilmarnock are only about 5 miles apart.]
I also found (1) a marriage
of John Boyd and Janet Dunlop on Jan 26,
1732 in Kilmarnock, (2) a
birth date for John Boyd (spouse of Janet
Dunlop) of 1715, (3) a birth/christening
record for a John Boyd (b 1715,
ch Aug 21, 1715 in Glasgow
[Glasgow is only about 20 miles from
Kilmarnock], parents Andrew
Boyd & Agnes Davidson), (4) a birth date for
Janet Dunlop (spouse of John
Boyd) of c1719, and (5) a christening
record for Janet Dunlop on
Jul 8, 1718 in West Kilbride [about 12 miles
from Kilmarnock], parents
Adam Dunlop & Elspa Syre).
All of these seem to fit together
a lot better than the connection to
the Earls of Kilmarnock or
Errol do. But, of course, John Boyd (and
Janet Dunlop) are extremely
common names, so it may all be coincidence.
Does anyone have any new information
about the ancestors of my John
Boyd (b Jan 21, 1739)?
I'd really appreciate hearing from you.
Thanks,
Cathy Howell
[email protected]
Other
researchers of this family include:
George Boyd Lukens
[email protected]
James Boyd Bernstein
[email protected]
David Weber
[email protected]