MARK BOYD, a pioneer farmer of Rushville township, now retired from active labor, was born in county Armagh, Ireland, February 6, 1823, a son of William Boyd, a native of the same county. The paternal ancestors were natives of Scotland. William Boyd was reared to the life of a farmer, and when he had arrived at man's estate he emigrated to America; this was previous to the war of 1812, and he remained three years; at the end of that period he returned to Ireland, was married, and resided there until 1838. In that year he sailed with his wife and three children for the port of New York, the voyage consuming three weeks. He engaged in teaming in New York city, and resided there until 1868, when he bought a farm of 120 acres, on which he lived until his death, February 10, 1868. He married Maria Boyd, who died in Rushville, in 1868; she was the mother of three children: Esther J., Mark and Samuel. Mark Boyd was a child of five years when he crossed the deep blue sea with his parents. He received his education in New York, the school which he attended being located on Seventeenth street, near Eighth avenue.

In 1841 he began to learn the trade of a baker, and followed this calling until 1860, when he went to Orange county, New York; he was employed on a farm until 1867, when he came to Schuyler county, Illinois. His first investment here was in a farm of eighty acres, and to this he has made additions until he now owns nearly 200 acres, in Oakland and Rushville townships. There he made his home until 1892; in February of this year he removed to Rushville, where he is living in the quiet enjoyment of the reward his years of industry and toil have won.

Mr. Boyd was married in New York city, September 11, 1845, to Sarah Fourgeson, the daughter of Daniel Fourgeson. Her paternal grandfather, John Fourgeson, was a native of Scotland, and removed to county Derry after his marriage, where he purchased a farm and passed the remainder of his life. He married Ann Kennedy, also a native of Scotland. Daniel Fourgeson, their son, spent his entire life on the farm where he was born; he married Mary Fulton, a descendant of Scotch ancestors, but a native of county Derry, Ireland. Mrs. Boyd and her sister Elizabeth, wife of Duncan Taylor, were the only members of their family who came to America. Mrs. Boyd sailed from Liverpool in 1850, and after twenty-one days on the water reached the port of New York. Our subject and wife are the parents of three children: Maria J., Elizabeth and Sarah. Maria married James Bill and is the mother of three children; Robert W., Henry and Charles; Elizabeth is the wife of George Manlove, and has a family of three children,--Bessie, Annie and Mark; Sarah married Elijah Wilson, and has a family of six children, Nellie, Annie, Maud, Henry, Walter and Jennie.

Mr. and Mrs. Boyd were reared in the Presbyterian Church, and have always adhered to that faith. They are people of much force and stability of character, and have reared a family who are an honor to them and a credit to the community in which they live.