mdale  

    Clan Boyd International
 

  Boyds from the book "Pioneer Life" "Autobiography and Sermons of Elder
  Elijah Martindale" also Pioneer History of the Boyd Family" Belle Stanford,
  1892 published in Indianapolis, Indiana by Carlon and Hollenbeck, Printers.
 

                                    (Excerpt starting on page 120)

The author of this history I am about to sketch was Elizabeth Boyd Martindale, wife of Elijah Martindale, the pioneer preacher, whose biography is given in this book. 

She was born in Madison County, Kentucky in 1792. It was owning to her great physicial strength and wonderful industry that a large family of fourteen children were kept above want, and educated according to those early times, while husband went forth as a herald of the cross. She was nearly one year his senior, yet owning to the constitution she inherited from her sturdy ancestors, she outlived him by nearly ten years. During the last seventeen years of her life she was a cripple from a rheumatic affection, and was compelled to walk on crutches. Although she was afflicted and bowed down with the weight of so many years, she could call up the incidents of her early life and relate them with a precision that seemed wonderful.  She departed this life in New Carlisle, Indiana on June 3, 1884. She was the daughter of  Samuel and Isabella Higgins Boyd, the former of Scotch-Irish, and the latter of Irish descent. 


     Elizabeth Boyd                    Elder Elijah Martindale
        Martindale

James Boyd, the father of Samuel Boyd, was a Virginian by birth, and moved to South Carolina, where he took an active part in the struggle of the colonies to gain their independence. James was unyeilding in the suppost of the war of the revolution, and he and his family suffered severely for their well tried patriotism. Twice their habitation was burned to the ground by the Tories, and they were left without shelter. Before the dreadful conflict ceased, he was slain in battle. Three of his sons fought by his side; John, Samuel, and Abraham.  While Samuel was engaged in a skirmish his company was captured, and he was left for dead, a ball having passed through his temple taking out his right eye. When he had lain sometime, a colored woman came along, and when she saw his condition she concealed him under some bushes nearby, then bought him some food and took care of him until he was able to get away. 

Abraham Boyd, the youngest son, who enlisted in the army, was then only 16 years of age. He afterward became the father of Linn Boyd, the great Kentucky Statesman, who was elected
to the legislature of his state a few terms, then he was a member of Congress eighteen years
and four years as Speaker of the House. He was a farmer, and perhaps the secret of his popularity was that he kept himself on a level with the common people. He was a democrat and like Andrew Jackson, he stood firmly against the United States Banks. He was in Congress when Henry Clay brought forth his memorable compromise bill, and through Col. Boyd's influence it was passed. Linn Boyd died 17 December 1859. 

The mother of Samuel and Abraham Boyd, whose maiden name was [Martha] Burns, was related by birth to the great bard of Scotland. Samuel Boyd was born in Virginia, May 20, 1763. In his early life, he with his father moved to South Carolina, where they enlisted in the army of the revolution. Having to carry through all his subsequent life such marks of the long and terrible struggle for independence would instill patriotism in the minds of his children, hence they imbibed in early childhood a deep and abiding hatred of the name Tory, as the Loyalist was called. 

Isabella Higgins, wife of Samuel Boyd, was born in South Carolina, February 13, 1764. Her father, John Higgins was a native of Scotland. Her mother's name was Elizabeth Campbell. 
She was also of Scotch-Irish descent . Samuel Boyd and Isabella Higgins were married in 1785. She was named in honor of the queen of Spain, and also had the honor of being escorted by Andrew Jackson in her youthful days. Her love settled on the one-eyed soldier of the revolution, who was an honest farmer and afterward became a faithful pioneer preacher. They first became members of the Presbyterian Church and afterward joined the Newlights. It was favorable for their vast progeny that they were inclined to go westward and seek more productive soil. Soon after their marriage, they moved to Tennessee and settled in a cabin home. While living there a great shadow fell across their pathway. 

One of Isabella's cousins in Carolina married a somewhat wealthy man and they arranged to visit their cousin in her new home in Tennessee. The road they were to travel was hilly, or rather mountainous, and unfrequented. At that time the only mode of travel was by horseback. They made their visit, but soon after they set out on their return trip they were murdered and their bodies left lying in the forest. Their saddles were left lying beside them, but they had been robbed and their horses taken. This left a sad memory on the minds of the youthful pioneers. They moved from Tennessee and settled in Madison County, Kentucky.

Samuel Boyd was a large and somewhat corpulent man with a ruddy face and dark hair before it silvered with age. The loss of his left eye was a great deformity to his person as he never tried to conceal the blemish by shades or any kind of glasses. I can't say they were not in use for I think it was just about this time, or earlier, that Goldsmith represents the hopeful son of the vicar of Wakefield as making sale of the family nag and buying a whole gross of green spectacles. My grandfather chose to wear a path of black silk over the empty socket and the last time I sat on his knee and was bearded by his kisses I thought he was awfully sweet but still didn't like the looks of that eye. 

Oh I wish we had a cycloramic view of those wounded, starving, bleeding-feeted soldiers marching over the frozen ground bowed down with disaster and defeat, yet willing to die in the last ditch to purchase a land of freedom.

In view of all this, will we surrender our rights as citizens of the great commwealth and allow our country so dearly bought to be ruled by monopolists and millionaires? Will we allow corruption, fraud, sham and boodle to take place of an honest election? What worse chains could England have forged for us?

The author of my history (Elizabeth Martindale) says that when she was seven years old her parents moved from Madison county, Kentucky, to a place on the Cumberland river called 
"Horseshoe Bend". After remaining there for a while they moved to Adair county, which was then a wilderness part of Kentucky.  Samuel Boyd commenced the work of exhortation and soon became an earnest minister of the Gospel, and what is most worth recording, he made a life correspond to his profession, striving to do unto others as he would have them do unto him. 

In the year 1811, Samuel Boyd learned that valuable land had come into martet in the territory of Indiana. He disposed of his land and some of his stock and with a wife and nine children  left for Indiana where they settled at Jacksonburg. Samuel Boyd died 27 November 1835 at the age of seventy-two years.

When Samuel Boyd moved to Indiana he had five sons. Robert, the youngest was thirteen years old.  James, John, William and Samuel were stalwart young men, with the exception of a rheu-
matic affection which seemed to be a family disease.  He also had four daughters. All of them settled on farms in Wayne and Henry counties, Indiana.  All but Isabel, the youngest daughter
lived and died in those counties. Most are buried at the old Jacksonburg cemetery.  When Mrs.
Edna Swiggert, of Indianapolis, daughter of John and Caroline Smith, and granddaughter of Abiram Boyd, visits that old burying ground, she can stand by the headstones of three generations of grandfathers.

James Boyd, the oldest son of Samuel was born in Tennessee, December 5, 1786. He and his brother John settled on adjoining farms in Wayne County, Indiana about 2 miles southwest of Washington. Indiana.  He was first married to Margaret Mitchel. She was the mother of his four oldest children. He afterward married Hester Ruby.  He left his farm in his old age, and moved to Richmond where he departed this life September 29, 1863.  He had a large family of children.
Caroline Boyd, his oldest daughter married James O'Neal.  He dying she married a Mr. Willetts, by whom she has one son with whom she now lives in Winchester. She had a number of O'Neal children, but I think they are all dead.

Mitchel Boyd, the oldest son lived on a farm in Wayne County until his death, which transpired recently. Philander Boyd, the second son lives in Greenfield.  He is a wealthy banker. Abiram Boyd, the third son was also a banker of Cambridge City, and possessed a goodly fortune.  He died November 13, 1885.

Joseph Perry Boyd,  the oldest son of the second marriage, was a physician and moved to Missouri shortly after his marriage. He lived there until his death. William Elza Boyd the next in order is a farmer and lives near Greenberg, Indiana. Isabel Ann Boyd married Lewis Lesh, a merchant.  They are both dead.  Their family lives in Illinois. Amanda Eveline Boyd married a Mr. Willetts, a farmer and they live in Illinois. James Ruby Boyd lives somewhere in the west. Alfred Dudley, the youngest lives on a farm near Jacksonburg. 

John Boyd, the second son of Samuel Boyd, was born in Madison county, Kentucky May 12, 1789.  He married Susan Scott.  He was a farmer by trade. When old he left his farm and moved to Dublin, Ohio where he died December 11, 1872.  He had seven sons and five daughters.  His oldest son was the late Dr. Samuel Boyd of Dublin, Indiana. Nelson Boyd, his second son lives in Iowa. William Boyd the third son was a major in the army and fell in the battle of Rocky Face in 1864. James Boyd, the fourth son is a farmer in Wayne County, Indiana.  John Boyd the fifth son, lived on a farm in Wayne County where he died of a disease contracted while in the army.  Joseph Lewis Boyd, the sixth son, died at New Albany having contracted a fever at the battle of Pittsburg Landing.  Oliver Boyd the youngest son lives in Iowa.

Sarah Ann Boyd the oldest daughter married Joel Hypes, who died while in the army. He was a member of the Eighth Indiana Regiment.  Sarah married second to a Mr. Goolman.  Her home was at Kansas City where she died. Eliza Jane Boyd, the second daughter, married John Commons.  They live in Chicago. Mary and Martha Boyd, the next two, were twins . Mary married John H. Witt and lives in Columbus, Ohio.  Martha married Leburn Commons and live in Anderson, Indiana.  Susan Boyd the youngest daughter married Charles Wilson, a dentist, and they live in Richmond, Indiana.

William Boyd, the third son of Samuel Boyd was born in Madison County, Kentucky 24 March 1781. He was twice married. First to Mary Owen; she dying, he married Ruth Young, formerly Martindale.  He owned a large and beautiful farm on the Walnut Level where he died September 22, 1846. He left three sons and two daughters.  Samuel Boyd,  his oldest son, lived in Hagerstown and was killed by a saw-log rolling over his body December 23, 1889.  John Boyd the second son, lived on a farm near New Lisbon.  He died about 1890.  William M. Boyd 
the third son lives in Indianapolis where he is engaged in the merchantile business.

The two daughters, Mary and and Nancy, live in Dublin, where their mother, Ruth Boyd, settled when she left the farm. They tenderly cared for her in her declining years. Her life only lacked six years of completing a century.

She had one daughter by her first husband, Patsy Young, who married Branson Harris. They are the parents of A. C. Harris, an attorney of Indianapolis, and Alonzo Harris, a farmer near Washington, Wayne county.

Samuel K. Boyd,  the fourth son of Samuel Boyd, the revolutionary soldier, was born in Kentucky, June 29, 1794. He was married first to Martha Lewis and settled near Williamsburg. He had by this wife one son, James, who died in childhood, and five daughters, Priscilla, who married James Clemens and settled in Randolph county,  Narcissa, who married John Chamness, of Williamsburg, and is deceased; Sarah Ann, who married Joseph Lomax, a lawyer of Kalamazoo, Michigan; Evelina, who married William A. Peelle, now living in Richmond; Martha, wife of Winston W. Harris, who lives in Centreville. After the death of his first wife, Samuel K. Boyd married Bethany Ladd, by whom he had nine children, four sons and five daughters. William, the oldest son, lives in Richmond.  Isabel, the oldest daughter, married Thomas Fagan.  Catharine, the second daughter, married William Goodrich.  Mary married JohnKeever; she died leaving two children. Bethany, the youngest daughter, took care of her father until his death, which transpired October 23, 1888; she afterwards married John Lasley. John and Amanda died quite young.  Joseph S. died in 1865, the day of his discharge from the United States army in Texas. 

Robert Boyd , the youngest son of Samuel Boyd, the old soldier of the revolution, was born October 24, 1798. He married Narcissa Stinson.  He was the father of William and James Boyd of Henry county.  He also had three daughters, Louisa, the wife of James C. Peed, and Martha Jane, his former wife, and Mary Ann, wife of Henry Bond, living in Wayne county. Robert moved to Henry county at a very early day and built a cabin in the woods where James' residence now stands. He was a very worthy citizen and greatly respected by all who knew him, but he was down in the midst of his years by a malignant fever that visited that neighborhood in 1852 and '53. the disease was so fatal in its nature that it took away more than fifty per cent of those who were attacked. Several homes were entirely broken up when the disease subsided. 

Samuel Boyd had three daughters younger than Elizabeth. Martha, the oldest of the three, was born November 27, 1800. She married Joseph Lewis, who became one of Wayne county's wealthiest citizens. His home was near Williamsburg, and now belongs to William Hunt, who married Josephine Lewis. Only two sons were born to them. Samuel, their first born son, died in childhood, and John Harvey Lewis lives in the West. They had ten daughters, four of whom are living. Two died in childhood, and four have been taken away more recently, to wit: Louisa Craner, Minerva Swearingen, Adaline, unmarried, and Larinda Clawson. Caroline Stiggleman, Clarissa Smith, Narcissa Jenkinson and Josephine Hunt are all living in Wayne county. Mr. Jenkinson, husband to Narcissa, has long been editor of the Richmond Palladium, and is also postmaster in that city. Martha, wife of Joseph Lewis, died October 22, 1882. Her husband survived her only a few months. He departed this life March 4 1883.

Mary, the third daughter of Samuel Boyd, was born in Kentucky, January 20, 1803. She married Abner Bradbury, a man who stood high in rank among his contemporaries, both in intellect and
morals. He was elected to the Indiana Legislature, once the Lower House and twice  the Senate. They had seven sons, all well to do in life, and all living until a few weeks ago, January 23, 1892.
Dr. Allison Bradbury, the youngest son, was killed while driving across the railroad track, coming in contact with the lightning express train. His wife, and son and daughter, both grown, live in Muncie. William, the oldest son of Abner and Mary Bradbury, lives in Richmond, where he has long been a dealer in real estate.

James, the second son, is a farmer, and lives in Henry county, near New Castle. Samuel, the third son, is in the mercantile business, and lives in Ohio. D. M. Bradbury, the fourth son, is a lawyer and capitalist of Indianapolis. Burns, the fifth son, lives in Muncie, Indiana. He has a farm near by, that he oversees. Albert, the sixth son, has long been a resident of Cambridge City, Indiana: he follows the mercanile pursuit. Walter, a little son, died August 16, 1848.

The daughters were: Isabel, who married James Leeson. She died Feburary 18, 1880. Caroline married James Russell, a farmer, and they live near Alexandria, Indiana. Lizzie married Isaac Harned, who has been dead a number of years. She lives in Cambridge City, Indiana. Martha Jane married Josephus Mundell. They live on a farm near Hagerstown, Indiana. Mary died before she arrived to womanhood. Her death occurred September 30, 1855.

Emma, the youngest daughter, faithfully took care of her aged parents in all the afflictions that came to them before death released them from this clayey tenement.

Abner M. Bradbury died September 18, 1885. Mary, wife of Abner M. Bradbury, died February 16, 1890.

Isabel Boyd, the youngest daughter of Samuel Boyd, was born April 26, 1805. She married William Ladd. They lived on a farm near Williamburgh, Wayne county, Indiana, where they enjoyed a reasonable degree of health, but with a  desire to increase his possessions, he made a disastrous move to Grant county. There was much sickness in the locality where they settled and they soon became the sad victims of disease. Catharine, their oldest daughter, married Jonathan Wright. She was taken away with fever. Samuel and Cicero, the two next, died with consumption. They both left families. Abel, the third, died with fever peculiar to the climate. Caroline, the youngest daughter, died with some lingering mental malady. Constantine was killed by the falling of a tree. Only Boyd, the youngest son, is living. The parents died, the mother with consumption, September 14, 1864; the father, with fever.

                                 CHAPTER VI.  page 162

Anti-slavery Principles-Doctor Boyd and His Brothers in the Army-Death of Doctor Boyd- Luxury of Officals.

The descendants of Samuel Boyd inherited anti-slavery principles from childhood. The idea seemed to be inherent with them that God had given to the whole human family certain inalienable rights and that among these were life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. During the long conflict in which the talent of our great nation was exerting master skill in trying to harmonize two contending forces, slavery and freedom, there was not in all the fraternity an apologist for the horrid features of American slavery. Denunciations went up long and loud when Henry Clay presented his infamous bill called the "Fugitive Slave Law," Ah, why was slavery allowed to set its cloven foot' upon soil that had been consecrated to freedom by the blood of patriots, by the martyred hosts that had been sacrificed in the name of liberty? It was a canker-worm that had been left to prey upon the vitals of our nation, sapping its life blood and spreading blight and mildew in its course through a long vista of years, germinating strife and internal discord until it at last culminated in the great rebellion.  When the civil war broke out and the martial drums were beating and calling loudly for vollunteers,there was but one family of the Boyds that gave a heavy response to the call and that was the family of John Boyd, then living in Dublin. Four sons and two sons-in-law enlisted in the Union army, all of them heads of families. Three of them never saw home after they went into the service, and one came home an invalid and died from disease contracted in the army. The late Dr. Samuel S. Boyd, of Dublin,was the oldest of the four brothers who enlisted in the army. He was surgeon of the Eighty-fourth Indiana Regiment.  (There is more about the military service of these Boyds but no more data of a genealogical nature.)

                           Linn Boyd, the Great Kentucky Statesman
                        About the Boyd Quarterly newsletter


 

Hi Richard,

Hope all is well with you.  We haven't corresponded in some time.  I want to
express gratitude for the work you did putting the subject article on the
web pages.  It contains more information than I had previously.

The original old bible of James Boyd who married 1)Margaret Mitchell and
2)Hester Ruby was found in the old home place of my great, great grandfather
Martin Luther Boyd several decades ago.  No one in my line has a clue about
why my family had a bible from that family.  I have not been able to find
any kind of link between the two families.  My Martin Luther's father was
Jeremiah Boyd b.about 1789 Virginia, m. Susannah Kyker.  I have never found
any parent or sibling information for Jeremiah, but suspect he was connected
with the James/Samuel line.

The bible record has exact birth dates for James, his two wives, and all
children.  Below is summary information.  If would like to add this to the
web information, that would be fine.

James BOYD b 1787 d 1862 married 1st Margaret MITCHEL b 1793
 Children:
 Caroline BOYD b 1813
 Samuel Mitchel BOYD b 1815
 Philander BOYD b 1817
 Abiram BOYD b 1820

James married 2nd 1824 Hester RUBY b 1804 d 1871
 Children:
 Joseph Perry BOYD b 1826
 William Elzey BOYD b 1828
 Isabel Ann BOYD b 1830
 Amanda Evaline BOYD b 1832
 James Ruby BOYD b 1835
 Alfred Dudley BOYD b 1837
 

Thanks,
Mike Boyd

Back to Main Boyd Page

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