Memorial Record of Western Kentucky, Lewis Publishing Company, 1904,
pp 789-791 [Lyon]

     JOHN BOYD, ex-county sheriff of Lyon county and mayor of
Eddyville, was born in Caldwell county, Kentucky, May 10, 1832.  His
grandfather, of Irish descent, was a native of Virginia, and his
father, John Boyd, was also a native of that state, and came in
boyhood to Kentucky, being reared in Barren county.  He was a farmer
by occupation, and settled in Caldwell county, where he reared his
family, and afterward moved to Lyon county, where he died at the age
of seventy years.  He was a member of the Baptist church.  He
married Mildred Goodall, a native of Lyon county and a daughter of
John Goodall, who was a Kentucky pioneer.  She lived to the age of
sixty-five years.  They were the parents of twelve children, all but
one of whom grew up, but only three are living: James, of Eddyville;
Mary, the widow of Jacob Young, of Eddyville; and John.
     John Boyd, the seventh child and fifth son of his parents, was
reared in Caldwell county for the first fifteen years of his life,
spending that time on a farm and in the country schools.  He then
went to Pittsfield, Pike county, Illinois, where he attended school
and remained about five years.  He then returned to Lyon county and
clerked in a dry-goods store at Eddyville, until 1861.  He was
appointed deputy sheriff in that year, and after three years'
faithful service in that capacity was elected, in 1864, sheriff of
Lyon county, receiving a re-election in 1866, so that he served the
full period limited by law in that office, and gave the people one
of the most satisfactory administrations ever known.  In 1873 and in
1875 he was again elected to this responsible position, which shows
how well the citizens appreciated his former business, and has been
a successful and enterprising man.  In 1893 he was elected mayor of
Eddyville for a term of four years, and was re-elected for a similar
term.  He did much for municipal improvement and progress during his
tenure of the chief executive position, and his administration is
remembered as connected with much benefit to the town.
     Mr. Boyd was married in 1872 to Mrs. Elizabeth (Gracey) Henry,
the widow of Uriah Henry.  She was born in Eddyville, a daughter of
Matthew and Maria Gracey, pioneers of Lyon county.  Mr. and Mrs.
Boyd have two daughters, Maria and Bessie, both at home.  Mr. Boyd
owns a farm of two hundred acres, and he is still engaged in the
management of this property, although he has given up the more
strenuous labor of his earlier years, being now enabled to enjoy a
fitting repose from toil.  He has been a life-long Democrat, and is
well known and popular in the county where he has spent nearly all
his life.

Boyd Goodall Young Gracey Henry
=
Caldwell-KY Ireland VA Barren-KY Pike-IL

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/lyon/boyd.j2.txt