Major Harry L. Boyd ~ Marion Alford

Major H. L. Boyd, one of the largest land owners of Larimer County, was born in Adams County, Pa., in 1838, a son of Hiram and Matilda (Harbaugh) Boyd, and a descendant through his father of Scotch ancestors. Hiram Boyd was a miller and spent much of his active life in Cumberland, Md., but in 1847 removed to Ohio, where he continued to follow his trade for four years. He died of cholera in 1851, during the epidemic of that plague in the United States.

When the family settled in Ohio, the subject of this sketch was seven years of age and he was eleven when his father died. He was educated in the public schools of Marion, Ohio, and in Oberlin College. He was still carrying on his studies in college when the war broke out, and at once in 1861, he enlisted as a private in the Fourth Ohio Infantry. For three years he held the rank of sergeant to which he was promoted soon after enlistment. At the expiration of that time he opened a recruiting office in Marion, Ohio, and organized a body of men that reported for service. Of this company he was made first lieutenant, and continued to serve in that capacity until he was appointed quartermaster at Murfreesboro, Tenn. The principal battles in which he participated were those of Rich Mountain, Va., Malvern Hill, second battle of Bull Run, Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Mine Run, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Franklin, Nashville and Kinston, N. C. Besides these important engagements he bore a part in many skirmishes, and, while he was often in the thickest of the fight, he escaped without a wound. During most of his service he was under General Grant.

BOYD, Harry L.   OH    24 May 1861 Sergt 25y --
Served Ohio    Enlisted H Co 4th Inf Reg OH
Promoted to Full 1st Sergt 01 October 1862
Mustered Out 21 June 1864.

BOYD, Harry L. OH 16 Sep 1864 1st Lieut 26y --
Served Ohio Commission I Co 174th Inf Reg OH
Promoted to Full Quartermaster 01 Jan 1865 (Acting)
Mustered Out Charlotte, NC 28 June 1865

Returning home at the close of the war, Major Boyd visited relatives during the winter. In the spring of 1866 he came to Colorado and began to cultivate land near Denver. From there, in 1874, he came to Larimer County and settled on Boyd Lake, near Loveland, taking up government land and beginning its improvement and cultivation. In 1881, he bought his present homestead where he gives his attention to farming and fruit growing. At one time he was among the largest sheep growers in the county, and also raised cattle extensively, but of late years he has given less attention to stock and more to fruit. The land which he owns aggregates four hundred and eighty acres. His success is especially noteworthy, when it is considered that he started with nothing and was forced, amid discouragements and hardships, to work his own way to prosperity. During one winter he prospected and mined, but, not finding any gold, he determined to turn his attention wholly to an industry for which Colorado is especially adapted, that of stock raising. In later years he transferred his attention to the fruit business and general farming; so, while he never dug any gold out of the earth, he has secured it through diligent effort in a profitable line of work. In 1874 he married Miss Marion Alford, daughter of William B. Alford, who lives near Denver. They are the parents of seven children, namely: Albert A. Boyd; Ethel W. Boyd, wife of Charles Parker; Joseph Boyd, Marion Boyd, Eugenie Boyd, Susan Boyd and Martha Boyd.

Source: Portrait and biographical record of Denver and vicinity, Colorado: containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents of the United States. Chicago: Chapman Pub. Co., 1898. - FHL Film 1000144 Item 3

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