Robert A. Boyd ~ Sarah J. Kissel

Among the well known residents of West Jersey township is Mrs. Sarah J. Boyd, who makes her home on section 10 of that township and who came to this state with her father, Jacob Kissel, in 1860. The latter was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and after arriving at years of maturity he was there married to Miss Hester Clouser, also a native of the Keystone state. He followed farming in Pennsylvania for a number of years, but the opportunities of the middle west attracted him and he left Pennsylvania for Indiana, spending two years in Henry county, that state. Subsequently he became a resident of Wisconsin and after residing in Lancaster for two years he removed to Dodge county, Nebraska, making investment in three hundred acres of land near Fremont. He spent six years there in trying to improve and develop his farm, but the droughts and the grasshoppers rendered it impossible for him to raise crops and he therefore retraced his steps to a point east of the Mississippi, settling in West Jersey township, Stark county, Illinois, in 1860. At first he rented land which he cultivated for a few years and here his labors were rewarded with good harvests, the sale of which brought him sufficient capital to enable him to purchase an eighty acre tract of land. Immediately he began farming thereon and continued to make that place his abode until called to his final rest. His wife survived him for six years and during that period resided with her daughter, Mrs. Boyd.

Mrs. Boyd was born in Stark county and on the 2d of February, 1870, gave her hand in marriage to Robert A. Boyd, who was born in Warren county, New Jersey. When a young man he removed westward and took up his abode in Stark county on land which his father had previously purchased. It was at that time unimproved, but Mr. Boyd broke the sod, planted the fields and carried on the work of development. It was upon the farm where she now resides that Mr. and Mrs. Boyd began their domestic life. To his original tract of eighty acres he added by the purchase of another eighty, thus making his farm an entire quarter section. He also wrought a marked transformation in its appearance by the erection of a good residence and by the building of commodious barns. Industrious, alert and persevering, he won a substantial measure of prosperity and gained recognition as one of the foremost representatives of farming interests in his locality. He continued to reside upon the farm until his life’s labors were ended in death in 1891, at which time he was laid to rest in the West Jersey cemetery. Fraternally he was connected with the Odd Fellows lodge at West Jersey and his life was guided by his religious faith, which was manifest in his membership in the Methodist Episcopal church.

After the death of her husband Mrs. Boyd employed help and continued to carry on the work of the farm for seven years, proving very successful in the management of her business interests. Later, however, she rented this farm. She has one son, Clyde H. Boyd, a resident of Toulon, who is married and has two children. She has also reared a niece, Miss Grace Hamilton, who became a member of her household when six years of age and is now a junior in the Toulon high school. Mrs. Boyd is a member of the West Jersey Methodist Episcopal church and was formerly very active in church and Sunday school work. She is widely known in this part of the state and her kindly spirit, her generous disposition and ready sympathy have gained for her the high esteem and warm regard of all who know her.

Source: Stark County, Illinois and its People: A record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, J. Knox Hall, Supervising Editor; Published 1916; The Pioneer Publishing Company.

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