CHIEF:  Alastair Ivor Gilbert Boyd 7th Baron Kilmarnock

Richard G. and Jerri Lynn Boyd

568 W. Friedrich Street

Rogers City, Mich. 49779

Samuel Boyd ~ Isabella Higgins 

Wayne Co; IN

Samuel Boyd was born in Craven Co., S. C., May 20, 1763. He was of Scottish descent. His father, James Boyd, had previously emigrated thither from Virginia, and had six sons and two daughters. The father and one son died in a Tory prison during the Revolutionary war; and Samuel, the subject of this sketch, came near losing his life by a ball from a Tory gun. He recovered,
however, with the loss of his left eye, and served through the war, having
enlisted at the age of 16. He was married, December 12, 1785, to Isabella
Higgins, who also was of Scotch descent, and a not distant relative of Robert
Burns, the poet. She did not forget, through life, that, when a young woman,
she danced with Andrew Jackson. In 1788, Samuel Boyd, with his wife and one child, moved to Kentucky, where they lived 23 years. To provide homes for his nine children, he removed to Whitewater Valley, Indiana; and in November, 1811, he built a tent of bark and limbs of trees on Martindale's creek, 2 miles north of Jacksonburgh, where he entered a quarter section of land, on which he lived until his death, November 27, 1835, aged 72 years.

In 1801, during the famed Kane revival, in Kentucky, he made a profession of
the Christian religion, and during the remainder of his life he labored faithfully, as a minister, for the salvation of others. During a missionary tour to the Indians, he again came near losing his life. An Indian boy thoughtlessly touched a burning brand to a keg of powder, blowing the rude hut to pieces, killing two children, and injuring Samuel Boyd, who was laid out as dead. He recovered, and for more than a score of years was an active laborer in the cause of his Master. He was a member of the Christian church, then often termed "Newlights." As a public speaker he was earnest and animated, and for one of so limited educational advantages was an efficient Christian teacher. His wife lived to the age of 88 years, and died a Christian, October 31, 1852. They had ten children; all but one having lived to be married, and settled as farmers and farmers' wives, and all except one in Wayne county, Indiana.
1. James, who died in Richmond, September 29, 1863.
2. John, who, at the age of 82, resides in Dublin.
3. William, who died in Harrison township, September 22, 1846.
4. Elizabeth, wife of Elijah Martindale, lives at Newcastle, aged 78.
5. Samuel K., who resides at Centerville.
6. Laird, who died in infancy.
7. Robert, who settled in Henry county, and died there, February 24, 1853.
8. Martha, wife of Joseph Lewis, at Williamsburg, aged 71.
9. Mary, wife of Abner M. Bradbury, Cambridge City, aged 67.
10. IsabellaLadd, who died in Marion county, September 16, 1854.

These nine heads of families had 92 children; and these have so multiplied that it is safe to estimate the descendants of Samuel and Isabella Boyd at the present date (1871), at 550 children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great- great grandchildren. At a social reunion of the Boyd family in 1861, more than 270 of them sat down to a dinner, more than one hundred and fifty being absent.

Samuel K. Boyd, son of Samuel Boyd, an early settler in Harrison, was born
in Kentucky, June 29, 1794, and removed with his father to that township in
1811. He was married, in 1817, 1st to Martha Lewis, daughter of John Lewis, of Green, and settled 1 1/2 miles north-east from Williamsburg, where he lived until his removal to Centerville, a few years ago, where he now resides. He had by this wife five daughters: 1. Priscilla, who married James Clemens, and resides at Linnville, Randolph Co. 2. Narcissa, who married John Chamness, of Williamsburg, and is deceased. 3. Sarah Ann, who married Joseph Lomax, a lawyer at Kalamazoo, Mich. 4. Evelina, who married William A. Peelle, Centerville. 5. Martha, wife of Winston W. Harris, and resides at Somerset, Wabash Co.

After the death of his wife, Mr. Boyd was married, in 1828, to Bethany Ladd, by whom he had ten children, five sons and five daughters, of whom six were married:
1. Isabella, to Thomas Fagan, of Williamsburg.
2. William L., to Rebecca Martin; resides at Chester.
3. Catharine, to William Goodrich, and resides at Dunkirk, Jay Co.
4. Mary, who married John Keever, of New Garden, where she died in 1861.
5.. Bethany  unmarried
6.  Samuel K., unmarried.
Of the other four, James, John, and Amanda died young; and Joseph L., in 1865, the day of his discharge from the United States army, in Texas.

John Boyd, son of Samuel Boyd, Sen., settled, in 1812, on Green's Fork, two miles east of the present town of Jacksonburg. He married, in 1819, Susan Scott, daughter of Alexander Scott, and is the father of thirteen children:  Samuel S., Sarah A., Nelson, Cynthia, who died in infancy; William A., who, as Major of the 84th Indiana volunteers, was killed in the late war, at Tunnel Hill, Georgia; Eliza J., John F., James W., Joseph L., a private soldier in the 57th Indiana volunteers, who died soon after the battle of Pittsburg Landing, from exposure in the field; Oliver C., Mary, Martha, and Susan; all of whom were married, except Oliver C., who still resides with his parents. In 1857, John Boyd sold his farm and removed to Dublin, Indiana where he and his wife now reside, aged, respectively, 82 and 71 years. Four of his sons and two sons-in-law enlisted in the Union army during the late war; and three of the number, two sons and one son-in-law, laid down their lives in defense of their country.

Samuel Scott Boyd, son of John Boyd, was born March 31, 1820, in Jackson, now Harrison township. Laboring on the farm nine months of each year until he was twenty-two years of age, his education was limited to the branches usually taught in those times during three winter months. At the age of nineteen, he was promoted to teacher in the school-house in which he had finished his education, under the instruction of George W. Julian, of Centerville. In 1843, he and a brother-in-law bought and rebuilt the McLucas mills on Green's Fork, two miles east of Jacksonburgh. He was married 1st on October 14, 1844, to Monimia Bunnell, daughter of Dr. William Bunnell, of the town of Washington. His health failing, he commenced, in 1846, the study of medicine with his father-in-law. In March, 1849, he graduated in the Ohio Medical College, and in April located in Jacksonburgh, where he continued practice until the death of his wife, an excellent woman, and the mother of four children, of which three are living. Immediately after this event, which occurred January 7, 1862, he removed to Centerville. In September following, he was commissioned surgeon of the 84th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and remained in the army until the close of the war, sharing the many trials and triumphs of that regiment. In 1865, the doctor located in Dublin, where he is still engaged in the practice of his profession. On the 5th of September of that year, he was married 2nd to Louisa E. Vickroy, of Pennsylvania. He has been a contributor to various papers and periodicals from early manhood, and has taken an active part in promoting the causes of temperance and antislavery, and in efforts for the moral, social, and intellectual improvement of the community.

Source: History of Wayne County Indiana,  Andrew W. Young Cincinnati, 1872

NOTE: Use this data as a finding tool, just as you would any other secondary source. When you find the name of an ancestor listed, confirm the facts in original sources.

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