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William R. Boyd ~ Emelia A. Hillier
St. Joseph Co., Indiana

William R. Boyd is the president of the South Bend Lumber Company, which was organized and incorporated December 1, 1889, with a capital stock of $32,000 with the following officers: William R. Boyd, president; Frank Colmar, vice president, and S. A. Hillier, secretary and treasurer. The company was the consolidation of the lumber interests of Leach & Jackson and Boyd & Hillier, the latter firm having purchased the business of the former a short time previous to the organization of the South Bend Lumber Company. A large planing mill and sash and door factory is operated in connection with the business, the annual volume of which amounts to about $150,000. Mr. Boyd was born in Harford county, Md., August 27, 1841, to Weston and Hannah (Parsons) Boyd, the former a native of Harford county and the latter of Baltimore, Md. Weston Boyd was born about the year 1810. His parents, who were natives of England, came to America in colonial times, and although the grandfather was a tanner by trade he did not follow that occupation after coming to America, the occupation of agriculture being his life work after locating in Maryland. Previous to his death he owned a large amount of property within thirty-six miles of Baltimore, which was the family homestead for many years and where the paternal grandfather and grandmother passed their lives. Weston Boyd, when a lad, went to Baltimore, where he learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed during his lifetime. After his marriage in Baltimore to Miss Parsons, he located at Havre de Grace, Md., where the family lived a number of years and where the subject of this sketch was born. With the exception of a few years in Washington, D. C., Mr. Boyd resided in this place until his death, in June, 1857. His wife survives him and at present makes her home with her son, John T. Boyd, in Alexandria, Va. She bore her husband three children: John T. Boyd, William R. Boyd, and Charles W. Boyd (deceased.) One child was born to Mr. Boyd by a former marriage: Sarah I. Boyd, wife of James Whittington of Philadelphia, Penn. William R. Boyd was reared in his native town, where he received his initiatory education which he afterward finished in the public schools of Washington, D. C. In 1857 he was apprenticed in that city to the carpenter's trade, serving four years. At this period the war came on and Mr. Boyd enlisted at 10 o'clock on the 10th of April, 1861, becoming a member of Company A, District of Columbia Volunteer Infantry, which was the first mustered into the service and before the call for volunteers. A peculiar feature of this company was that everyone of its members were born south of Mason and Dixon's line, with the exception of one Frenchman and one Irishman. The company was organized shortly after the election of Lincoln to participate in his inauguration and at that time had the right of line at the ceremonies. It was composed of patriotic, loyal men, who had organized to protect the life of the President during the inaugural ceremonies, as his life had been repeatedly threatened. During the three months for which the members of the company had enlisted, their time was chiefly taken up with guard duty. Mr. Boyd was in the employ of the Government in the quartermaster department during the war and was among a crowd of 500 volunteers engaged in repelling the guerrillas under Mosby at Manassas Junction. At the close of the war Mr. Boyd disposed of his furniture business at Alexandria, which he had operated a short time, and came to South Bend, Ind., where he began working at his trade. In 1882 he formed a partnership with S. A. Hillier under the firm name of Boyd & Hillier, in the lumber business, which firm has been succeeded by the South Bend Lumber Company. Mr. Boyd thoroughly understands every detail of the lumber business and is an excellent judge of all kinds of lumber. The firm of which he is a member is doing a thriving business and one which is constantly on the increase. Mr. Boyd was married December 26, 1865, at Burlington, N. J., to Emelia A. Hillier, a daughter of Richard and Frances (Stull) Hillier. Their union has resulted in the birth of two children: Nellie W. Boyd, born October 27, 1866, and Robert E. Boyd, born September 12, 1870. Mr. Boyd is a member of the Royal Arcanum, the Masonic fraternity and the G. A. R. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and politically he is a Prohibitionist. The welfare of St. Joseph county has always been dear to him, and he is among the foremost in advocating measures for the benefit of his section.

Source: History of St. Joseph County, Indiana : together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent persons and biographies of representative citizens : history of Indiana, embracing accounts of the pre-historic races, aborigines, French, English and American conquests, and a general review of its civil, political and military history; Chicago : C. C. Chapman, 1880. FHL Film 908132
 

 

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