John Boyd ~ Margaret Boyd

John Boyd, There are few men in Macon Township who stand higher in the good opinion of an intelligent community than the subject of this biography. He has been prospered in his efforts at securing a handsome home and a competency, and the beautiful farm which attracts the eye of the admiring traveler is but the just reward of honest toil, frugality of living, and wise management. The residence, one of the most elegant in Lenawee County, is built of brick, with two stories and basement, and combines comfort and beauty to perfection. The adjacent farm buildings are fully in keeping with the residence, and the live stock, embracing cattle and horses, sheep and swine, is of the most excellent grade, while the farm machinery is of the latest and most improved patter, combining everything required by the modern and progressive agriculturist.

A large proportion of the most thrifty and intelligent farmers of Michigan were born and reared on the other side of the Atlantic, and to the North of Ireland especially is Lenawee County indebted for many of her most enterprising and prosperous citizens. Mr. Boyd was born in County Antrim, Jan. 11, 1830, and comes of old Scotch ancestry, who fled from their native land to escape religious persecution in the seventeenth century. His father, Samuel Boyd, was also a native of the same county, where he followed farming in a modest manner, and married Miss Jane Kyle, a lady of ancestry similar to his own. His grandfather, Samuel Boyd, Sr., also a native of County Antrim, married Miss Jane Carson, a Scotch lady, who lived to be eighty years of age. They spent their lives after their marriage in County Antrim, and were stanch Presbyterians, religiously.

Samuel Boyd, Jr., the father of our subject, continued a resident of his native county until most of the family hid emigrated to the United States. Not long after setting foot on American soil, they made their way to New York State, locating in Livingston County, to which our subject had come in 1848, he being the first of the family to locate in the county. He was but a youth of eighteen years when he left his native land and arrived here nearly penniless and among strangers. He was hopeful, however, as long as he had his stout hands and courageous heart, and at once employed himself at whatever he could find to do, working for some time as a farm laborer.

We now go back to the incidents which transpired in connection with the voyage of the father of our subject to the New World. They took passage on a sailing vessel at Belfast, and eleven weeks later were driven ashore off Jersey Beach by a severe storm, which destroyed and sank the vessel, but not however, until the passengers had been taken off safely. Before this the Boyd family had all become sick with the measles, which they had caught from other passengers, and which came very near proving fatal, being aggravated by the exposure at the time of shipwreck. They lost all their personal effects, but John Boyd was a man of great courage and did not allow these troubles to dismay him so long as his family was spared to him. They soon found friends, and are long recovered from the disaster of shipwreck and illness.

Our subject, in the fall of 1853, left his home in Livingston County, N. Y., and made his way to this State, purchasing eighty acres of land on section 35, Macon Township, this county. He located in the wilderness, and proceeded to cultivate the soil and build up a homestead, upon which he remained until 1865, then purchased his present farm, taking possession of it in the spring of 1866. Here he has lived since that time, putting forth his best efforts for the improvement of his property, and adding each year those embellishments which tend to enhance its beauty and value. The lowland has been drained with about 900 rods of tiling, and more than $7,000 has been expended on the residence and out-buildings.

Our subject was married in Tecumseh, this county, Feb. 9, 1857, to Miss Margaret Boyd, a distant relative, who like himself is a native of County Antrim, Ireland, and was born in February, 1828. Her parents were David Boyd and Rosa (Boyd) Boyd, also natives of the North of Ireland, where the father died when comparatively a young man and when his daughter, Mrs. Boyd, was but a child. He served during the French War, being frequently in the thickest of the fight, and for many years was a sailor on board a British man-of-war. After his death the widow came with her family to the United States, locating first in New York State, and later coming to Michigan. The mother lived to be eighty-eight years of age, and died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Boyd, Sept. 7, 1875. The wife of our subject received her education in the common schools and remained with her mother until her marriage.

Mr. and Mrs. Boyd's eldest son, Thomas Boyd, after leaving the primary school, took a course at Valley Seminary, and later entered the Commercial College in Detroit, where he was graduated as a first-class book-keeper, and is now employed by the firm of Savage & Farmen, extensive breeders of Norman horses and other fine stock. Margaret J. Boyd, the daughter, is also fairly educated, and remains at home with her parents. The family belongs to the Reformed Church of South Macon. Mr. Boyd is a Republican politically, and has served as Supervisor of Macon Township, and for some time has been a Justice of the Peace.

Source: Portrait and biographical album of Lenawee County, Mich. : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, together with portraits and biographies of all the governors of Michigan and of the presidents of the United States. Includes index; Chicago : Chapman Bros., 1888. - FHL Film 1000242 Item 1

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