book1a  
 
 
                  
                   THE EARLS OF KILMARNOCK 
                              CAPTAIN JAMES BOYD

WILLIAM BOYD, 9th (1).  Lord Boyd was served heir to his father in the Barony  of  Kilmarnock,  etc.,  February  28,  1655;  and was created 1st Earl 
of Kilmarnock,  August 17, 1661;  and  had a charter from King Charles II, of the  Barony  of  Kilmarnock, July 30, 1672, confirming the charter of  1591 to Thomas, 5th Lord Boyd. 

William died in March, 1692. He married Lady Jean Cunninghame eldest daughter of  William,  9th  Earl  of  Glencairn,  High Chancellor  of  Scotland, and they had six children: William, 2nd Earl Kilmarnock;  The honorable Captain James Boyd  (from whom  the York County, Maine, and Boston, Massachusetts Boyds are descended);  The  Honorable  Captain Charles, who died in Namur, in  September,  1737 (a Capt. in the Scot's Dutch Brigade in Holland)  The honorable Robert Boyd (from whom the Portland, Maine, Boyds claim to be descended);  Mary Boyd, who married Sir Alexander Maclean; and Catherine, who married Alexander Porterfield of Porterfield. 

 1. or 10th Lord Boyd,  depends  on what Pedigree of Boyd  that you read. 

WILLIAM BOYD,  2nd  Earl of  Kilmarnock, married Letitia Boyd, and succeeded  his  father  in March, 1692, but died on May 20 of the same year.  They had three children: William, 3rd Earl of Kilmarnock;  The Honorable Thomas and Mary.  Lady Letitia was the daughter of Thomas Boyd, Merchant of Dublin.  She married 2nd John Gardner, Esq. 

WILLIAM BOYD, 3rd Earl of Kilmarnock, being under age  at the time of his father's death, did not  succeed  to  the  title until July 20, 1699.  He died 22 November 1717. He married Eupheme, eldest daughter of the 11th Lord Ross, and there is record of one son.   William 4th Earl of Kilmarnock, but there seems to be   another  son,  as  Lieutenant James Madison Boyd  (b. in Washington, D.C..,  Jan 13, 1816,  married  Maria M. Law, and died Fox River Valley, Wisconsin., February 23, 1897, 4th son of  Colonel  George  Boyd,  "who  traced  his  descent from a younger son of the 3rd Earl of Kilmarnock". 

WILLIAM BOYD,  4th  Earl  of  Kilmarnock  was born in 1704 and was beheaded  for  his  involvement  with  Bonnie Prince Charles' rebel forces, 16 April 1746. He married Lady Ann Livingstone, heir of James, 5th Earl of Linlithgow and Callander. They had three children: James Lord Boyd  and 15th  Earl of Errol; the Honorable Charles Boyd, and the Honorable William Boyd. James took the surname of HAY when he became 15th Earl of Errol. 
 
 

                            CAPTAIN JAMES BOYD 

Captain James Boyd, (1)  son  of  William Boyd,  the 1st Earl of Kilmarnock, 
was born 1669.  He  was Christened 6 May 1669 in  Kirkintilloch, Dunbarton, Scotland according to the Scottish Church Records -- 1995 Edition 

He is said to have went to Ireland in 1696,  landing  near the Giant's Causeway, in County Antrim,  but  it  is not known in just what town or locality he resided.   He probably went there as a soldier of fortune    (see below)  as his  chance of 
inheriting the Earldom was remote, or  he might  have  been an officer in one of the Regiments stationed there.  It is possible that Captain James Boyd took part in the Jacobite Rebellion in 1715, because we lose track of him during this time, and having escaped  from death or capture, was either  exiled or compelled 
to flee to  America, although supposed to  have died in Ireland. Who Captain James married is not known,  but he had at least three sons; James, William, and John. 

1. James  was  a  captain in Sir Charles Graham's Regiment of Foot in the Scot's Dutch Brigade in 1692-1703 according to The Scots Peerage,  Sir  James Balfour Paul.   See   "Papers Illustrating  The History of The Scots Brigade in the service of  the  United Netherlands,  1572-1782,  published  by   the 
Scottish History Society, 3 Volumes, 1899, 1900, 1901, edited by James Ferguson.     See Scot's Dutch Brigade 
    

James Boyd, son of Capt. James Boyd was born in Ireland about 1700, as he came to America  with  his  brothers  William and John  about  1720.  He  landed  in  Boston and settled in the town of York, in  York County,  in  what is  now the state of Maine.  Maine was  then  part of the  Colony of Massachusetts 
Bay and all of what is  now  Maine  was  then  known  as  the County of York.   Whether  he went there immediately or lived elsewhere at first is not known.  York  is  but  a  few miles from Portsmouth, and in the  "Point of Graves" Cemetery there is buried Andrew Boyd, son of  James  and Margaret Boyd, died May 8, 1727, aged 10 years.  Also  a James  and Margaret Boyd are  witnesses to a deed dated 18 October 1725, in York. The will of  James Boyd, of  Portsmouth,  dated  October  9, 1739 proved November 22, 1739, mentions a brother, also John. 

James Boyd finally settled in Berwick,  a short distance from York.  Although  in  what  year  cannot  be determined as the records of the town from  1736 to 1748 are lost.  The town of Berwick "alias Newgewanac", incorporated in 1713  (from which the towns of  Berwick, North Berwick, and  South Berwick  are 
formed), was  the upper part of the town of Kittery, in Unity Parish,  and  was  made the  Parish of Berwick in 1681, but a division of the town, for certain purposes, had been made ten years before that, and a church was  there as  early as 1702. It is in York County, and the  town of York is bounded on the 
northwest by South Berwick,  and on the southwest by Kittery.  In 1723,  Berwick,  was  the most inland town next to Canada; and in 1830 the towns of Berwick,  North Berwick,  and  South Berwick were formed from it. 

The site of James' farm stands in what is now  South Berwick, about one mile south of  North Berwick railroad station,  and has been known as  "Boyd's Corners" as far back as anyone can remember. Mr. Elmer Boyd still occupies part of the old place but  the  original  buildings  were  burned  in 1869, so many valuable records must have been lost. 

James Boyd  married Mary/Margaret Whitten or Whiton and they  had  five  children: James, William, Joseph, Sarah, and another daughter  name  unknown.   There  may have been other children who died at an early age.   (see more on this line in The Boyd Family" by Arthur S. Boyd Jr., 1924 

See also: 
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~nbstpatr/jamesboyd/index.htm#Chalmers 

William Boyd,  son of Capt. James Boyd  came to America  with his brothers James and  John,  but  is said to have left the ship at Block Island, before  its arrival at Boston.  Block Island (formerly  Manisees) is  about 10  miles  from  the mainland of  Rhode Island,  being part of that state, and forming the township of New Shoreham.   See "Rhode Island in the Colonial Wars" by Howard M. Chapin, 1918.  Book lists a William Boyd who was "Master on Privateer Prince Frederick in 1743".  Privateers were ships that were sent out to inflict damage on the enemy's commerce during King George's War, 1740-1748. 
  
John Boyd  son  of Capt. James Boyd  landed with his brother James,  in  Boston,  and  further  record  of him  is lost. (1).  Tradition says that  he  was killed in a Naval  action under John Paul Jones, but it must have been  another  John of the family as this John  would be seventy or eighty years old at 
the  time  of  the  Revolution. The  Navy  department has no record of a John Boyd serving  on  any  of Jones' ships, but then the records of that period are  very  incomplete. A John Boyd (probably from Maine) was killed at the  battle of Kings Mountain, October 7, 1780 but is not identified as this John. 

1. I believe this is the John Boyd who married Margaret Long in  Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts  April 11, 1731. No documentation  has  yet been found but this is the only marriage recorded  for  a  John  Boyd  for  the time and place in question.  There were very few Boyds in  New England  at 
this point in time. 

Marriage Records Boston Marriages 1700-1809 compiled by  Edward W. McGlenen.   New  England  Families  by William  Richard  Cutter,  1912.  Vanished Homes and Pioneer  Families of  Shelburne, MA., by Leila Stone 
Bardwell, 1974. 

(continued in Chapter 2 below)           (Back to main page)


 
    Index Page
   Chapter 1        (ancient Boyds)   Chapter 2    Chapter 3
   Chapter 4    Chapter 5    Chapter 6
   Chapter 7    Chapter 8    Chapter 9
 
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