Generation 1 of James Boyd Family

James BOYD (1780-1870) and Mehetible REYNOLDS (1783-1833)

Obituary

Utica Daily Observer, Staurday Evening, September 3, 1870; page 3, col. 5
Died At the residence of his son-in-law, George Mason, Esq. in Western, Oneida County on Friday, September 2, Mr. James Boyd, aged about 90 years.

Mr. Boyd was a soldier in the War of 1812, and was actively engaged at Sackett's Harbor, and other places during that war. He moved to the town of Western some seventy years ago, and resided upon the same farm ever since. Mr. Boyd was the grandfather of Mrs. J.E. JAMES of Utica.

Funeral will be attended at the residence of his son-in-law, Mr. George Mason, Sunday September 4. Friends of the family are invited to attend.

Census data


 1800 census:
 for Oneida County there is 1 Boyd family listed.  Mary,
 over 45, was head of house with 2 sons; 1 under 16, 1 over 16 [probably Amos
 and James].  Also listed was a female between 16 and 26 and 5 children under
 10. 

 1800 Census   Index Oneida County, NY 
 Boyd   Mary    page 210    01100-50101
 ROSS   Joshua  page 211   41010-02110
 ROSS   Willard page 206    21010-12010
 

 1810 census  : 2 new Boyd families: James head of one and Amos head of the
 other.  Mary is not listed as head of a family, but there is a female over 45
 listed with Amos.  That presumably would be Mary.
 1810 Census Index  , Oneida County, NY
 Boyd  A   page 037   10100-00
 Boyd  J   page 036   20010-20
 ROSS  W   page 091   10100-00100
 ROSS  W   page 104   22010-10110



 1820 & 1825 & 1830  : same households
 Boyd, Amos  1820  Oneida Co, NY  pg 154, Town of Western
 Boyd, Amos   1830  Jefferson County, NY  page 302, town of Orleans

 1835  : James is still in Oneida County as head of a household, but Amos is no longer listed and
there is no record of Mary.  Amos has settled in Niles, Berrien Co., Michigan

 1840  : Boyd	AMOS	Berrien County	MI	055	Oronsko Township

 1850:  Oneida Co., NY Census page 311
 household 253 - dwelling 265
 James Boyd born Conn no ages listed
 Sarah Boyd born Conn no ages listed

Cemetery Records

Westernville Presbyterian Cemetery Tombstone Reading
OUR FATHER
JAMES Boyd died Sept 2, 1870 in the 90 th year of his age
Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer
nor his mercy from me.

Mehetible REYNOLDS
Tombstone reading
In memory of Mehitable, wife of
James Boyd who died March 21, 1833 in the 50th
year of her age.
(* This is the older and smaller stone and is all in script)

OUR MOTHER
Mahetable, wife of
James Boyd
Died March 21, 1833
the 50th year of her age
(* This stone matches the stone erected for James Boyd in 1870)

Military

James Boyd served in the NY Militia under Maj. John Westcott from Oct 8-Nov 16 1814 Received land bounty in 1850

Sarah Denslow Boyd (wife #2) widows pension app. dated 12/21/1878 File # 13565 New York Military Equipment Claims, War of 1812

Index of Awards on Claims of the Soldiers of the War of 1812 page 57
No.: 4,272
NAME OF APPLICANT.: Boyd, James,
RESIDENCE OF APPLICANT.: Western, New York,
AMOUNT ALLOWED.: 31 50
Boyd JAMES 157 REG'T (WESTCOT'S) NEW YORK MILITIA.
PRIVATE 22 602

Other facts about James Boyd

The Ross surname came from the Irons family. They recorded that Esther Boyd's grandmother's name was ROSS; died in 1834 at age 92 years. Her chair passed down to Martin Joseph Irons and his daughter Megan Mary Irons. Esther Boyd had two grandmothers; one was the mother of Mehitable Reynolds who was named Waite Reynolds; the other grandmother was the mother of James Boyd and census have shown that her name was Mary Boyd, so she must have been Mary Ross Boyd. And then the census shows the 2 Ross families living near Mary Boyd. I believe they must have been her brothers, not her father. Because, she and both of them were in the 26-45 age group. This information would make Mary Ross Boyd aged 40 when James was born and 44 when Amos was born.

If this is correct, then she may have had other children before that. In spite of other sources, the family tradition is that James had a Scottish or Irish brogue and his family lived near Schenectady before he drew war supplies by ox team from Albany to Oswego. He may have seen the Mohawk Valley and decided to settle here.

A letter from Frank Boyd and compiled by Kenneth Boyd in 1978, LDS microfilm # 1723, dated 12 Jan 1982 stated that James had a brother Otis Boyd who was blind and visited from the Ohio. James Boyd bought a piece of land from the Baron Steuben tract, in the Town of Western, Oneida County, about two and a half miles north of the village of Westernville. This farm is reached by going up Gifford Hill from Westernville. Here James went into the woods and felled trees and built a log cabin which he occupied with his wife, Mehitable Reynolds. I do not know when he builty the house pictured in this book in which I used to play as a boy. He burned off the brush and planted corn around the stumps, and in time had a farm of one hundred acres. (Excerpted from the write-up from Frank A. Boyd based on the Bible records from the 1824 Bible of James Boyd, and the 1860 Bible of Rev. Squire Boyd. and included in the write-up by his nephew Kenneth R. Boyd - 1978. (* Rev. Frank A Boyd was the second great grandson of James Boyd.)

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