WATSON BOYDEN, Susquehanna, Pennsylvania.
While Watson Boyden was successful in dodging Confederate bullets in the War of the Rebellion, he could not elude a typhoid fever germ that marked him as a victim just after he had come out of the battle of Fredericksburg, so for four months he was an inmate of the Union hospital at East Capitol Hill, Washington. He had enlisted in Company A, 27th New Jersey Volunteers, in September of 1862, and when he recovered from the fever was sent to his regiment, which was then fighting the guerillas of Kentucky. He was a participant in the battle of Gettysburg, his command being stationed to hold Uniontown against the attacks of the rebels.
The son of Alonzo Boyden, a prominent farmer of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Mr. Boyden was born August 21, 1845, in Sussex County, New Jersey, from which place his parents moved to Pennsylvania, where the young man acquired his education and worked on the farm until he enlisted. On receiving his discharge, July 3, 1863, he returned home and farmed until 1868, when he moved to Michigan and engaged in the lumber business until 1872. In 1873 he returned east, settling at Susquehanna, where he took service with the Erie as a fireman, running on freight one year and passenger eight years. In November, 1882, he was promoted to engineer, and for six years ran on the Susquehanna Division, being then transferred to a switch engine in the Susquehanna yard, which he has run for the past eleven years.
He was united in marriage December 8, 1870, to Miss Fannie Armstrong, daughter of Joseph Armstrong of Saginaw, Michigan. They have one son, Joseph, aged 22, who is a machinist in the employ of F. W. Wheeler of Bay City, Michigan. Mr. Boyden is the owner of a fine home in Susquehanna, and is one of the influential residents of the city. He is also a sportsman of some note, and takes frequent trips into the forests to pursue the wary deer and other game of this region, and he is usually successful in bringing home numerous trophies of his skill. Mr. Boyden served one year as City Councilman; he is a member of Lodge No. 68, Knights of Honor; Moody Post, No. 53. G. A. R., and holds a subordinate office in Starrucca Lodge, No. 137, B. of L. E. Mrs. Boyden is a member of Relief Corps of the G. A. R., and was State President of the Department of Pennsylvania for one term.
Excerpted from: "American Locomotive Engineers, Erie Railway Edition," H.R. Romans Editor; Crawford-Adsit Company Publishers, Chicago, IL 1899.
From the July, 1915 issue of Erie Railroad Magazine:
W. Boyden, engineer, Susquehanna Division, made 20,660 miles in switching service, from December 19, 1913 to May 15, 1915, without an engine failure.
From the December, 1915 issue of Erie Railroad Magazine:
From the May, 1933 issue of Erie Railroad Magazine:
Watson Boyden, veteran Erie engineer with 46 years service, died at his home on Grand Street, Susquehanna, April 17, 1933. He was 88 and served in the Civil War. He is survived by one son, Joseph Boyden of Cleveland, three brothers, George, William and Sidney J. Boyden, and two sisters, Mrs. Samuel Townsend and Miss Mary Boyden.