Boyds of Iowa
page 384
BOYD, Hugh, teacher and clergyman
of Cornell college, Mount Vernon,
Iowa, was born August 6, 1835,
in Keene, Coshocton county, Ohio. His
father was DANIEL BOYD, who
was born near Ardara, parish of Inniskeel,
County Donegal, Ireland, and
his mother was JANE ELLIOTT, of Glenconway,
parish of Killibegs, County
Donegal, Ireland. They came to this country
in 1819 to escape the infamous
system of land tenure in their native
land. DANIEL BOYD's father
and mother were ROBERT BOYD and JANE
RAMSEY, and his wife was a
daughter of John ELLOITT and Frances BLAINE.
The preceding generation were
ALBERT BOYD, Mr. Ramsey and Kate Karrigan,
John Elliott and Annie Lee,
Moses Blaine and Jennie McKee. When Daniel
Boyd first came to America
he was a teacher,and afterwards engaged in
weaving fine linen and coverlets,
and was a retail merchant in Jefferson
and Coshocton counties, Ohio.
In 1839 he removed to Athens county, Ohio,
and opened up a farm out of
the native forest, where, for the remainder
of his life, he expended his
energies to good purpose. He was an active
worker in all religious, political,
humanitarian and educational
movements of his time. He
brought up a large family of children, and all
of them now living are well
established in life. The educational
advantages were not many,
but the training of the future teacher and
preacher was not neglected.
There were the weekly papers, the daily
reading from the new testament,
the earnest and beautiful prayers of the
boy's father and mother, and
the frequent visits of the pioneer
preacher. On these occasions
every subject of human interest was
discussed between him and
the boy's father. The boy was silent and
listened. There was a little
district school of irregular attendance of
two or three months each year,
and finally a seminary was opened in a
little village five miles
away. Here the boy was prepared for college in
a surprisingly short time.
Often he had to walk the entire distance to
the seminary, but he always
got there and made the best use of his time.
The farm had made him familiar
with hard work and he was not afraid of
it. He entered the Ohio university
and was graduated with the honor of
valedictorian in 1859. Some
years later he was further honored with the
degree of doctor of divinity.
Professor BOYD, after several
years of service as a teacher in the
public schools of Ohio, and,
after having labored several other years as
a clergyman in the Methodist
Episcopal church, was, in 1871,transferred
from the Ohio annual conference
to the Upper Iowa annual conference, and
appointed professor of Latin
in Cornell college. This position he now
holds and has adorned with
many years of earnest and effective service.
He follows no stereotyped
method, but has, in great part, made the Latin
a living tongue rather than
a dead language. His work has received
substantial endorsement from
Harvard university, from the fact that
several students after they
had received their early training at Cornell
entered Harvard for more advanced
work, and the number of courses
required of them was lessened
as compared with the number of courses
required of students coming
from other colleges of similar grade. While
devoting himself mainly to
his duties as teacher, Professor Boyd has
been in demand both at home
and abroad for addresses, lectures and
sermons, in which he has demonstrated
himself to be a speaker of
commanding force and eloquence.
He is often called upon in his own town
and no one is received with
more kindly interest and generous attention.
Aside from his regular duties
he is deeply interested in the study of
sociology. Besides his membership
in other organizations he is a member
of the Beta Theta Phi,and
belongs to the order of Knights of Pythias,
and is a Knight Templar in
the Masonic fraternity.
Professor BOYD was married
August 20, 1860, to IDA PATTERSON, daughter
of James Patterson and Martha
Henry Patterson, of Amesville, Ohio. Two
children were born to them:
LUELLA, born October 25, 1863, and ROBERT
ALLYN, born July 17, 1866.
Mrs Boyd died October 21, 1867. Professor
Boyd was married the second
time, August 20, 1874, to MARY ELLEN MOODY,
daughter of Gen. Granville
Moody and Lucretia Elizabeth Harris Moody, of
Ohio. To them were born four
children: Granville Moody, born June 12,
1877, died November 3, 1879;
Clifford Moody, born October 21, 1879; Lucy
Moody, born September 12,
1881; and Elizabeth Moody, born April 17,
1887, and who died April 20,
1887.
page 400
NICOLL, DAVID, an ex-member
of the house of representatives in the Iowa
legislature, a minister of
the United Presbyterian church, and a farmer
in Battle township,Ida county,
Iowa was born in Delaware county. N.Y.,
February 22, 1841. He was
the son of Andrew and Margaret George Nicoll,
and was the eighth born of
their family of ten children. His father was
born in Perthshire, Scotland,
in 1797, and grew to manhood and married
there. He emigrated to America
in 1839 and located on a farm in Delaware
county, N. Y., where the rest
of his life was spent. His death occurred
in March, 1870. His wife survived
him until April, 1890, and died at
Clarence, Cedar county, Iowa.
All but two of the children are still
living. They are: Elizabeth,
wife of John Beckwith,deceased; William,
married and living in Delaware
county, N. Y.; James, deceased; Andrew,
married and living in Tarkio,
Mo.; Margaret, wife of John G. Russell,
living in Delaware county,
N. Y.; Ann,wife of Allen Elijah, living in
Clarence, Cedar county, Iowa;
Christina, widow of John D. Imrie, living
in Red Oak, Iowa; David, the
subject of this sketch; Jane, wife of
William Imrie, of Napa City,
Cal.,and JEANNETTE, wife of L.D. BOYD, of
Red Oak, Iowa.
page 147
DOUGLAS, GEORGE,late of Cedar
Rapids, was born in the county of
Caithness, Scotland, April
17, 1817. He came to Rochester, N. Y., in
1848, and engaged in canal,
railway and bridge construction in western
New York, continuing in this
work until 1852. In that year he followed
the general western movement
and moved to Illinois, where he engaged in
various railway and bridge
building contracts at Dixon, Ill., and
vicinity. Here his work lasted
until 1855, when he took contracts for
building a portion of the
railway line now operated by the Illinois
Central railway, west of Dubnque,
Iowa. From 1855 until 1870 he was
actively engaged in railway
construction, mostly in Iowa and Nebraska,
doing much of the work on
the lines now operated by the Illinois Central
railway across the state of
Iowa, also the present main line of the
Chicago & North-Western
railway in Iowa, and a considerable portion of
the Fremont, Elkhorn &
Missouri Valley railway in eastern Nebraska.
Mr.Douglas was associated
with Mr. John I. Blair in his projection of
the various railway lines
in western Iowa, and many miles of the
grading, bridging and track
laying of the railways promoted by the
companies of which Mr. Blair
was president, were completed by the firm
of Douglas, Brown & Company,
of which the subject of this sketch was the
senior partner. From 1870
to 1873 Mr.Douglas engaged in his last work in
railway construction, completing
155 miles of the International & Great
Northern railway in Texas,
including the grading, bridging, track laying
and depot building complete.
In 1874 he associated himself with Mr.
Robert Stuart, now of Chicago,
under the firm name of Douglas & Stuart,
and engaged in the manufacture
of oatmeal and other cereal products, at
Cedar Rapids, and continued
in active connection with the business until
the time of his death, in
May,1884. Mr. Douglas married MARGARET BOYD at
Dixon, Ill.,in 1855. She was
born in the north of Ireland. Mrs. Douglas
and three sons, GEORGE BRUCE,
WATLTER D., and WILLIAM WALLACE,
live in Cedar Rapids at the
present time.
Source:
Gue, B.F. Biographies and Portraits of the Progressive Men of
Iowa.
Des Moines: Conaway & Shaw Publishers, 1899.
................
Linn County, Iowa, History to 1878
J.E. BOYD - 1838 settler
BOYD, ISAAC W., e. Sept 18,1861,
13th Inf Co A, wd. at Shiloh, disch.
Aug 20, 1862.
BOYD, ABRAHAM, e. Sept. 18, 1861,13th Inf Co A, re-e. as vet.Dec 1,'63.
BOYD, RICHARD, e. Oct. 12, 1861,13th Inf Co A.
BOYD, DAVID, e. Aug. 13, 1862,24th Inf Co G.
BOYD, ROBERT W., e. Oct. 10, 1862, disd. Feb 10,'63, disab.
BOYD, HUGH REV. M.A., Professor
of the Greek and Latin Languages and
Literature - Cornell College
BOYD, HUGH - Franklin Township
BOYD, D.L. - Franklin Township
BOYD, ALEXANDER REV.
BOYD, WILLIAM - Bowlder Township
BOYD, J. - Washington Township
BOYD, O. - Washington Township
BOYD, MARTIN - Monroe Township
Source: The History of Linn
County, Iowa, Containing a History of the
County, its Cities, Town,
&t., a Biographical Directory of its Citizens,
War Record of its Volunteers
in the Late Rebellion, General and Local
Statistics...History of the
Northwest, History of Iowa,Map of Linn
County, Constitution of the
United States, Miscellaneous Matters, &c.
Chicago, IL:Western Historical
Company, 1878.
..................
Linn County, Iowa History, Volume II
LEIDIGH, FRANK - born in Linn
county on the 1st of January, 1860, his
parents being GEORGE and SUSANNA
(BOYD) LEIDIGH, who were natives of
Cumberland county, Pennsylvania,
and Ashland county, Ohio. His father
left the Keystone state and
took up his abode in Ohio, where he was
married in 1856. In the fall
of that year he came to Linn county, Iowa,
and purchased the farm in
Monroe township. His wife SUSANNA (BOYD)
Leidigh died in December,
1869.
Source: Brewer, Luther Albertus.
History of Linn County, Iowa: from its
earliest settlement to the
present time. Cedar Rapids, IA: Torch Press, 1911.