WILLIAM S. BOYD -PA >OH >CA >IL >KS >MO
WILLIAM
S. BOYD deserves honorable mention as one of the successful
farmers
and stockmen of the county. He was born in Fayette County,
Penn.,in
1828, being a son of WILLIAM and ELIZABETH (STEVENS) BOYD,
who
were also born in that county. About 1841 they went to Pickaway
County,
Ohio, where they both died. The father held numerous county
offices,
among which was county judge, and was a farmer and stockman by
occupation.
In the War of 1812 he was on Commodore Perry’s fleet on Lake
Erie.
His father, WILLIAM BOYD, was born in Ireland, and when a young
man
came to America, and after his marriage spent his life in Fayette
County,
Penn. The maternal grandfather, Dr.Stevens, was a leading
physician
of that county, and there spent his life. William S. Boyd, the
seventh
of eleven sons and two daughters, five of the family being now
alive,
received his education in the common schools, and was reared on a
farm.
He went with his parents to Pickaway County, Ohio, where he
remained
until 1849, then going to California via Cape Horn, and spent
about
five years engaged in mining and gardening in that State. He then
returned
to Ohio via the Nicaragua route, and shortly after went to
Illinois,
where he was occupied in farming for some time, then went to
Kansas,
but soon returned to Ohio. He again went from that State to
Illinois,
and in 1868 came to Barton County, Mo., where he has since
lived,
being now the owner of 160 acres of good farming land. He has
broken
about 1,300 acres of prairie land. In March, 1884, he returned to
Ohio,
and was married to MARTHA L. STIVISON, who was born in that State,
and
was for eleven years one of Pickaway County’s best school teachers.
Her
parents, Jacob and Margaret (WEST) Stivison, were born in Pickaway
County,
Ohio, in 1816 and 1820, respectively, and are still living in
the
house in which Mrs. Stivison was born, and only one and one-half
miles
from where Mr. Stivison was born. They reared seven children. They
are
members of the Christian and United Brethren Churches, respectively,
and
he is a son of Jacob Stivison, of Pennsylvania. Mr. Boyd is a
Democrat,
and cast his first presidential vote for Pierce.
Source:
HISTORY OF HICKORY, POLK, CEDAR, DADE AND BARTON
COUNTIES,
MISSOURI, 1889
Thanks to Karen from Ohio, USA