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Thomas Alexander Boyd ~ (1) Margaret Woodward Smith
(2)
Ruth Fitch Bartlett
Thomas Alexander Boyd, novelist, was born on July 3, 1898, in Defiance, Ohio, the only child of Thomas Alexander and Alice (Dunbar) Boyd. His father, who came of Canadian stock, had died three months earlier, and he was brought up by his mother's family in Ohio. His mother, who had returned to the profession of nursing after her husband's death, sent her son to various public and private schools, including Porter Military Academy, Woodward High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Elgin Academy in Illinois. On May 14, 1917, while still a student at Elgin Academy, Boyd, together with a friend enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He was trained at Paris Island, South Carolina, and Quantico, Virginia, and in September 1917 went to France with the Sixth Regiment. He saw action at Belleau Wood, Soissons, and St. Mihiel and was awarded the
Croix de guerre. In the autumn of 1918 he was gassed, but he recovered and served with the Army of Occupation in Germany. He was discharged from the Marines in July 1919. After various unsatisfactory jobs in Chicago, Illinois, and elsewhere, he went to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he worked for a time on the Non-Partisan League paper, the Minneapolis Star, and subsequently on the St. Paul Daily News. On October 15, 1920, he was married to a third cousin on his mother's side, Margaret Woodward Smith. With Cornelius Van Ness he opened a bookstore called Kilmarnock Books, and soon afterward he began editing a weekly book page for the Daily News. His only child, Elizabeth Grace, was born in November 1921.
Kilmarnock Books became a center for the literary life of St. Paul, and Boyd became acquainted with such writers as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, and Charles Flandrau. Urged on by them, he began to write a novel based on his experiences in the war, which was finally published in 1923 under the title of "Through the Wheat". One of the earliest and best of the realistic war novels, clearly showing the influence of Stephen Crane, it was well received by most critics and established Boyd's reputation. Other writing followed, including a number of short stories of the war that were first published in magazines and then in a volume called "Points of Honor" (1925). Also published in 1925 was "Samuel Drummond", a novel based on the life of Boyd's maternal grandfather, Samuel Dunbar. In 1928 he published a biography, "Simon Girty", the "White Savage", and subsequently he wrote "Mad Anthony Wayne" (1929) and "Light-Horse Harry Lee" (1931). Both are competently written and interesting, but neither is strikingly original. In this period Boyd also wrote for the magazines, sometimes in collaboration with his wife, whose pen name was
Woodward Boyd.
Divorced from his first wife, Boyd married Ruth Fitch Bartlett on December 30, 1929. He had long taken a friendly interest in socialism, and the Depression of the early thirties intensified his dissatisfaction with the capitalist system. Always impulsive, impatient with theory and eager for action, he looked about for something he could do. He was at this time (1933-1934) living in Vermont, and he became greatly concerned about a strike of quarry workers. Finally he joined the Communist party and was its candidate for governor of Vermont in the election of 1934. Early in 1935 he died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of thirty-seven. Two books were published posthumously: the novel "In Time of Peace" (1935), which was a sequel to "Through the Wheat", carrying on the story of its autobiographical hero and clearly revealing the author's revolutionary predilections; and Boyd's best biography, "Poor John Fitch: Inventor of the Steamboat" (1935). None of his subsequent books, however, made an impression equal to that of "Through the Wheat".
Source: Ohio Biographical Dictionary, Second Edition, Vol I, Summerset Publishers, Inc. I.S.B.N. 0-403-09970-6
Dear Mr. Boyd,
Aug 27, 2007
Hopefully you can point me in the right direction regarding finding
relatives in the Boyd family tree.
My mother-in-law, Ruth Dunbar, is the daughter of Gale Dunbar, brother
of Alice Dunbar Boyd. Gale was the son of Samuel Dunbar, portrayed in
Thomas Boyd's book Samuel Drummond.
Ruth Dunbar Russell is presently living here in Maryland and only
recently told her son, Paul, and myself about her cousin Thomas Boyd and
their connection. Her father, also fought in the 1st World War and was
gassed in France, but unfortunately never made it back to the US. I came
across your website and was delighted to get some background information
on my husband's side of the family. I believe Elizabeth Grace Boyd,
daughter of Thomas died a couple of years ago. My mother-in-law would
have loved to have met her, but we only recently learnt of her death. Do
you happen to know if Elizabeth has any descendants.
Kind regards,
Irene Russell irussell "at" chubb.com
NOTE:
Use this data as a finding tool, just as you would any other secondary
source. When you find the name of an ancestor listed, confirm the facts
in original sources.
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