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History of Champaign County, Ill., by J. O. Cunningham, 1905
Stephen BOYD, born on 17 Dec 1805 in Shelby County, KY. Stephen died in Urbana, Champaign, IL on 14 Aug 1873; he was 67. Buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery, Mayview, Champaign, IL.
This old pioneer was born December 17, 1805, in Shelby county, Kentucky. His father, William Boyd, and his mother, who was Elizabeth Wiley, came to this county at the same time that Stephen himself came, to-wit in the year 1831. The father was of Scotch descent, while the mother was a German lady. They both died here, in September, 1838, there being but a few days between the dates of their death. Stephen, when he arrived in this county from Shelby county, Kentucky, was twenty-seven years old, and had in 1824 married Jemima Kitson who died in 1826, in Kentucky. he settled three miles east of Urbana and lived there the remainder of his life following here as he had in his old home, the occupation of a farmer. In 1833 he married Eliza Rinehart. His children were James Boyd, a well-to-do farmer who now lives at the old home place, (a sketch of whose life and his portrait appears elsewhere.) John Matthias, who died in 1838, Jemima, who died in 1846, Elizabeth, who married Amos Conway, now residing in Dakota. Mary, who married Frank Champlain, now residing in Cedar Vale, Chautauqua county, Kansas, Emma and Al Boyd, both residing near Urbana. Stephen Boyd was always a consistent and ardent democrat. He died August 14, 1873, leaving behind him a splendid reputation for honesty and square dealing among those who knew him for the long period of time he lived among the early pioneers. He left to his heirs a goodly estate and did not owe a cent at the time of his death. His living children have all done well and are a credit to the memory of Stephen Boyd, whose record of honesty we gladly preserve for future generations.
"March 4, 1834, the first grand and petit juries were appointed as
follows: .... Petit jury-James Moss, Matthew W. Busey, Elias Stamey,
David Gabbert, William T. Webber, Augustine M. Webber, Larkin Deer,
Stephen Boyd, Elijah Jackson, Andrew Wilson, Adam Yeazle, James
Freeman, Jacob T. Hobbs, John Coddington, Jacob Heater, Moses Kirby,
Elias Kirby, John Brownfield, Sr.,William Coddington, Elias Thomas,
Moses Argo, William I. Peters and Hiram Rankin."
"First School House
It is a substantial structure. It will be noticed that the windows
are small, and instead of window glass, greased paper was used. the
light thus admitted might have answered all purposes on a bright day
but no one suffered from its being too bright. The seats of this
school house were hewn slabs and not hewn so very smooth either. As
far as we can learn, the first teacher in the Big Grove was a lady
who boarded at the house of Martin Reinhart. In 1832, Asahel Bruer
taught school in the school house above described, in fact he taught
eighteen months. The first Christmas he treated the scholars,
according to the custom, to one gallon of whiskey and a bushel of
apples, and everything passed off harmoniously. When the next
Christmas came around, on arriving at the school house he found the
door barred, and in answer to his request for admittance a note was
handed him through the crack between the logs asking that he treat to
a bushel of apples and one gallon of whiskey and that he give the
scholars a vacation for one week. He answered that he would not, and
soon mounted the house. The clapboards being held on the roof of the
house by weight poles, he had no difficulty in taking out enough to
cover the top of the chimney. As there was a large fire made from
green wood, in the fire place below, the room was soon filled with
smoke. James Kirby, one of the older scholars, took the poker, a
piece of a pole, and by throwing it up the chimney knocked the boards
off. They were soon replaced by Mr. Bruer and on a second attempt to
knock them off Mr. Bruer caught the poker and threw it on the outside
and re-covered the chimney. The house was then soon filled with
smoke, almost to suffocation. The smaller children began to cry and
every one seemed to wish there was an end to the matter. About this
time William Trickle crawled into the garrett, pulled aside the
boards and jumped out and down to the ground with Mr. Bruer after
him. The boys seeing Mr. Bruer catching Trickle, threw open the door
and every one piled out smoke and all.
Asahel Bruer Smoking Out the Boys
The boys soon caught Mr. Bruer and began rolling him in the snow, and
he said pulling his hair. He protested that they had no right to do
this, when the boys submitted the matter to Stephen Boyd and Mr.
Bromley who decided that they had a right to bar him out of the
school house but not to pull his hair or roll him in the snow. As
soon as Mr. Bruer was released he made a run for the school house,
closely followed by James Kirby and the balance, but the old
gentleman was first in the school house, where he was master of the
situation for a short time, when the boys surrounded him and he
surrendered saying, "I just wanted to see if you had any Kentucky
blood in you." He then told the boys where to find a gallon of
whiskey, and a bushel of apples, hid a short distance from the school
house, which were soon produced and the afternoon spent in roasting
apples and drinking apple toddy. James Kirby, William and Ashford
Trickle, James W. Boyd, Moses Deer, Mrs. Mary Ann Moore, of Danville,
Fount Busey, Sol Nox, James Roland, Susan Trickle, now Mr. Kirby's
wife, were present and will long remember the circumstance above
narrated. It is especially vivid in the mind of James Kirby, one of
the early settlers who gave us these facts. Mr. Kirby, in speaking
of the early weddings said, that no special invitations were issued
to attend, but every one attended who felt so inclined. Whiskey was
as free as water. At one wedding he attended (the parties now living
across the grove) nine gallons of whiskey were used and not a man was
drunk. The drinks they used those days were mint slings, black
strop, tansy bitters and egg-nog."
"...Of those known as old settlers who have since removed or died, I
knew and can name many: James and Asa Gere, Aarcha Campbell, Edward
Ater, M. P. Snelling, Robert Logan, T. R. Webber, James Porter, J. W.
Jaquity, Penrose Stidham, Jacob Smith, Mathew Busey, Bartlett Elrodd,
Joshua Taylor, John Shepherd, D. O. Brumley, T. L. Truman, James T.
Roe, John Gilliland, John, Robert, Benjamin, Joseph, Samuel, and
Joseph F. Brownfield, Jacob Heater, James and Waitman T. Somers,
Lewis Adkins, Mathhias and Martin Rhineheart, James C. Young, William
Adams, James Dean, John Cantner, Dr. Winston Somers, A. G. Carle, J.
D. Wilson, Stephen Boyd, Elisha Harkness, Wilson Lewis, Asahel Bruer,
C. M. Vanderveer, William and Z. E. Gill, John Crabb, James Myers,
James Clements, John Shepherd, John Campbell and Benjamin Childers."
"A number of old settlers, feeling the need of an organization of the
people who settled this county and bore the brunt of frontier life,
and desiring that the history of the county might be collected from
the settlers themselves while they still lived, assembled at the
court house in Urbana, May 16, 1870, and were called to order by
Thomson R. Webber, who nominated Henry Sadorus, of Sadorus, as
president, who was elected by acclamation. J. S. Wright was then
elected vice-president. The qualifications necessary to be an old
settler were as follows: "Those who were twenty years of age in 1840
and resided in this county at that time." The following persons then
registered as old settlers:
Henry Sadorus, William Sadorus, J. S. Wright, T. R. Webber, John G.
Robinson, Fielding Scott, Stephen Boyd, John Maxfield, Asahel Brewer,
James Clements, Jos. Maxwell, Paris Shepherd, Wm. Rock, Robert
Brownfield, John Corray, James Myers, D. O. Brumley. T. L. Truman,
James Kirby, Abraham Yeazel, H. W. Drullinger, James Bartley, B. F.
Argo, John K. Patterson, Hiram Rankin, David Swearingen, Samuel
Mapes, Thomas Richards, Michael Firebaugh, J. J. Swearingen, F. J.
Busey, Harrison Heater, John R. Brownfield, Thomas Swearingen, Wm.
Romine, David Argo, B. F. Harris, Mrs. Elizabeth Busey, Mrs. Stephen
Boyd, Mrs. Bryant, Mrs. Wm. Harvey, Mrs. John Maxwell, Mrs. Sarah
Robertson, Mrs. Fielding Scott, Mrs. Wm. Rock."
"...Mr. Bartley died and Mrs. Bartley [Malinda (Rankin) Bartley]
afterwards married Stephen Boyd, one of the old settlers of Urbana
Township. He died and several years afterwards Mrs. Boyd was again
married to James Bartley a cousin of her first husband...."
"In the summer of 1832, before the organization of the county and the
fixing of its county-seat, when the site of Urbana was, perhaps, only
what it had been for generations before-an Indian camping ground-a
large number of Indians came and camped around the spring, above
alluded to as situated near the stone bridge. It happened to be at
the time of the excitement caused by the Black Hawk War, and caused
not a little apprehension among the few inhabitants around the Big
Grove, although the presence in the company of many women and
children of the Indians should have been an assurance of no hostile
errand. A meeting of the white settlers was had and the removal of
the strange visitors determined upon as a measure of safety. A
committee, consisting of Stephen Boyd, Jacob Smith, Gabe Rice and
Elias Stamey, was appointed by the white settlers, charged with the
duty of having a "talk" with the red men. The committee went to the
camp, and mustering their little knowledge of their language,
announced to the Indians that they must "puck-a-chee," which they
understood to be a command to them to leave the country. The order
was at once obeyed. The Indians gathered up their ponies, papooses
and squaws and left, greatly to the relief of the settlers." ["During
the spring and autumn, the Indians (Delawares, Kickapoos and
Pottawatomies), occupied themselves in hunting through the country,
killing squirrels and wild turkeys in the groves, deer and grouse on
the prairies and bear on the Little Wabash River. About the first of
March they usually returned toward the Kankakee for the purpose of
making maple sugar."-Urbana (Ill.) Democrat, December 21, 1867.]
"First Settlement-Big Grove
Coming of the squatters-Runnel Fielder first permanent dweller-the
site of his home-William Tompkins-Elias Kirby-John Light-John
Brownfield-Thomas Rowland-Robert and Joshua Trickle-Lackland
Howard-Sarah Coe-Jacob Heater-Matthias Rhinehart-James Clements-John
S. Beasley-Matthew and Isaac Busey-Col. M. W. Busey-William T.
Webber-Nicholas Smith-Samuel Brumley-John Truman-Asahel Bruer-S. G.
Brickley-Stephen Boyd-Elias Stamey-Pathetic Story of the Isham Cook
family-Town of Lancaster-Town of Byron."
"A year later than the Smiths, came also, from Kentucky, William
Boyd, his son, Stephen Boyd, and his grandson, James W. Boyd. This
family made its home upon land in Sections 9 and 10, which was
entered in May, 1831. Descendants of the Boyd family still occupy
the lands so bought and others not far away." [Celia's note: We
still have 16 acres of the original land purchased by the Boyds.]
"At the Big Grove were John Brownfield and his sons, William,
Benjamin, John, Jr., Joseph, James and Thomas, and his kinsmen,
Robert, John R., Samuel and Joseph, all of whom came early in 1832.
Matthew Busey, the patriarch of a large family of sons and daughters,
among whom may be named, of the sons, Fountain J., Roderic R., Isaac,
John S., and, of the daughters, Mrs. Stamey, Mrs. Phillippe, Mrs.
Beck and Mrs. Littler-whose coming dates in 1829-still lived.
Stephen Boyd and his son, James W. Boyd, came in 1831;..."
"James Boyd was born September 10, 1825, in Shelby county, Kentucky.
His father, Stephen Boyd, was born in same county. (See portrait and
sketch of father elsewhere in this issue.) His mother was Jemima
Kitson, also a native of Kentucky. James, subject of this sketch,
was only six years old when he came to this county in November, 1831,
with his father. He was subjected to the hardships of pioneer life
thus early in his career, and made of him that hardy and substantial
man the portrait above indicates. At the age of 22, to-wit, august
19, 1847, young James married Miss Frances Rhodes, who shared his
burdens and partook of his joys until March 22, 1864, when she died.
August 17, 1864, he married Mary Ann Collins; who died the following
winter. August 5, 1866, he married Caroline Turnipseed, who is his
present wife. Thus he was married three times in August. His
children are John W., William M., Jemima, who married M. M. Harry, of
this city; Sarah, who married H. Strover, now of Bloomington, Ill.;
Anna, Frank and Florence, are living at home, the eldest being 17 the
youngest 13 years old. Alfred, Stephen and George are dead. James
received early impressions and education which made him a democrat
until 1856. He says he voted for James Buchanan in 1856 and shortly
afterward solemnly declared he would never vote a democratic ticket
again. He kept his word, voting for Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and in
1864, and for the republican candidates ever since. He owns a well
improved farm three miles east of Urbana, and has followed all his
life his present occupation, that of a farmer. His farm is clear of
encumbrances and he owes no many anything. Like his father before
him, he prides himself in keeping his contracts to the letter, thus
building up the reputation he has among those who know him of a
square business man and good citizen."
"...I mention also others who died within a few years after coming
here, as follows: James Brownfield, brother of John, and father of
Robert. Thomas Rolland, father of Mrs. Wm. I. Moore of Danville.
isaiah Corray, father of Elisha. John Truman, the ancestor of those
remaining of that name. William Boyd, the grandfather of James
Boyd.
Old Settlers Meeting - Crystal Lake Park, June 28, 1883
J. O. Cunningham invited the old settlers who had been residents for
fifty years and over to come forward, and J. F. Scroggin, the
photographer, would take a photograph of them. Those who came
forward were Silas Johnson, Rev. A. Bradshaw, F. J. Busey, M. E.
Busey, David Swearingen, Eleazer Freeman, James Brownfield, Edward
Ater, Mrs. W. I. Moore, Mrs. L. B. Gunn, James W. Boyd, Nathan
Haline, James Kirby, J. C. Johnson, Harrison Heater, Mrs. Malinda
Bryan and Mrs. Emily Scott.
Shemauger told another early settler (James W. Boyd, who died many
years since), or in his hearing, that many years before there came in
this country a heavy fall of snow, the depth of which he indicated by
holding his ramrod horizontally above his head, and said that many
wild beasts, elk, deer and buffalo, perished under the snow. To this
fact within his knowledge, he attributed the presence of many bones
of animals then seen by the prairies.
During the Black Hawk War, and before the passage through the
country of the volunteers from Indiana and the Wabash country, many
wild reports of Indian depredations nearby, and the reports that
hostiles were encamped as near as on the Sangamon River and at the
Mink Grove, spread from cabin to cabin through the country, and made
a general stampede from he country imminent. Like reports of
threatened danger were rife among the Sangamon settlers; but in their
case the supposed hostiles were camped lower down the river, near the
Piatt settlement. so great was the alarm in the latter case that all
gathered at the cabin of Jonathan Maxwell, where the men made
defensive preparations against the apprehended attack. [The study of
this affair was told the writer by James W. Boyd, then a child at his
father's house.]
James W. Boyd came to Champaign County in 1831 (along with his
father, Stephen, and grandfather, William) and settled Sections 9 and 10.
Source: Early History and Pioneers of Champaign County,
Illinois, by Milton W. Mathews and Lewis A. McLean, editors of the Champaign County
Herald, published by the Champaign County Herald, 1886.
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