John W. Boyd ~ Elizabeth Friend

John W. Boyd has been a lifelong resident of Mishawaka, is of Scotch descent and comes of a family that settled in America in a very early day. James C. Boyd, the father of John W., was born in East Tennessee, but when about eight years of age went with his father to West Virginia, where he was brought up and learned the trade of a carpenter. One of his fellow apprentices was a young man by the name of Brownlow, who afterward became the famous Parson Brownlow of Tennessee. They both served seven years, and Mr. Boyd afterward became a ship carpenter. He was entirely self-educated, and almost wholly self-made. He was married in Lebanon, Va., to Miss Ann E. Rohr, who was born in Maryland, and they became the parents of eight children: Sarah A. Boyd, Elizabeth Boyd, Lucinda Boyd (who died at the age of nineteen years), Margaret C.Boyd , John W. Boyd, James C. Boyd, Robert F. Boyd and Charles H. Boyd. In 1838 Mr. Boyd came to Mishawaka, at which time he brought with him two negroes, a woman and her son, whom he set free. Mr. Boyd settled on some wild land eight miles southeast of Mishawaka, in Penn township, but two years later he removed to the town and began building freight boats to ply on the St. Joseph River, and at one time was the owner of a fleet of nine boats which made regular voyages between St. Joseph and Three Rivers, Michigan carrying a great amount of freight during the Year. Mr. Boyd was called the Commodore by the old settlers. He carried on this business successfully until the building of the Michigan Southern & Lake Shore Railroad, when the competition in carrying freight ruined him. In 1850 he crossed the plains to California, becoming very wealthy, but unfortunately lost his mines under an old Spanish claim. In 1856 he returned to Mishawaka and turned his attention to farming, dying at the age of sixty four years. He was a man of great energy, and of large and powerful physique, weighing 320 pounds, and at one time lifted a weight of 1,100 pounds. His head was of unusual size, requiring a No. 8 1/4 hat, and had to have them made to order. He was an espouser of all measures of morality, was strictly temperate in his habits, and he and his wife were members of the Methodist Church. He was well known by the old pioneers of the county as a strictly honorable man, and was highly regarded by all.

John W. Boyd, his son and the subject of this sketch, was born June 21, 1838, on his father's farm in Penn township, and received such education as the common schools of his day afforded. At the age of two years he became a resident of Mishawaka, and here, in the old St. Joseph Iron Works, he learned the trade of plow maker, and for twenty-seven years since has continued to work in the same shops. He became an expert at his trade and in the later years of his labor received the best pay of any workman in the establishment. March 31, 1860 he married Elizabeth Friend, daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth (Byrket) Friend, the former of whom was born in Kentucky and came to St. Joseph county, Indiana in 1844, settling on a farm in Penn township one mile south of the town. He was one of the substantial men of his section, became a well-to-do farmer, and he and his wife were members of the German Baptist Church. Their children were Barbara Boyd, Polly Boyd, Elizabeth Boyd and Amos Boyd. After his marriage Mr. Boyd settled in Lakeville, ten miles south of South Bend, but in 1861 moved to Mishawaka. August 6, 1862, he offered his services to his country and became a private on Company K, Eighty-seventh Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, serving with credit until the close of the war, and participating in the battles of Perryville, Murfreesboro, Franklin, Tallahoma, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Atlanta, and was with Sherman in the greatest march in history--the march to the sea--his division being in advance, supporting the cavalry and was in an almost continuous skirmish. This was one of the longest marches made by an army and Mr. Boyd walked every step of the way. Gen. Sherman afterward said that his men showed themselves superior machines, and in point of endurance superior to the horse and came out in much better condition. Mr. Boyd was also in the battle of Goldsboro, N. C., and was present at Johnston's surrender, from which place he went to Washington, D. C., and took part in the Grand Review. He was honorably discharged at Indianapolis as orderly sergeant, to which position he had been appointed November 24, 1863. He was at one time detailed to the quartermaster's department as quartermaster sergeant. After the battle of Chickamauga, about November 24, he came home on recruiting service and rejoined the army the following April. Mr. Boyd's career as a soldier was marked by faithfulness to duty, courage and endurance, and he fortunately was not sick or wounded during his entire service, but the severe marches and exposure permanently injured his health, and to this day he is disabled by rheumatism and other disorders. At the battle of Atlanta he narrowly escaped death, for he was a large man and at the head of his company, and in the thick of the battle his captain and two men fell at his side and three others near by were wounded. After his gallant service in hiss country's cause he cheerfully resumed the duties of a private citizen, and is justly considered one of the leading men of the place. He has been a member of the town council, belongs to the G. A. R. and is a Republican politically. His long residence in the county has made him well known and his family is as highly regarded as himself. His children are: Anna E. Boyd who married William Crawford, a merchant of La Porte, Indiana, and has one child; Ella S. Boyd married Robert McKnight a farmer in the vicinity of Mishawaka by whom she has two children; and Mary A. Boyd, who married Frank E. Hartwick a book-keeper of Chicago by whom she has one child. Robert F. Boyd, a brother of John W. Boyd, was a soldier in Company I, Ninth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and died in 1861 at Cheat Mountain, Va. Another brother, James C., was in the 100 days' service, who died in the silver mines of Arizona.

Source: Pictorial and biographical memoirs of Elkhart and St. Joseph Counties, Indiana: together with biographies of many prominent men of northern Indiana and of the whole state, both living and dead; published: Chicago: Goodspeed, 1893. FHL Film 934903 Item 2

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