George J. Boyd ~ Hester J. Mathews

The subject of this sketch, George J. Boyd, is a native of Washington county, Maryland, where he was born December 25, 1836. His father was Samuel Boyd, a native of the north of Ireland, who came to this country when very young with his father, Joseph Boyd, and became the owner of a large plantation in Maryland, where he had many slaves at the time of the Rebellion. The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Margaret Bender, and was of German descent.

In the place of his nativity George J. Boyd attended the public schools, and later continued his education in similar schools at Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. He was reared to manhood upon his father's farm and in early boyhood worked in the fields. After leaving school he began farming in Maryland on his own account, a vocation which he followed for several years. At one time he was on the road selling agricultural implements.

In 1872 Mr. Boyd came to Iowa, and first located in Benton county, but in 1880 came to Guthrie county, settling in Richland township, where he again engaged in farming. Here he bought one hundred and twenty acres of M. W. Lair, which he operated for three years. In 1883 Mr. Boyd became convinced that there was no better criterion of the growing and prosperous condition of a town or city than its hotel interests, and that the enterprising villages and cities must have pleasant accommodations for visitors and traveling men. It was on this account that he bought the hotel in Herndon and made it a comfortable home for all those who were its guests. In 1895 he sold out and bought a house in block 1 in Herndon, where he lived until 1896, but the hotel business was still attractive to Mr. Boyd, and during this year he purchased a hotel in Linden, Dallas county, which he conducted on the same high principles which characterized his first enterprise of this kind. Here he remained until 1898, when he went to Stuart for a short time, but Herndon still held out attractions for him, and here he returned and bought back his old home, where he has since lived. Besides these various enterprises in which he has been engaged, he has found time to do some very successful work in the real-estate and insurance business.

Mr. Boyd was married in Washington county, Maryland, Nov 18,1858, to Hester J. Mathews, a native of Berkely county, Virginia. Four children of this union still survive, namely; Samuel Boyd, who is living in Tacoma, Washington; Fanny Boyd, who married Albert Kinney, of Richland township; Lyda Boyd, the wife of E. B. Crosswait; and Lulu Boyd, who is at home.

Mr. Boyd votes with the republican party, and his labors have been very effective in advancing its work. His life has been a busy, useful and honorable one. He has been justice of the peace since 1883, and for four years was the efficient coroner of this county. Those who know him have ever held him in the highest regard, and in Guthrie county's history he well deserves representation.

Source: History of Guthrie County, Iowa,1907

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