Richard M. Boyd ~ Eliza J. Swecker

How much we owe the pioneers of O'Brien county! What a fine body of good and true men they were! Many of them were of the finest type of manhood. They entered a wilderness of unbroken prairie country and passed through a period which tried men's sours and which brought out the best there was in them. Some gave up the fight for even bare existence during the first lean and poor years, but those who remained have reaped a harvest of good things and are now honored and respected in their neighborhoods. They were of a cosmopolitan class, embracing some of the best blood of New England, Pennsylvania, the South, and from far-away Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. Many were Union soldiers, who, restless for a change for the better in their circumstances after passing through the harrowing scenes of four years of awful warfare, set their faces westward, there to hew out a home and rear their families to good and useful citizenship.

Richard M. Boyd, or "Dick" Boyd, as he is more affectionately known, of Sanborn, is a genuine pioneer of the hardy class who homesteaded in Grant township and has prospered as he well deserved. He was born Mary 18, 1843, in Ireland, the son of Robert Boyd and Mary Ann (Pogue) Boyd of Scotch-Irish and Covenanter descent. Their immediate ancestors left Scotland to obtain freedom of worship in their chosen faith in northern Ireland. It is of record that the father of Mary Ann Pogue held a grant of considerable land in the North country, but unfortunately lost the same by going note security for a friend at the time of his marriage. Robert and Mary Ann Boyd and their children emigrated to America in 1853. For several years they lived in New York City, where the father died of ship fever contracted while on a trip to Rhode Island, whither he had gone to arrange for another place of abode for his family. The widow and children soon afterward moved to Rhode Island and located in the town of Bristol. There were six children in the Boyd family, as follows: Isaiah P. Boyd, deceased; Richard M. Boyd; Robert W. Boyd of Sutherland; Mrs. Annie J. (Boyd) Magee, of Sanborn; Alex Boyd of whose where abouts nothing is now known; Mrs. Mary (Boyd) Corrall, deceased; John Boyd, deceased.

In 1861 Richard Boyd and his mother decided to come west and they journeyed to Iowa. They deemed this eventful step necessary on account of the fact that factories in Rhode Island had shut down and a kind of panic prevailed when the Civil War broke out between the states. They settled on a farm in Lynn county, Iowa. Here it was that Richard Boyd enlisted in the Union army and made an enviable record as a brave soldier. He enlisted in Company H, Fourteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment October 5, 1861, and was honorably discharged from the service November 16, 1864, at Davenport, Iowa. He enlisted under Capt. Roy A. Cranes and fought at Fort Donelson, Fort Henry, Shiloh, Corinth and Tupelo, Mississippi. He was taken seriously sick at Tupelo of typhoid fever and lay in the hospital for several months, suffering severe setbacks and being an invalid for a long time at Mound City, Illinois. At Shiloh he was one of the personal body guard for Gen. C. J. Smith. He finally got to St. Louis while still in a sadly weakened condition and being the ghost of his former robust manhood. It was a very long time before he became a well man. In fact, he was so disfigured by disease that his boon companions in his old command even failed to recognize him. After they discovered that their old comrade "Dick" needed their care they insisted on his being transferred to their quarters and then tenderly cared for him and assisted him in building up his wasted physique. Later, down in Missouri, he was engaged in many skirmishes with the bushwhackers. He also saw active service in Kentucky and Mississippi. Previous to this he had participated in the engagement at Meridian, Mississippi. His last service was during the historic chase after Gen. Marmaduke Price and his rebel army, who were driven out of Missouri. He returned home after his discharge, but went again to the front and was in the employ of the United States government at Nashville, Tennessee until the close of the war. Mr. Boyd recalls that the lamentable news of President Lincoln's assassination when received in the Southern city, quieted the bitterness and quarreling among all classes of the people, Southerners and conquerors alike. When peace was declared he was retained in Nashville during 1866 and had personal charge of the government live stock.

For a period of four years after the end of his service Mr. Boyd lived in Linn county, and in 1871 came to O'Brien count. he filed on a government homestead in Grant township, the southwest quarter of section 14, township 95, range 39. He improved his homestead and developed it into a fine farm which he yet owns. In 1883 he came to the town of Sanborn where he has since resided and is considered affectionately as the "Father of the Town." For several years he served as city marshal and constable and was also in the employ of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad for some years. He was appointed postmaster February 15, 1900, and served continuously until August 1913. He was one of the best and most accommodating postmasters the city every had. He was recommended by President Taft for another term but declined to become an applicant for the position. In politics he has always been a Republican.

Religiously, Mr. Boyd has always been affiliated with the faith of his forefathers and is a stanch member of the Presbyterian Church. Fraternally, he is allied with the Odd Fellows and the Grand Army of the Republic, being one of the few remaining members of the local post.

Mr. Boyd was married November 16, 1866, to Eliza J. Swecker, of Linn county, who has borne him six children, as follows: M. R. Boyd, a citizen of faraway Fairbanks, Alaska; Seldon Boyd, a resident of Sanborn; Fay (Boyd) Devere, of Minneapolis; Neva L. Boyd , of Chicago; Mrs. Ina (Boyd) Lee, of Ladysmith, Wisconsin; Erma Boyd, at home with her father. Mrs. Boyd died on September 22, 1913.

Mr. Boyd is the owner of eighty acres of rich and valuable land adjacent to the city of Sanborn. He is the owner of the post office building and another business house in the adjoining block. It is a matter of record that he sold the first load of wheat handled in Sheldon, Iowa by Benjamin Jones in the early seventies. He is a very popular, substantial citizen who is highly esteemed for his many excellent qualities by his fellow citizens in Sanborn and throughout O'Brien county.

Source: Past and present of 0'Brien and Osceola Counties by J. L. E. Peck, O. H. Montzheimer, and William J. Miller; Pub. Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen, 1914. - FHL Film 934957

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