CHIEF:  Dr Robin Boyd, MA (Oxon); MB BS; LRCP, MRCS; DCH; AFOM, 8th Baron Kilmarnock

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Reuben Boyd ~ Elizabeth Catherine Williams

Western, Pennsylvania

(Formerly listed as: Reuben and Katherine Elizabeth (Williams) Boyd of Western, Pennsylvania)

Reuben BOYD, my great grandfather, was born in western Pennsylvania in October 1851. His mother was Lucy HENRY. I have not been able to identify his father.

He appears in the census of 1860 in the household of Joseph & Hannah MILLIGAN in Westmoreland County.  The 1870 census shows that he is an
apprentice blacksmith in Fayette City, Fayette Co, PA, living in the household of W B and Florilla CHAIN.
 
The mystery at hand is how to tie him to the Boyd family. There were a number of BOYD families in the area (18 in 1810, 13 in 1820, 18 in 1830, 22 in 1840, 27 in 1850 and 28 in 1860). The fact that he was living with the MILLIGAN s in 1860 and that Lucy HENRY is identified as a single woman and his mother in the 1880 census suggests that there may be a story here! Other BOYD connections to the HENRY and MILLIGAN families are being sought.

He worked as a coal miner, an occupation I assume was not that remunerative. In 1880 he married Elizabeth Catherine WILLIAMS (born August 1859 in PA) and he purchased a house with an acre of land in North Huntingdon Township in 1881. Lizzie was a dressmaker and continued to work in that occupation. The second mystery then is, what were the economic conditions for a coal miner in the 1880's through 1910? How could he acquire such property and (see below) send at least two children to college?

In 1893 Reuben purchased one sixth of an acre in Irwin Borough and built a two-story house at 629 Spruce Street. It is still there.

Reuben and Elizabeth had five children:

Clara Elizabeth Boyd (April 1880 - ca 1944),
Lillian Beryl Boyd       ( 12 August 1882 -??),
Mary Burdella Boyd   (Della) (July 1885 -??),
Reuben Earl  Boyd     (26 April 1888 -28 May 1937),
George Paul  Boyd      (April 1893 -9 April 1919).

All were born in the Western Pennsylvania, probably North Huntingdon or Irwin.

My GGM, Elizabeth Catherine Willams BOYD, died January 13, 1919. Her
husband, Reuben BOYD died just two months later on 13 March 1919 and their youngest son, Paul, died a month later on 9 April 1919. All are buried at the Union Cemetery in Irwin. The cause of death for Reuben was pneumonia. The cause of death for Elizabeth is unreadable and the cause of death for Paul is "heart". A third mystery is how all 3 died so close together? The great flu epidemic of 1918 was on the wane by then, but I wonder if it is the ultimate cause.

Clara BOYD married Frank MILLER. Lillian BOYD married Joseph Elmer SCOTT on 19 September 1907. Della BOYD, a schoolteacher, married Earnest GEORGE.

Clara & Frank MILLER had one child, Boyd MILLER. He married Janet STRUBLE. They had no children. Lillian and Elmer SCOTT had two children, Paul and Elizabeth, who would have been born about 1910. I do not know if Della and Earnest GEORGE had any children. Paul BOYD died before marrying. The fourth mystery is what became of the Paul SCOTT and Elizabeth SCOTT, and did Della and Earnest GEORGE have any children?

Reuben Earl BOYD, my grandfather, married Caroline PARSONS (1888-1955) who was born in Pittsburgh, PA. Her ancestors included MASSER, RITTER & SEIDEL. Both Reuben & Caroline were graduates of Allegheny College (Class of 1910). Reuben was a chaplain in the US Army. They lived in PA, the Philippine Islands, TX and VA. My mother, Caroline Norbeth BOYD (1914-1984) was born in Pittsburgh, PA. Their second daughter, Eleanor Burdella (Burdie) BOYD (1922-present) was born in Washington, DC, and their third daughter, Ruth Esther BOYD (1925-1966) was born in the Philippine Islands. Burdie married 1st
Philip PAGE (1923-1986), 2nd Carlton WHALEN (1918-1982) & 3rd James
McLEAN of Scotland. Ruth married William Morely BENTON (1925 - present) of NC. Burdie had one child and Ruth had two. (Details private.)

My mother, Caroline Norbeth Boyd married William Barry MURPHY (1914-1996) of Chicago. She was a writer and a poet. She worked as an intelligence analyst for the US Army Chemical Corps and other agencies. They had two children; my "younger" sister (but note the relative birth years!) Elaine Caroline (Lani) Murphy (1939 - present) and myself, Robert Earl Murphy (1941 - present). Lani, who works as a librarian, married William Emmett BARKLEY (1938 -present). They have two children and 4 grandchildren. I am an astronomer (working now in Earth remote sensing). I married Nancy Jane HYBNER (1941 - present). We have two children (surnames now Boeve and Murphy) and one grandchild (Alexandra Lizbeth Murphy).

                                     "Surnames to my generation include: "

BARKELY, BENTON, GEORGE, HENRY, HYBNER, JACQUIN, MASSER, MILLER, PAGE, RITTER, SCOTT, SEIDEL, PAGE, PARSONS, and STRUBLE.

R E Murphy     
Baltimore, MD

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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