Reuben BOYD & Elizabeth Catherine WILLIAMS
of 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 (April 1880 - ca 1944),
Lillian
Beryl ( 12 August 1882 -??),
Mary
Burdella (Della) (July 1885 -??),
Reuben
Earl (26 April 1888 -28 May
1937),
George
Paul (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
remurphy@home.com
Baltimore, MD