W.L. BOYD - IRELAND >NY >MI >WI >SD
W.L. BOYD - In America
labor is king and the sovereignty that her
liberty loving people acknowledge
is that of business. The men of
influence in a community in
this enlightened age are its enterprising
and progressive representatives
of commercial interests and to this
class belongs W.L. Boyd, a
prominent business man of Bowdle, South
Dakota.
He was born in Belfast, Ireland,
in 1852, and his parents THOMAS and
JANE
(GIVING) BOYD, were also natives of that country and of Scotch-
Irish descent. The father
was foreman in a linen factory for twenty
years and also engaged in
farming at the same time. Our subject was
named for a grand uncle who
was a surgeon in the British army and he
also had another grand uncle,
ROBERT BOYD, who was a Presbyterian
minister.
W.L. Boyd was reared on a farm
in his native land and also served a
four years' apprenticeship
as a finisher in the process of bleaching
linen. At the age of twenty
one he left home and came to America,
landing in New York. He settled
in Southern Michigan, where he bought
land and through the winter
months engaged in getting out ship timbers,
being interested in the lumber
business for some time. Immediately
after his arrival in this
country he learned the brick layer's and
mason's trade in Wisconsin,
and worked at the same from 1876 until
1896. Fifteen years of this
time was spent in the Badger state, where
he was engaged in business
on his own account as a contractor and
builder. There he was married,
in 1877, to MISS MARGARET MEAKEN, a
native of Illinois, who was
left an orphan at the early age of three
years, her father being killed
in the Civil war. She was adopted by a
hotel keeper and brought up
in the village of Montello, Marquette
county, Wisconsin. To our
subject and his wife have been born five
children, four sons and one
daughter, all at, home attending school.
Mr. Boyd first came to Bowdle,
South Dakota, in 1888, but did not
locate permanently in this
state until the following year, when he
purchased a farm of three
hundred and twenty acres in Spring Lake
Valley, Walworth County, upon
which he made his home until the fall of
1898, when he removed to Bowdle.
In connection with general farming and
stock raising, he also worked
at his trade to some extent. On coming to
Bowdle he erected an elevator
and embarked in the grain business in
partnership with J. McKoane.
In the spring of 1899 they bought the
gristmill of W. W. Brant,
and in connection with their other business
now deal in flour and feed
and do a general milling business. Mr. Boyd
still owns a valuable farm
of four hundred and eighty acres, and
operates altogether five quarter-sections
of land, and is extensively
interested in the live stock
business, his specialty being horses and
cattle. He ran a wagon and
carried milk to the creamery until 1899, and
has been one of the largest
patrons of that industry. He is a most
progressive, energetic and
reliable business man and in his
undertakings has met with
well-deserved success, becoming one of the
substantial and prosperous
citizens of his community. In his political
affiliations he is a Republican.
He is a charter member of Hiddenwood
Lodge, No. 117, F. & A.
M., in Bowdle, of which he was the first senior
warden and the second past
master. He was also the first worthy patron
in Eastern Star Lodge and
has held that office continuously since 1888.
SOURCE: "Memorial and biographical
record; an illustrated
compendium of biography, containing
a compendium of local biography,
including biographical sketches
of prominent old settlers and
representative citizens of
South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle &
Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages
541-542
Thanks to Karen from Ohio, USA