Boyds in Shenandoah Valley, VA
"Shenandoah
Valley Pioneers and their Descendants,
A history of Frederick County Virginia"
T.K. Cartmell, 1783 to 1903
James and Isaac Van Meter received
grants for 40,000 acres of land each
around the Shenado River per
records in the sessions of 1721-1734. Knowing
some of this land over lay
other grants; a large grant of same was given to
Yost Hite, and approved by
1730. Hite began parceling it out by 1734. His was
not all in one piece, but
was to be made up from surveyed land parcels not
already located on as he found
them.
He had transferred 46 conveyances,
which were recorded in March 1736. After
that he began to pick up and
sell smaller parcels. By 1739 he was giving out
these "minor grants". "A number
of minor grants were issued to Shepard,
Morgan, Swearingen, Stephen,
BOYD, Dark, Harper, Porterfield and other early
settlers on the south side
Cohongorooto River 'now' embraced in the counties
of Berkley and Jefferson,
while others were in Frederick and along the
Shenandoah River.
The Presbyterian Church maintained
most of the early records for this era
which were available to the
author. There is a record of a church near
present day Winchester in
1737. The church in Winchester grew along with the
population after the town
was incorporated in 1792.
In 1842 Rev. A.H.H BOYD
had been called to the ministry to serve at the New
School. His ministry was noted
for it's acceptable service, and he was loved
by the children unto the third
and fourth generation.. The church was
reorganized in 1848, at which
time A.H.H. BOYD was among 9 men who were
appointed by the Court to
minister there. Dr. A.H.H. BOYD also conducted
protracted meetings at the
Cedar Creek church for several years before the
Civil War.
Dr. A.H.H. BOYD, helped to
organize the New School Church (Loudoun Street)
along with Rev. Silas Billings
from Cedar Creek. He served as pastor at the
New Church in Winchester until
his death on 16 December 1865. The people
worshipped and enjoyed the
church's services without much regard to creed.
Dr. A.H.H. BOYD was one of
the more enlightened slave owners who educated
their slaves so they could
eventually be emancipated.
In May of 1865, Dr A.H.H. BOYD
and his wife were visited by the wife of Mr.
Philip Williams, a renowned
lawyer, at their home where Dr Boyd was confined
to bed as an invalid.. Dr.
BOYD was by this time an invalid, mostly confined
to bed. Mrs. Williams related
the experience of a nearby farmer, who had
turned up the bodies of two
soldiers buried in one of his fields during his
spring plowing. The two ladies
with Dr Boyd's help, worked out plans for an
organization known afterwards
as the "Ladies Memorial Association". They
raised money in the State
and outside of it, and the end result was
re-interment for the many
soldiers buried where they fell in the first of
many memorial military cemeteries.
In March of 1900 the Old School
and the New School churches combined. The new
Organization elected as Ruling
Elders: Dr. P.W. BOYD, WW Glass, TN Lupton,
George C Shephard, George
W Kurtz, and TK Cartmell. For a few years, Dr BOYD
lived in the Morgan house
in Winchester, which had been built for General
Daniel Morgan. He purchased
this from Alex Tidball and later sold it to Judge
Joseph H Sherrard.
Bette Morton Tidball,
a daughter of Thomas A Tidball and Susan Hill, who
married 18 Nov 1813, married
a Mr. Thurston. One of their daughters, married
Hunter BOYD of Cumberland.
Hunter topped his legal career as a Judge of the
Supreme Court of Maryland
Charlestown became the county
seat of Jefferson County in 1801 when it was
formed from Berkely County.
At the first Court, held, held 10 Nov 1801 in
John Mines house, Elisha
BOYD was one of the first attorneys admitted to
practice law in this new county.
Col. Philip Clayton Pendleton married a
daughter of Gen'l. Elisha
BOYD, of Berkeley County. Their children were
Philip, Dr. E.B., and Judge
Edmund Pendleton, of Winchester VA. Another of
Elisha's daughters married
Hon. Chas. J. Faulkner, Sr. He was elected to
Congress prior to the Civil
War. Their two sons were Senator C.J. Falkner and
E. Boyd Faulkner.
C.J. Faulkner lived at the ancestral home, Boydville, near
Martinsburg.