MERIWETHER COUNTY, GA - BIO Robert H. Boyd ***************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm *********************** This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Judy Fowler Kilgore JodieK444@aol.com ROBERT H. BOYD, b. abt 1792 in SC, d. bef. Aug 1857, Meriwether Co., GA. Possibly the son of HUGH and JENNETT BOYD, of Newberry Co., SC, who married FLORETTA (or Cloretta) GRAY, daughter of Maj. FREDERICK GRAY and CLORETTA DAWKINS. (Summer calls her Floretta in his Newberry Historical and Genealogical annals and the Gray family site [Dutch fork families] shows her as Cloretta.) Frederick Gray, father of Floretta/Cloretta Gray Boyd, died in Abbeville Co. in 1837, leaving a portion of his large estate to his daughter, Cloretta, and her husband, Robert H. Boyd, son of Hugh and Jeannette Boyd of Newberry. A year later, in 1838, a Robert H. Boyd made several land purchases in Meriwether County, for a total of nearly 400 acres. One purchase was from Hugh Boyd, son of Robert Boyd and Rosannah Stewart of Newberry County, who moved to Meriwether in the early 1830s. When Robert H. Boyd died in 1857, leaving no will, two co-administrators (Martha Boyd and Benjamin White) posted two separate bonds of $15,000 each, indicating a sizable estate. Pike County marriage records show that Robert H. Boyd and MARTHA WAGNER were married there in 1848. Robert H. Boyd's known children are McDUFFIE C. BOYD, b. abt 1836 in GA, and JULIA BOYD, b. abt 1831. Julia Boyd married Benjamin H. White in 1845 in Meriwether. Other children may be FREDERICK G. BOYD (b. abt 1817 in SC) who married ELIZABETH IRVIN in Pike County, WILLIAM H.B. BOYD, and SARAH BOYD. Robert H. Boyd (b. 1790-1800) is shown in the 1840 Meriwether census with a wife (b. 1800-1810) and 5 children, 3 boys, 2 girls. He is within one or two households of William Boyd and Mark Tidwell. If this is the Robert H Boyd of Newberry, William Boyd's wife would be his sister, Rosanna, and Mark Tidwell is William Boyd's brother-in-law, married to his sister, Frances Boyd. William and Frances were children of Robert Boyd and Rosannah Stewart. Robert H. Boyd is shown in the 1850 Meriwether Co. census, age 58, with wife, Martha age 32 (can't be the same wife as was in 1840, she is too young), Augustus Wagner age 17, Martha J. Wagner age 18, and McDuffie C. Boyd, age 14 (can't be Martha's son because Robert and Martha were married in 1848). In the 1860 Meriwether County census, Benjamin White and family, F.G. Boyd and wife Elizabeth, and M.C. Boyd and family are all living adjacent to each other in the Warnerville P.O. (#s 801, 802 & 803). Neighbors are the same as for Robert H. Boyd in 1850 (Tidwells), which leads me to believe the children had all moved onto Robert's sizeable plantation after his death in 1857. William H. B. Boyd is shown in a land transaction that wasn't recorded until 1875, but made in 1854, purchasing 50 acres in Land Lot 97 of the Upper 9th Dist. from Robert H. Boyd. The date the deed was actually signed over to William H.B. Boyd was 1854, three years before Robert H. Boyd died, which leads me to believe William may have been the other son of Robert H. Boyd. A Sarah Boyd took over as co-administratrix of Robert H. Boyd's estate, three months after proceedings were begun, leading me to believe she may have been the other daughter of Robert H. Boyd. Martha, the widow, applied for 12 months support and then disappears from the court records. The last entry in the books is for a "leave to sell" the lands and property of Robert H. Boyd, so that an equitable division of property may be made among the heirs. No appraisal, inventory, or sale records are recorded in any of the court books. If anyone is related to any of these Boyds, particularly Robert H. Boyd, William H.B. Boyd, Frederick G. Boyd, McDuffie C. Boyd, or Julia Boyd White, I would really like to discuss this family with you. We are very close to connecting all these Meriwether Boyds to John Boyd, Sr. of Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland and Newberry County, SC. If this Robert H. Boyd is John's grandson, then it would prove that he could not have administered his grandfather's estate in 1806, as many have speculated, because he would have only been 14 years old. I have copied all the probate court records (from original books in the Meriwether County courthouse) surrounding Robert H. Boyd's estate and will gladly share them with anyone who is interested. I think I've found some convincing evidence that Robert H. Boyd of Meriwether was the same Robert H. Boyd who married Cloretta Gray, and the same Robert Boyd who was the son of Hugh and Jennett Boyd. After a frustrating search, I found Benjamin and Julia Boyd White in 1870 in Milton County, GA. Milton County was north of Atlanta and quite a distance from Meriwether. Milton was merged into Fulton County in 1932 and no longer exists. The convincing part was finding a daughter named Cloretta. Here's the census: 1870 Milton Co., GA, Alpharetta P.O., #657/593 White, Benjamin, 52, wm, farmer, $500/$500, b. GA White, Julia, 35, wf, keeping house, b. GA (Boy! Did she lie! She was at least in her 40s.) White, Ellen, 26, wf, at home, b. GA White, Robert, 15, wm, at home, b. GA White, Laura, 11, wf, at home, b. GA White, Benjamin, 8, wm, b. GA White, Emerson (????), 6, wm, b. GA White, Cloretta, 4, wf, b. GA White, Mary C., 2, wf, b. GA And here is the previous census from 1860: 1860 Meriwether: (Warnerville P.O., #801/801) White, B.H., 42, m, farming, $1000/$8000, b. GA White, Julia, (30 or 39), b. GA White, Ellen, 18, b. GA White, Robert, 3, b. GA White, (I thought it said Nora ... but it was Laura), 2, wf, b. GA While this is not hard proof, I believe it is safe to assume Julia Boyd was the daughter of Cloretta Gray and Robert H. Boyd. That is the first of that name I have come across. I'm also dropping the Floretta in favor of Cloretta. Many thanks for any help or leads. Judy Fowler Kilgore Newnan, GA