Vermilion county Illinois, HENRY G. BOYCE ==================================================================== Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives Joy Fisher ==================================================================== p. 240-242 HENRY G. BOYCE. Sixteen years have passed since this worthy pioneer folded his hands in rest from the labors of life, but his name will be recalled by many as that of one of the first men coming to the vicinity of Danville and performing some of the earliest work in connection with his trade as a carpenter and joiner. He came with his parents to this county in 1831 and two years later established himself in the embryo town of Danville, which then consisted of only a few houses. With his young wife he took up his abode in the domicile which he built that year, which was weather-boarded in walnut and which is still standing and the property of his widow, who preserve it as a relic of the older days. Opposite it was built the engine house which now shelters the fire apparatus of a thriving and progressive modern city. A native of New York State, Mr. Boyce was born in Schoharie County, Feb. 20, 1809. Thirteen months later his parents removed to Harrison County, Ohio, where the father entered a tract of land from the Government and where the family lived until 1831. Then pushing still further westward they came to this county and Henry G. worked on a farm until 1832. That year he turned his attention more particularly to his trade of a carpenter and until his marriage the year following was in the employ of Mr. Beckwith and Gov. Leander Rutledge. His marriage with Miss Eliza Potter occurred on the 3d of March, 1833, the Rev. Freeman Smally officiating at the ceremony. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Boyce established themselves in a log cabin on what is now Walnut street and where their first child was born, Mary Jane, now Mrs. Henry Fulton of Vallejo, Cal. In the summer of 1833 Mr. Boyce went to Chicago when there were only two houses between Danville and that now great city. After the father, brother and brother-in-law of Mrs. Boyce arrived there, they dug the cellar for the first brick house ever built in Chicago, which was for a man named Chapman. Mr. Boyce did the carpenter work on said building. He remained there that fall in order to earn money to pay taxes and later returned to Danville purchased land lying along what is now Walbut street. He pursued his trade as a carpenter and finally became a contractor and builder, putting up many of the first buildings in the town. He thus labored until about 1850 and in 1856 was appointed Postmaster of Danville, prior to the election of President Buchanan. He served until the incoming of President Lincoln's administration and later was Deputy Postmaster under President Johnson. Mr. Boyce was a man of more than ordinary abilities and occupied a leading position in his community. He was elected Justice of the Peace, serving four terms of four years each, holding this office at the time of his decease. He was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and warmly interested in the cause of temperance. Upright and honorable in his transactions he enjoyed the esteem and confidence of all who knew him and at his death, which, occurred Dec. 3, 1873, was deeply mourned not only by his own family but by the entire community. The father of our subject was Peter Boyce, a native of Washington County, N. Y., and a farmer by occupation. He was reared to manhood in his native State where he married Miss Jane Potter, and later removed to Schoharie County, N. Y. He was three times married and was the father of twenty-one children. In his father's family there were thirteen children and his mother died in Harrison County, Ohio. After coming to Illinois he lived here only a few years, then returning to Ohio settled near Springfield where he spent his last days. He was a man of considerable force of character and a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mrs. Eliza J. (Potter) Boyce was born in Jefferson County, N. Y., one half mile from Sackett's Harbor, Sept. 19, 1813, and is the daughter of Elijah and Lana Potter, the former of whom was born in Washington County, N. Y., Sept. 4, 1787. He was there reared upon a farm and was married to a maiden of his own township, Miss Lana Van Wormer, in 1810. Not long afterward the young people removed to a point near Sackett's Harbor, in Jefferson County. Mrs. Lana Potter was born June 2, 1793 and was consequently seventeen years of age at the time of her marriage. The three eldest children of Mr. and Mrs. Potter were born in Jefferson County, N. Y., Eliza J. being the eldest. Six more children were added to the family after they left the Empire State. With one exception they all lived to mature years, one being killed when about four years old by the falling of a tree upon him. About 1820 the Potter family resolved to seek what was then the farther West and accordingly removed to Richland County, Ohio, settling near the present site of the town of Ashland. That region was then a wilderness, peopled chiefly by wild animals and Indians, there being only four other white families in the township. Mr. Potter entered a tract of land from the Government and the family endured all the hardships and privations of life on the frontier. The nearest mill was thirty miles away and the road which led to it was for long distances nothing more than an Indian trail. As the country began settling up Mr. Potter distinguished himself as a leading citizen and was one of the first to exert himself in the establishment of a school which was effected after much difficulty, Mr. Potter riding three days to find a teacher who could even write. The family sojourned in that neighborhood for a period of seventeen years and in 1830 concluded to make another change of residence, this time seeking the Prairie State. After due preparation they in October set out overland with a two-horse team and two cows, and their household goods and provisions. They were three weeks on the road, camping and cooking by the wayside. They arrived near the present site of Newtown, on Middle Fork Township, in November following. The father three or four years later, purchased land on the State road, at the edge of Eight Mile Prairie, ten miles north of Danville, where he opened up a good farm and lived until 1865. The death of the wife and mother occurred June 17, 1856. Eleven years later Mr. Potter removed to Missouri and subsequently made his home with his son, Joseph, who was located on a farm nine miles from Chillicothe. Mrs. Lana (Van Wormer)Potter was the daughter of Jacob Van Wormer, one of the early pioneers of Washington County, N. Y., and a strict adherent of the doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His house for many years was the meeting place for the annual conference and was the frequent resort of the itinerant. Among the early preachers of that day was the renowned Lorenzo Dow, who made for himself a name intimately associated with the early history of Methodism. He and his wife finally removed to Jefferson County and made their home with Mrs. Potter, his youngest daughter. They intended going to Ohio with the Potter family, but on account of the mother's health they were obliged to remain in Jefferson County N. Y., where they spent their last days. The Van Wormer family traced its ancestry to Holland. The paternal grandfather of Mrs. Boyce was William Potter one of the pioneers of Washington County, N. Y., who married Miss Elizabeth Sherman and settled near Fort Ann. They became the parents of nine sons and two daughters and eight of their sons lived to mature years. They remained residents of Fort Ann until quite aged, then went to live with their son, William, near Buffalo, where their decease took place. To Mr. and Mrs. Boyce there were born four children, the eldest of whom, Mary J., has been already mentioned. The second daughter, Emily, is at home with her mother. Sarah M. died July 30,1861; William during the late Civil War served three years as a Union soldier in Company A, llth Indiana Infantry and was wounded at Champion Hill. At the expiration of his first term of enlistment he re-entered the ranks and at the battle of Winchester received a fatal shot and his remains now lie in Winchester burying ground. Mrs. Boyce and her daughter, Emily, are members in good standing of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Miss Emma is a well educated lady and has followed the profession of a teacher fifteen years in Danville. Jacob Van Wormer served in the Revolutionary War, Elijah Potter served in the War of 1812 and Henry G. Boyce tendered his services in the Black Hawk War.