Highland County OhArchives Biographies.....Boyd, William Davidson December 19, 1859 - after 1908
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Donna Boyd musvol@earthlink.net June 7, 2009, 5:55 pm

Author: Biographical Memoirs of Greene County, Ind., with Reminiscences of Pioneer Days (1908), vol. II, pp. 757-60.

Practical industry, wisely and vigorously applied, never fails of success, for it
carries a man onward and 
upward, brings out his individual characteristics and acts as a powerful stimulus to
others.  The greatest 
results in life are often attained by simple means and the exercise of ordinary
qualities of common 
sense and perseverance.  A man who has profited by the little things of life and
turned the seeming 
trivial opportunities to splendid account, thereby reaping abundant success, is the
gentleman whose 
honorable record we now call the attention of the reader to, William D. Boyd, whose
name forms the 
caption of this sketch, for it will be seen upon perusing it that he is one of the
most enterprising 
agriculturalists of Grant township.

Mr. Boyd was born in Highland county, Ohio, December 19, 1859, but he was twelve
years old when he 
was brought to Greene county, Indiana, by his parents, where he attended the common
schools, making 
good use of his time, and worked on his father’s farm during the months that the
schools were not in 
session, preferring to remain with his parents until he reached manhood, when he
engaged in farming 
in the same neighborhood for some time.  In 1894 he settled on his present valuable
farm of two 
hundred and five acres, which his minute knowledge of agriculture has made one of
the choice farms in 
this county.  His success in this respect has enabled him to erect comfortable
buildings and purchase 
all necessary modern farming implements to make his work lighter and more
satisfactory.  But Mr. Boyd 
does not depend upon the fertile fields of his farm alone for a livelihood, dealing
extensively in all 
kinds of good stock, and his excellent judgment in the selection and care of stock,
expecially horses, 
cannot be questioned.

Mr. Boyd was married to Ella Himebrook, a native of Grant township, and the daughter
of Frederick and 
Mary Himebrook, the former a native of Germany, who came to America when he was
twelve years old.  
The home of the subject and wife has been blessed with the following children: 
Faith C., who is in high 
school (1908); Margareith, Pearl and Helen.  They are all apt in music and promise
to become proficient 
in it.  Their father has presented them with a high-grade piano.

The parents of William D. Boyd were Eli B. and Elizabeth (Davidson) Boyd, the latter
a native of Ohio and 
the daughter of Thomas Davidson, a native of New Jersey, and in politics an old-line
Whig.  He was a 
soldier in the Revolutionary war and fought at Brandywine.  Eli B. Boyd was the son
of Berryman Boyd, 
who was a native of Ireland, having come to the United States in an early day and
settled on a farm in 
Ohio.  Eli lived on a farm in Highland county, Ohio, until 1876, when he came to
Greene county, 
Indiana, settling in Smith township, where he farmed until his death.  He was one of
the first to respond 
to his country’s call in 1861, when he enlisted in Company A, Sixty-first Ohio
Volunteer Infantry, 
remaining at the front until the close of the war.  He was a Republican and cast his
first ballot for John 
C. Fremont for President in 1856.  He was a Baptist, while his wife remained in the
Christian church.  
She died in 1899.

Politically William D. Boyd, our subject, is a stanch Republicaan and an active
worker in that party.  He 
served six years as township trustee.  Fraternally he is a member of the Independent
Order of Odd 
Fellows, having filled all the chairs and represented his lodge at the meeting of
the grand lodge.  He is 
also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.  Mrs. Boyd is a member of the
Christian church.  
Mr. Boyd was for a number of years a teacher in the common schools of Grant
township,  He is a 
member of the degree staff Rebeckah lodge at Lyons.

The Boyd family is spoken of in the highest terms by all who are fortunate enough to
be numbered 
among their friends and acquaintances.


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