Boyd
Several BOYD families immigrated to colonial America in the 18th Century. Among these were some BOYDs in a place called Boydsville, now part of Martinsburg, Frederick County, northern VA (now part of Berkeley County, eastern WV).
Several local landmarks are named after the BOYDs, including Boyd's Gap, about 5 miles west of Boydville. North Mountain is a mountain ridge, about 23.5 miles long, which runs roughly southwest to northeast, from Frederick County, VA to Berkeley County, WV. Boyd's Gap is on this ridge. The BOYD family initially owned a few hundred acres on the southeast face of this ridge, with elevation ranging from 400 feet to 1300 feet. The entire property sloped to the southeast. See the map on page 7 of [JBBC].
Their exact ancestry is unclear. William P. Boyd had this to say:
Boyds of Virginia
"The fourth settlement, is the Boyds of Virginia. They came here in an early day, and whether came from Ireland or Scotland, we can not say. Their descendants, are scattered through the states of Kentucky and Tennessee, and today, there are towns and counties that bears their name.
"In searching the records of the Register Office of Scotland, we could find only the record of the oldest son of each family in the lineal line, in that country. Without doubt, that many of the different Boyd families of this country, are from younger sons, of whom no record has been kept in Scotland. As near as we are able to trace the respective families of this book, they are from the Kilmarnock Boyds, of the County of Ayr, Scotland. Some may have come from Wigton and Argyle, for these three counties, were the principal homes of the Boyds in the old world."
History of the Boyd Family and Descendants (1884), Page 68
There were two groups of BOYD families in Virginia, and I don't know if or how they are related. One group came originally from Scotland to Cumberland, PA, and then settled in Halifax County, which is in southern Virginia, before 1750. The quote above might refer to either group, or both. My interest is in the BOYDs of northern Virginia. The first mention I have found comes from a 1909 history book, placing someone named Boyd in northern Virginia around 1739.
Land Grants in Shenandoah Valley
"A number of minor grants were issued to Shepard, Morgan, Swearingen, Stephen, Boyd, Dark, Harper, Porterfield and other early settlers on the south side of Cohongorooto [Potomac] River now embraced in the counties of Berkley and Jefferson ..." (page 16)
[These were part of the grants distributed by Yost Hite, around 1739.]
Shenandoah Valley Pioneers and Their Descendants: A History of Frederick County, Virginia, by Thomas Kemp Cartmell, 1909
The Virginia Gazette (Williamsburg, Virginia) Sunday, 30 Jul 1752, Page 4
Some genealogists have indicated that Robert and William BOYD, sons of William BOYD, 2nd Earl of Kilmarnock, settled in Cumberland County, PA, and later moved to the Martinsburg area. I have not been able to verify this. The information below, is my attempt to put all the evidence together, but much of it is still uncertain, especially the first generation.
Robert BOYD (1706-1761) and Elizabeth "Bessie" BUNTEIN (1686-1736)
Robert BOYD was born in Tyrone, Ulster County, Northern Ireland, 1706, the son of William and Letitia BOYD. Some records say he was born in 1709, at Kilmarnock Castle, Scotland. That could be a different Robert BOYD. There were many Robert, William and John BOYDs, and sorting them out has been a challenge!
Robert BOYD lived in Scotland, and married Elizabeth Anderson. They had at least 5 children, born in Scotland, from 1723 to 1732. Robert must have left his wife, as he and 4 of his children emigrated to America. In Pennsylvania, Robert married Elizabeth BUNTEIN, a woman 20 years older, and had one more child, John BOYD, in 1735. That is strange because his son John BOYD, born in 1725, had also immigrated. Robert may have also married Margaret LATIMORE at some point.
1 Robert BOYD b: 1706 in Tyrone, Ulster, Ireland, d: 1761 in Cumberland, PA
+ Elizabeth ANDERSON b: 12 Oct 1703 in Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland, m: Glasgow, Ayr, Scotland, d: 1785 in Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland
...2 Margaret BOYD b: 1723 in Frederick, VA, d: 1755 in Frederick, VA
...2 John BOYD b: 1725 in Irvine, Strathclyde, Scotland, d: 25 Apr 1770 in Letterkenny, Cumberland, PA
...2 James BOYD b: 1726 in Scotland, d: 1761
...2 Robert BOYD b: 1728 in Scotland, d: Feb 1806 in Iredell, NC
...2 Isabel BOYD b: 18 Feb 1728 in Fife, Scotland
...2 Samuel BOYD b: 1732 in Ireland, d: 1793 in GA
...2 Agnes Hall BOYD
+ Elizabeth BUNTEIN b: 1686 in PA, m: 1732 in PA, d: 1736 in PA
...2 John BOYD Sr b: 1735, d: 08 Apr 1800 in Martinsburg, Berkeley, WV
+ Sarah GRYFYTH b: 1740 in Wales, England, m: 1754 in Frederick, VA, d: 1806 in Martinsburg, Berkeley, WV
+ Margaret LATIMORE
I suspect that Robert BOYD who was born in Ireland, 1706, and the Robert BOYD born in Scotland, 1709, are different people, and that one married Elizabeth ANDERSON and the other married Elizabeth BUNTEIN.
Purdie's Virginia Gazette (Williamsburg, Virginia) Friday, 9 Feb 1776, Page 3
Apparently there was a Robert BOYD in Culpeper, northern Virginia, in 1776, who advertised that he was leaving the colony immediately. I don't know why several men felt they needed to announce this, but surely it had to do with the heated politics of the time. Perhaps they were loyalists, objecting to the movement for independence.
Again, this connection between Robert BOYD of Cumberland, PA and John BOYD of Martinsburg, VA is speculative.
Sources
[A] Aler's History of Martinsburg and Berkeley County, West Virginia, by F. Vernon Aler, 1888
[B] Boydville historic mansion owned by Elisha Boyd
[BB] Boyd Biographies
[C] Shenandoah Valley Pioneers and their Descendants, A History of Frederick County Virginia, by Thomas Kemp Cartmell, 1909
[EB] Elisha Boyd on Wikipedia
[JBBC] John Boyd of Berkeley County, West Virginia, by Gordon W. Paul, 1991
[VB] Virginia Boyds on the Clan Boyd site
[HBFD] History of the Boyd Family and Descendants, by William P. Boyd, 1884
[LC] Collins historical sketches of Kentucky : history of Kentucky by Lewis Collins, 1874, Vol 1 and Vol 2
[N] History of the lower Shenandoah Valley counties of Frederick, Berkeley, Jefferson and Clarke, by J.E. Norris, 1890
[SVP] Shenandoah Valley Pioneers and Their Descendants: A History of Frederick County, Virginia, by Thomas Kemp Cartmell, 1909
(this version is more easily searchable. Faulkner family on p 467)
[VM] Virginia Maps
[VR] Virginia Reports: Jefferson--33 Grattan, 1730-1880, pp 422-9.
[W] Descendants of John Waggener
[WVHE] West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia (Many volumes, not available online.)
Last updated 20 Aug 2020 by William Haloupek. Contact haloupek at gmail dot com.