Boyd of Bucks County, Pennsylvania

In the mid 1700s, several Boyd individuals were living in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. These individuals were found by searching land patent records, deeds, probate and orphan records, will abstracts, early tax records, and civil and criminal court records. None appeared to own land, which makes it difficult to trace through time. However, most were involved in some type of civil case making it possible to establish a FAN Club for them (friends, associates, and neighbors). The names of the Boyd individuals at this time were: Andrew, James, John, Joseph, Nathaniel, and Thomas.

Whether or not they were all related is unknown, but several Boyds at this time were associated with Jared Erwin of Hilltown Township as he served as a surety in several separate court cases involving the Boyd men.1 This included John and Mary Boyd of Plumstead and later of Buckingham Townships as well as Joseph Boyd. Joseph Boyd may be the same individual who removed to North Carolina as stated in the Revolutionary War pension file for his son James Boyd, who served as a substitute for his father in Surry, N.C.2 James stated he was born in Bucks County in 1763.

Nathaniel and Andrew Boyd were associated with Buckingham Township, Bucks County so there might be some connection with John and Mary Boyd who resided there as well.3 A court case involving Thomas Boyd and John Boyd suggests Thomas may have been associated with John Boyd of Buckingham,4 but it is unclear whether this is the same John Boyd as previously mentioned as no locales were given.

James Boyd, who was a separate individual from James son of Joseph Boyd previously mentioned, appears to have resided in Northampton Township, which is to the southeast of Plumstead and Buckingham Townships. James Boyd was associated with the Edams, Benson, and Keen families. James was a witness to the 1751 will of Henry Benson of Northampton.5 James’ descendants also share DNA with Benson descendants. In 1757, James witnessed the will of James Keen of Northampton along with Hugh and Gayen Edams.6 James son, William Boyd (1753-1836), twice served in the Revolutionary war in Hugh Edams’ stead.7 In William Boyd’s Revolutionary War pension file, he stated he was born in Plumstead suggesting that there may be a greater connection among all previously mentioned Boyd individuals.

Project Goals

The first aim is to reconstruct the Boyd family, build out their respective family trees, and establish their exact relationship to one another. To do this, we need existing Boyd descendants to share their gathered research and to share their autosomal DNA results, e.g., Ancestry.com, FamilyTreeDNA, Gedmatch, MyHeritage, etc. Autosomal DNA are genetic markers passed down from both parents to their child and so lineage can be traced through either parent. Even if you do not know your family tree more than a couple of generations, autosomal DNA can establish which of the Boyd progenitors one descends.

The second aim is to determine where the Boyd family originated prior to Bucks County inclusive of where in Europe they originated. To do this, we need male volunteers whose surname is currently Boyd to participate in a Y-DNA study. Y-DNA are genetic markers specifically passed down from father to son and so male lineage can be traced, i.e., the Boyd surname. Y-DNA can establish that the Bucks County Boyd families are indeed related and how far back in time particular lines split off from one another.

Paternal Y-DNA for Boyd

To this end, preliminary analysis of Y-DNA test results from a male Boyd descendants of William Boyd (1753-1836) indicates this particular Boyd line from Bucks County is related to the Fourth Earl of Kilmarnock, William Boyd (1705-1746). However, the connection is not a descendancy one but rather a lateral cousin. The common ancestor between the two groups was born about 1538. The results of the Y-DNA test results can be visualized in FamilyTreeDNA’s Time Tree below.

How Can I Help?

If you would like to learn more about your Boyd ancestry and help determine when and where in Europe we originated, please contact me. Specifically, please consider

  1. Sharing your family tree and other research. Sometimes the most random bit of information can break through genealogy brick walls.
  2. Sharing your Ancestry DNA results. As my prior research and blog demonstrates, I have extensive experience and success in analyzing DNA and genetic clusters. Ancestry makes sharing your list of DNA matches easy to do as they promote collaboration among its members (see Ancestry.com article here).
  3. Taking an autosomal DNA test (e.g., Ancestry.com) or Y-DNA test (i.e., FamilyTreeDNA.com). The more descendants of the original Bucks County progenitors who test, the more genetic coverage we have of their original DNA and the more likely we are to find connections among ourselves and thus accomplish the project’s aims. If you have interest in taking a test but a test is not currently a financial priority, please contact me as limited funds are available for sponsoring a test.

More About Me

Elsewhere on this website you can learn more about me and the quality of my research. I descend from William Boyd (1753-1836), who was the son of James Boyd. William Boyd married Mary McMasters in 1778.8

You can read more about William Boyd by clicking on the link below. You can also judge the quality of my Boyd research through this detailed report.

Sources

  1. Bucks County, Pennsylvania, The King v. Joseph Ruckman (1765), Court of Common Pleas, Doylestown; originals held at the Bucks County Archives, Mercer Museum and Bucks County Historical Society, Doylestown, items no. 2211, 2212, 2213, 2214, 2215, 2216, 2217, 2219, 2238, and 2315. And Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Jared Erwin v. Joseph Boyd (1766), Court of Common Pleas Appearance Dockets, September term, Book D, p. 513, Bucks County Archives (RG 3:1), Mercer Museum and Bucks County Historical Society, Doylestown. ↩︎
  2. Pension Application, James Boyd, Private, Revolutionary War, “Declaration of James Boyd in order to obtain the benefit of the Act of Congress passed June 7,1832”, dated 11 October 1832, Pension Application S.12,269, Pension Office, War Department, Washington, DC; online database with images, Fold3 (www.fold3.com, accessed 9 July 2022). ↩︎
  3. Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Alexander Brown and Son v. Andrew Boyd and George Johnson (1768), Court of Common Pleas, Doylestown; originals held at the Bucks County Archives, Mercer Museum and Bucks County Historical Society, Doylestown, item no. 2454. And Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Joseph Large v. Nathaniel Boyd (1745), Court of Common Pleas Appearance Dockets, September term, Book B, p. 416, Bucks County Archives (RG 3:1), Mercer Museum and Bucks County Historical Society, Doylestown. ↩︎
  4. Bucks County, Pennsylvania, William Barnett v. John Boyd and Thomas Boyd (1742), Court of Common Pleas Appearance Dockets, September term, Book B, p. 185, Bucks County Archives (RG 3:1), Mercer Museum and Bucks County Historical Society, Doylestown. ↩︎
  5. Bucks County, Pennsylvania, estate file, no 789, Henry Benson (1752), Recorder of Wills, Clerk of Orphans’ Court, Doylestown. ↩︎
  6. Bucks County, Pennsylvania, estate file, no 950, James Keen (1758), Recorder of Wills, Clerk of Orphans’ Court, Doylestown. ↩︎
  7. Pension Application, William Boyd, Sergeant, Revolutionary War, “Declaration of William Boyd in order to obtain the benefit of the Act of Congress passed June 7,1832”, dated 9 April 1833, Pension Application S.22,127, Pension Office, War Department, Washington, DC; online database with images, Fold3 (www.fold3.com, accessed 31 July 2018). ↩︎
  8. U.S. Presbyterian Church Records, 1701-1970, Willm Boyd and McMasters (1778), Newtown Presbyterian Church, Baptisms, Births, Marriages, 1769-1812, p. 20, image 22 of 148; database with image, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com, accessed 14 March 2022); Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ↩︎