Sanford Boyd, Henry County, Iowa
Sanford Boyd
From the “Biographical review of Henry Country, Iowa”
Sanford Boyd, who is engaged in general farming in Tippecanoe township, is a native of Ohio, his birth having, occurred in Guernsey county on the 11th of April, 1852.His father, Thomas Boyd, was a native of Pennsylvania and when he had arrived at years of maturity was married to Miss Elizabeth Abels, who was born in Ohio, and whose father, John Abels, became one of the earliest settlers of Tippecanoe township, Henry county, Iowa.He was well known as a pioneer resident and contributed in substantial measure to the work of early development and improvement here.The marriage of and Mrs. Thomas Boyd was celebrated in Ohio, where they owned a farm, which he continued to operate up to the time of his death.He passed away April 29, 1869, at the age of sixty-four years, his birth having occurred March 10, 1895.His wife, who was born January 24, 1812, died on the 27th of February, 1892, having reached the advanced age of eighty years.In their family were eleven children, six sons and five daughters, of whom Sanford Boyd is the youngest.
In the public schools of Ohio he pursued a limited education, but his opportunities in the direction were somewhat meager for his services were needed upon the home farm.He remained at home until sixteen years of age, when he left Ohio and came to Henry country, Iowa, with his sister-in-law.Since that times he has been dependent entirely upon his own resources and whatever success he has achieved is attributable entirely to his labors.He was employed for a few months in various capacities and then took up farm work for he believed that the outdoor existence would prove beneficial to his health, which was in a somewhat precarious condition, his lungs seeming to be affected.He continued to labor as a farm hand for three and a d half years and was greatly benefited by life in the open air.
On the expiration of that period Mr. Boyd was married on the 26th of September, 1878, to Miss Elizabeth Wilson, who was born in Jackson township, Henry county, and is a daughter of John M. and Sallie (Davis) Wilson, the former a native of Indianapolis, Indiana, and the latter of Ohio.Her paternal grandfather was John Wilson and her maternal grandfather John Davis, a native of Pennsylvania.After his marriage Mr. Boyd rented a tract of land in Baltimore township, whereon he lived for a year and a half, and then engaged in the cultivation of a farm in Center township for one year.He next removed two miles south of Mount Pleasant in the same township, making his home upon that property for three years, when his savings justified his purchase of land and he became the owner of a farm of forty acres in the southern part of Center township.To this he added twenty acres and he improved the place by additions to the house and barn and in other ways, at the same time keeping his fields under a high state of cultivation, so that as the years passed he prospered.He continued to reside upon this place until 1893, when he sold and removed to Mount Pleasant, where he remained for three years.In 1896 he purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land on section 12, Tippecanoe township.This had been improved and with characteristic energy he began its further cultivation and development.Later he added to it sixty-four acres and a further purchase extended the boundaries of the farm to include forty more acres.He has since remodeled the house, making a modern residence with good cellar underneath.He has also built barns and remodeled the other buildings upon the place and his farm is now neat and thrifty in appearance and gives evidence of the careful supervision of a painstaking and progressive owner.While living in Mount Pleasant he was the owner of a good residence on Locust street, which he occupied for three years and then sold upon returning to farm life.Again, however, he went to Mount Pleasant in 1902, and bought a home at the corner of Jay and Henry streets, where he lived for two years, when he once more sold out and in the fall of 1904 again took up his abode upon his farm.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Boyd have been born seven children: Myrtle, who was born August 28, 1881;Ralph, who was born January 24, 1883, and is now engaged in teaming in Mount Pleasant, where he makes his home;Grace, born February 18, 1885;Earl S., October 13, 1891;Walter, September 8, 1894;Gladys, May 8, 1897;and Edith, on the 5th of January, 1899.The youngest daughter was badly burned by an accident, from which she did not recover for seven months.A small boy in trying to light a candle put a taper into the stove and thereby set fare to the dress of little Edith, and but for the timely arrival of her mother and a neighbor she would have been burned to death.She has, however, now recovered from her injuries.Both Mr. and Mrs. Boyd have a wide and favorable acquaintance in this country, where her entire life has been passed and where Mr. Boyd has lived for about thirty-seven years.Throughout this period he has commanded the respect and confidence of his fellow men who class him with the citizens of genuine worth, whose reliability, business integrity and loyalty to the general good have made them prominent residents of their community.Mr. Boyd has served as school director in Center township, and fraternally he is connected with the Odd Fellows Lodge at Mount Pleasant maintaining pleasant relationship with his brethren of that organization.