William Boyd

1733 - 1808  (75 years)

• Name	William Boyd
  Birth	1733
  Gender	Male
  MILI	14 Dec 1763	Lancaster Co., PA   [1]
  	William Boyd, a member of the Paxton Boys, was born in 1733 in Derry Township, which was then a part of Lancaster County, but now in Dauphin County. His grandfather and father had come from Antrim County, Ulster, Ioreland, to settle in Pennsylvania. Boyd's occupation was farming. He served as an officer during the Franch and Indian War. He is listed as a lieutenant for officers of the new levies and dates of their commission, "April 23, 1759." Tracing his service during the Revolution posed a problem. Egle indicated that Boyd served as an officer, but there is no officer by the name of William Boyd under the heading of Lanaster County,. However, there is a 1st Lieutenant William Boyd listed in the First Battalion of the Cumberland Militia, January, 1778. to complicate matters further, the name of William Boyd appears as three different occasions in 1780, 1781 and 1782 as 8th class serving in the 8th Company of the First Battalion Lancaster County Militia.The possibility of a former officer serving in later life at the approximate age of 47 as an 8th class soldier is remote. The William Boyd of the Cumberland County Militia has greater validity. Cumberland County is just west of Dauphin, to the northwest of present Lancaster. It is on the west side of the Susquehanna River. William Boyd appears in a consistent pattern in the tax lists for Paxton Township. Boyd's name next appears in the 1790 Census for Pennsylvania frt Dauphin County. Earlier in 1783 he was appointed as a Justice of the Peace for Lancaster County. He became a charter member of Lodge 21 at Paxton and its second master. He headed a committee in February 1805 to "adopt such measures as would bring some relief indigent widows, helpless orphans and other persons in the borough who were in distress" because of the severe winter. Other committees were set up to collect and distribute aid. In his will he left a bequest to Lodge 21 for its charity fund. He died in 1808 and is buried in Derry Church graveyard. He had six children
  MILI	1776	Pennsylvania   [2]
  	William served in the Revolutionary War
  Death	17 May 1808	Paxton twp., Dauphin Co., PA   [3]
  Burial	Derry Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Hershey, Dauphin Co., PA
  	FindAGrave Memorial 204912752
  Person ID	I6831	EC Roots
  Last Modified	6 Nov 2023

  
  

  Family	Jennett Brisben,   b. Abt 1735, Ireland
  Children	+ 1. John Boyd,   b. Abt 1761   d. 6 Apr 1799 (Age 38 years)
  Family ID	F2318	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	6 Nov 2023

  
  

• Sources

  [S73] Cavaiolli, Frank J., Paxton Boys, Murderers, (Lancaster County History Society Journal 87 (1983)). [S74] NSDAR, DAR Patriot index, Part 1, (Washington, DC: NSDAR, 1994), 259. Boyd, William b. 1733 PA d 5/17/1808 PA m Gennet Brisban Pvt PA [S1] Newspaper Clipping, 21 May 1808, Oracle of Dauphin. Died, on Tuesday last, in Paxton, Mr. William Boyd aged about75 years.