Bad Links?
Other glitches?
Notify Webmaster

Genealogy: Finding Your Folks

The family of James and Millie Boyd of Bethany - Conclusion

By JUDY FOWLER KILGORE
jkilgore@thecitizennews.com

For the past week, I’ve been going over my Newberry (S.C.) and Meriwether resources, trying to fine-tune some of the families who came to Georgia. I have found that many of the families from Newberry settled not only in Meriwether, but also in surrounding areas.

If you make a circle clockwise beginning at Alvaton in Meriwether, continue upward to Senoia in Coweta, up and over slightly to take in the southern tip of Fayette, start down through Spalding, into Pike, curve back toward Meriwether, cross the Flint River and end back at Alvaton, you will have, roughly, the area to which these Newberry settlers came.

John (Wagonner Jack) Boyd came to Meriwether very early and was definitely there in 1830. Also in Meriwether by 1830 were his cousins Hugh, Joseph and William Boyd (mine). Land records show John buying and selling land there from 1833 into the early 1840s, and then — he disappears. I have searched the 1850 census in all neighboring states — even ventured back to Kentucky and Tennessee where some of his brothers and sisters lived — and there is no John Boyd who fits our John’s age range in an appropriate household. I am assuming, as did George Hugh Boyd who wrote the Boyd-Tidwell book, that John passed away between 1840 and 1850.

In 1833, shortly after his son James married Millie Tidwell, John sold him 101-plus acres in land lot 233 (upper ninth district), and, in 1835, sold him 50-plus acres in Land lot 265, which is adjacent to lot 233. Lot 233 is adjacent to the land where Mt. Sinai church is today, on Mt. Carmel Road, south of Mt. Carmel church.

In 1842, John sold part of the land in land lot 265 to his daughter, Sarah Boyd Bell. Sarah didn’t record this at the courthouse until October of 1848. Perhaps her father’s death is what prompted her to take that action.

Sarah (Boyd) Bell is shown living next to James and Millie Tidwell Boyd in 1850 (Pike County) and, since they each owned part of land lot 265 and it was right on the Flint River, I am assuming that they probably were not in Pike County as we know it today, but were actually in Meriwether.

Also making an appearance in 1850 is Nancy Boyd, James and Sarah’s mother.

Nancy (Chambers) Boyd had been estranged from her husband for many years, claiming that he abused her. Perhaps, now that the “coast was clear,” Nancy felt it was safe to move to Georgia to be with her children.

Also making their first appearance in Meriwether in 1850 were Wilson Spence and Margaret Boyd Spence, James and Sarah’s sister. Perhaps when James went back to South Carolina to retrieve his mother (as related in the Boyd-Tidwell book), he also brought his sister and her husband to Meriwether. Both Margaret and Wilson Spence died in Meriwether County but their son, Wilson Spence Jr., is buried at Bethany in Fayette.

For some reason, between 1850 and 1860 all the Newberry Boyds in Meriwether moved away, James and Millie included. They all moved northward and westward, settling in Coweta, Fayette, Campbell and Carroll counties. Left behind were only those who had died there and they are probably in hidden family cemeteries as none are listed in known cemeteries in Meriwether. This would include Wagonner Jack, possibly his wife, Nancy, my Robert and possibly his wife Rosannah, and Robert H. Boyd and two of his three wives. (Robert H. was the son of Hugh and Jennett Boyd, and Hugh was the brother of John “Buckles” Boyd.)

I have searched in vain for this cemetery and am determined to find it. I believe it to be in the Sullivan Mill Road area which is in the same area as all the Boyd land. It was formerly (before 911) known as Wimbush-Barrett Road.

James and Millie Boyd’s children are well documented and all survivors still living in the Bethany area know them by heart. But to show a little of how they connect to all the other families at Bethany, here is a brief run-down:

(1) Nancy Jane Boyd (1833-1917) never married; (2) Mary Boyd (1836-abt 1854) also never married; (3) Sarah Ann Gracie Boyd (1838-1913) m. John Vineyard, both buried Fayetteville City Cemetery. Their daughter, Mollie, married George Tidwell Harris; (4) William Hugh Boyd (1840-1863) married Caroline Matilda Thayer Milam; (5) John Littleberry Boyd (1842-1862) died in the Civil War; (6) Sebra Caroline Boyd (1845-1919) married John Robert Milam; (7) James LaFayette Boyd (1848-1910) married Mary L. [Molly] Harper; (8) Margaret Frances Boyd (1851-1928) never married.

Intertwined among the children and grandchildren of these Boyds are many of the other families we have explored at Bethany — Tarpley, Rivers, Jones, Lester — and some we haven’t. The Thorntons and Spiers played an important part in Bethany’s history too. Many other surnames who married into these families are still prominent names in Fayette County today.

I can’t tell you how much I have enjoyed doing this series on Bethany families and hope that someone will let me know exactly when the Bethany church anniversary is being observed. I sure don’t want to miss it.

I welcome all letters and e-mails about genealogy and info on south metro Atlanta families. Send them to The Citizen, P.O. Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214; e-mail jkilgore@thecitizennews.com or jodiek444@aol.com. Any letters and/or e-mails I receive are subject to being used in the column.

Until next week, happy hunting!