Finding Your Folks: William, Julia and Amanda Boyd

Continuing our series on the family of Robert H. and Chloeretta Gray Boyd, from Bible records, we find that their third child was William H.B. Boyd. I have no idea what the "H.B." stands for. William's grandfather was named Hugh Boyd but I don't think they'd name a child William Hugh Boyd Boyd. William's younger brother had a child named William Henry and that may be another possibility.

William was born 3 June 1829, most likely in South Carolina. In the Bible records sent to me, the year for William's birth was given as 1839 but I believe it was a typing error. The records I received had been copied from a handwritten record. Robert and Chloeretta's youngest son, McDuffie Boyd, was born in 1836 and appears in the 1850 census with his father and stepmother. There is no other Boyd child in the household. If William were born in 1839, he would have been there, age 11. I am assuming the year 1829 was read correctly. There is a six-year gap between the second and third child and in the 1830 census William is shown as being a male under 5, so he could have been born anywhere between 1825 and 1830. I am reserving (in my mind) a question on his birth year.

Whatever the case, William appears in the 1830 Abbeville and 1840 Meriwether census in the correct slot, a male born between 1825 and 1830. I can find no record of his marriage and cannot locate him in the 1850 census.

In August of 1849, William's father sold him 101.25 acres of land in land lot 271 of the Upper 9th Dist. In October of 1850, William sold this same land back to his father ... and disappeared from the face of the earth. Robert turned around and sold the land to his son, McDuffie in 1857, and McDuffie sold it to George M. Carwile in 1860. None of these deeds was recorded in the court until 1885. They may be found in deed book V, pages 276, 277, 278 and 279.

There are several William Boyds floating around in that area and in nearby Alabama whose parents have not been found to date. I am hoping that one day I will be able to place this William in one of those slots ... or at least find out what happened to him.

The fourth child of Robert and Chloeretta Gray Boyd was Julia Boyd, born 1 Feb. 1831, again, most likely in South Carolina, although her 1880 census stated that both she and her parents were born in Georgia - a definite error where her parents are concerned. Julia came to Meriwether County as a very young girl and, on 29 June 1845, married Benjamin White. This was probably a very happy occasion for Robert and Chloeretta, seeing their second daughter marry, and Julia and Benjamin settled down in Meriwether County to have their family. In 1847, they had their first son, Charles who, sadly, did not appear in subsequent censuses after 1850. Julia lost both her mother and two of her sisters within the next two years and it must have been almost unbearable to lose both a son and her father within the next decade.

But more children followed ... Robert B. born abt. 1856, Nora, born abt. 1859, Benjamin born abt. 1862, Emmett born abt. 1864, Cloretta born abt. 1866, and Mary C. born abt. 1868. After 1860, Julia and Benjamin moved northward to Milton County (Sandy Springs-Alpharetta area today) where they lived in 1870 and by 1880 Julia was a widow, living in Polk County not far from her brothers, McDuffie and Frederick.

It was Julia's daughter, Cloretta, who finally made me breathe a sigh of relief that I had been tracking the correct Boyd family. On the suggestion of another researcher, I had started researching this Robert H. Boyd of Meriwether in hopes that he might be the Robert Boyd named as a son in Hugh Boyd's will in 1799 and who married Chloeretta Gray. Finding Frederick was a great uplifting discovery since that was the name of Chloeretta's father, but finding a granddaughter named Cloretta nailed the case shut.

I could not find Julia after 1880 and I assume she must have died. Her son, Robert, was also living in Polk County in 1880, with his wife, Susan, and son, George. Brief searches for her children in Georgia in 1900 yielded nothing and I stopped. Again, I am hoping a descendant will come forward and help me close these families out.

The fifth child of Robert and Chloeretta Boyd was Amanda Boyd, born 10 Feb. 1833, probably in South Carolina. Amanda also made the trip from South Carolina to Meriwether when she was a child and tragically, died very young. Bible records say Amanda Boyd died 25 Feb. 1850. She was only 17.

One of the biggest mysteries surrounding this Boyd family, as well the other, related Boyd families in Meriwether, is ... where are they buried? Many of these Boyds died in Meriwether but none are in the Meriwether cemeteries book. There are several "unknown" cemeteries listed as being in the Upper 9th District, some of them quite small, and my best guess is that the Boyds preferred to be buried on their own land and chose a small or maybe one large central Boyd burying ground, since most of their lands adjoined. Another possibility is that they may be in unmarked graves at Mt. Carmel United Methodist Church which is just a stone's throw from the Boyd property. But ... we may never know.

Next week. The final son, McDuffie C. Boyd.

Stories and family histories about your ancestors who lived on Atlanta's south side are always welcome. Send them to jkilgore@thecitizen.com or JodieK444@aol.com. Mail to The Citizen, P.O. Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214. All letters and e-mails I receive are subject to being used in the column.