Jonathan Boyd
JONATHAN BOYD, of No. 630 North McKean street, Kittanning, has been a resident of that borough practically all his life. He was born Feb. 21, 1842, one mile from Yatesboro, Armstrong Co., Pa., son of Joshua P. and Sarah (Forrester) Boyd, who moved to Kittanning when he was six years old.
Joshua P. Boyd, the father, was born in Armstrong county, son of Isaac Boyd, whose wife's maiden name was Pierce. Both parents went away at the time of the war of 18I2, never to return, and their son was left to grow up among friends of the family. He was brought up by "Jake" Baer. Joshua P. Boyd was brickmaker by occupation, following the old-fashioned method of drying the bricks in the sun. He died in 1886, at the age of seventy-seven years. In politics he was a Democrat, but not an active member of the party, and he never aspired to public office. He married Sarah Forrester, who was born in Philadelphia, daughter of George Forrester, a native of Germany who taught school in his native land and also after coming to America. To Joshua P. and Sarah Boyd were born the following children: George (who is deceased), Racilla, Philip, Frank, Jonathan, Polly, Jeremiah, Catherine, Manuel, Joshua, Sarah and Emeline, of whom seven are living.
Jonathan Boyd lived in Kittanning from the age of six years, obtaining his education there in the common schools. In 1862 he enlisted in Company M, 14th Pennsylvania Cavalry, under Captain Daily, and served nearly three years, being mustered out in the fall of 1865, as corporal. He saw active service in the battles of Winchester, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek, Martinsburg, Rocky Gap, Smithville, Lynchburg, and many skirmishes. Returning to Kittanning after receiving his honorable discharge, in 1865, he was married the next year. He worked for some time in the nail mill, making nails by hand, and then entered the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, with which he remained for the next eighteen years, after which he became janitor of the school at Kittanning, holding that position for fifteen years. He has since lived retired. He has a comfortable residence on North McKean street, and is enjoying a well-deserved respite from work. Mr. Boyd is a Democrat in politics. His religious connection is with the Lutheran Church.
On Dec. 25, 1866, Mr. Boyd was married to Mary Catherine Hunter, who was born Oct. 23, 1847, at Apollo, Armstrong Co., Pa., daughter of George A. and Elizabeth (Jones) Hunter. Mr. and Mrs. Boyd have had no children of their own but they reared his niece, Margaret Jane Boyd, and after her death raised her son, Walter Boyd McMaster, who is now married to Ruth Bradfield, of Virginia, and has two children, Rebecca and Boyd Bradfield.
GEORGE ARMSTRONG HUNTER, father of Mrs. Jonathan Boyd, was born in Armstrong county, Pa., son of Canada and Margaret (Fiscus) Hunter, the former of Scotch-Irish, the latter of German, parentage. Canada Hunter was a veteran of the war of 1812. George A. Hunter was engaged as a boatman on the canal until that mode of transportation and travel was superseded by the railroad, after which he settled down to farming in Kiskiminetas township, Armstrong county; he lived retired or many years before his death, which occurred Feb. 8, 1912, when he was aged ninety-three years. He was a Democrat in politics. He married Elizabeth Jones, who came with her parents, Owen and Catherine Jones, from North Wales, where she was born, and settled at Apollo, Armstrong Co., Pa., where they were among the early residents. George A. and Elizabeth (Jones) Hunter had the following children: Ann Elizabeth; Mary Catherine (who is the wife of Jonathan Boyd); Robert James; John O.; Margaret Jane (who married William Tittle and died leaving four children, Alice, Maud, Anna B., and James) ; George C.; Ellen M.; and William.
Source: Page 763, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed February 1999 by Doris Rizza for the Armstrong County Beers Project
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