Bios: JOSEPH H. BOYD: Lawrence County, Pennsylvania

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  Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Lawrence Co transcribers.
  Coordinated by Ed McClelland

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  Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens
  Lawrence County Pennsylvania
  Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo, N.Y., 1897
  
  An html version with search engine may be found at 
  
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/lawrence/1897/
  
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    JOSEPH H. BOYD
    
    [p. 307] of Princeton, Slippery Rock township, Lawrence Co., Pa., one of
  the most active and energetic men in Western Pennsylvania, is a good example
  of what constant effort, constantly directed, can in a short time accomplish.
  Some say that nowadays opportunities to get on in the world are not as
  frequent as they once were. Be that as it may, a young man who does not wait
  for opportunity to come his way but goes opportunity's way, as has the
  subject of this sketch, is bound to find results quite satisfactory to his
  taste.
    
    Mr. Boyd was born in Slippery Rock township, Oct. 2, 1858. He was a son of
  Robert Stewart and Catherine (Mershimer) Boyd; the latter was a native of
  Lawrence County, being born in Shenango township near the city of New Castle,
  a daughter of Adam and Catherine (Stickel) Mershimer. Mrs. Mershimer first saw
  the light of day in Westmoreland Co., Pa., and was a daughter of Samuel
  Stickel, a noted gunmaker of the early days, and later in years a successful
  farmer. Adam Mershimer's birth-place was near Reading, Pa.; he was born in
  1790, and died in 1865. He devoted his time principally to farming, although
  he also conducted a plow manufacturing business of no small dimensions. He
  served his country in a distinguished manner in the War of 1812. The father
  of Adam Mershimer, Sebastian, was born at sea, while his parents were on
  their way from Germany to find a home in America. He followed the trade of
  wagon-making, and served for seven years in the Revolution, in recognition of
  which services he was awarded a pension and a soldier's tract of land in the
  "donation" district. He died in 1845, at the age of eighty-nine. Robert
  Stewart Boyd, father of the subject of this briefly outlined history, came
  into the world June 9, 1833 on a farm in Slippery Rock township. He passed
  his boyhood as did the sons of that day, and eventually learned the
  carpenter's trade. For years he followed this vocation in Lawrence, Butler
  and Mercer Counties, and is at present an active tiller of the soil on a
  small farm in Slippery Rock township. The parents of Mr. Boyd, and paternal
  grandparents of our subject, were John and Dorcas (McWilliams) Boyd, the
  latter a daughter of Robert McWilliams, whose wife, a Miss Wilkes, came from
  Ireland. John Boyd was a son of Joseph Boyd, who for many years was engaged
  in mercantile pursuits, and who died in New Castle at the age of eighty.
    
    Joseph H. Boyd, our subject, lived until he was six years of age in his
  native township. His father then moved with the family into Butler County,
  where he remained until he was seventeen years of age. At that age our
  subject's school-days ended, and he began working in the oil regions and on a
  farm to support himself. At the age of twenty, the now young man came to
  Princeton, and commenced to learn his trade, that of blacksmithing in the
  shop of David Brackinger. Two years were sufficient for him to master the
  craft. He very soon bought the business of his master, and remained in the
  old shop some four or five years. Then as a result of his steady prosperity
  he built his present commodious quarters. At the beginning of his business
  life, Mr. Boyd was a manufacturer of buggies and wagons. His trade soon grew
  to be too brisk for him to supply the demand out of his own shop, so he
  forthwith put in a selected line of vehicles from other reliable makers.
  Farming implements were soon added along with other agricultural machinery.
  This business has grown into such proportions that now Mr. Boyd contemplates
  in the near future increasing his facilities, and adding a full stock of
  shelf and heavy hardware, together with the usual accessory lines.
    
    Mr. Boyd was married Feb. 9, 1862, at Princeton, to Mary E. Sechler, a
  daughter of Abraham and Caroline (Houk) Sechler. From this union there has
  resulted seven children: Kittie; Mina and Nina, twins, the former now
  deceased; Willie (deceased); Loy; Gearth; and Joseph. Both parents are active
  in social and church matters, being members of the Presbyterian Church. In
  politics, Mr. Boyd is an independent Democrat. He is very alert in fraternal
  matters, being a member of Scott Council, Royal Arcanum, No. 682; Round Head
  Lodge, I. O. O. F., No. 577; and Princeton Council, Jr. O. U. A. M., No. 402.
    
    Mr. Boyd is in all affairs a man of broad ideas. It is in business
  relations, however, that he is at his best. He does not believe in waiting
  for trade to come to him, but he goes after business with a force and energy
  that gets it. As a salesman, he is second to very few, it being truthfully
  said that in his vehicle line he sells on an average one article for every
  day in the year. As a farrier and blacksmith he has a most enviable
  reputation far and wide. No one can strike the anvil a truer blow or place a
  shoe with greater nicety than he. Of late, when so many have complained of
  hard times, and were sitting around, Micawber-like, for something to turn up,
  Mr. Boyd has, with cheerful smile and kindly greeting for all, gone out after
  business. His surroundings show that he obtained what he went after too.
  Times are never dull with him, for he won't have it that way.