The Kilbourne/Boyd/Dixon/Breithut /Ohaus Families:Information about James S. Boyd
James S. Boyd (b. Abt. Sep 1759, d. 10 Oct 1840)
Notes for James S. Boyd:Our first Boyd ancestor born in America was James S. Boyd, born in the Precinct of the Highlands, Ulster County, NY, about September 1759.Three years after his birth the Precinct was divided into the Precinct of New Windsor (where James was born) and the Precinct of Newburgh, both of which became part of Orange County in 1798.
In August of 1776, shortly before his seventeenth birthday, James enlisted in the New York Militia at New Windsor, and continued to serve with that company or detachments of it from that time until the end of the Revolutionary War.Among the posts at which he was stationed were Fort Montgomery, Fort Clinton, Fort Independence, West Point, Nicholls Point, Paramus, NJ, Peekskill, NY and Danbury, CT, which was taken and occupied by the British troops.He also served on the Indian Frontier, at Nepenoy (Napanoch), on the west side of the Shawangunk Mountains, at Peenpack (Port Jervis) on the Neversink River, and Mamakating, in Ulster County.
He describes part of his service as follows (original spelling used): "The County of Orange for a considerable part of the War was surrounded by the enemy, having the British on the South and the Indians on the West and North West.In consequence of its peculiar position with respect to the enemy the company to which (I) belonged was always on the allert and allmost continually in active service in protecting the frontier against hostile invasions.Said county was greatly infested by Tories who took reffuge in the surrounding Mountains."
There is a very long and detailed account of his service to be found in his application for a government pension on September 3, 1832 in Newburgh, NY at the age of 72, after the passage of pension benefits as an Act of Congress on June 7th of that year.
James continued to live in New Windsor after the war.The 1825 New York State Census shows he owned a certain amount of improved land (the number of acres is cut off in the film of the census record) along with twelve cattle, two horses and twelve hogs.It also shows that his family had produced fifteen yards of "fulled cloth" and sixty yards of "linen, cotton or other thin cloths" during the preceding year.
The precinct records for New Windsor show that James lived in the community of Little Britain.They also show he was chosen as an overseer of certain roads in the years 1797, 1799, 1805, 1813 and 1815.He was a leader of his church, the Associate Reformed Congregation, also known as the Little Britain Presbyterian Church, where records list him as an elder in the yers 1833 and 1837.
A document in James' pension file dated June 8, 1833 records that "for many years past" he had "not mixed in society as he had been accustomed to do", indicating that his health may have been deteriorating towards the end of his life.He died in New Windsor on October 10, 1840 at age 81.He was buried in the graveyard of the Little Britain Presbyterian Church.
More About James S. Boyd:
Burial: Unknown, Little Britain Presbyterian Church graveyard, New Windsor,NY.
Children of James S. Boyd and Sarah are:
- Martha Boyd, d. date unknown.
- Elizabeth Boyd, b. 1789, d. 1838.
- Hannah Boyd, d. date unknown.
- Jane Boyd, d. date unknown.
- John Boyd, d. date unknown.
- Mary Boyd, d. date unknown.
- Nathaniel Boyd, d. date unknown.
- +Charles S. Boyd, b. 19 Sep 1794, Orange County, NY(Prob. New Windsor)109, 110, d. 12 Nov 1881, Princeton, IL111, 112.
- Robert W. Boyd, b. Abt. Oct 1799, Orange County, New York, d. date unknown.