U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Boyd, Elisha (1769-1841) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Aler's History of Martinsburg and Berkeley County, West Virginia by F. Vernon Aler, 1888 Printed for the Author by The Mail Publishing Company, Hagerstown, MD. CHAPTER VIII. Historical Pen Sketches of the Early Residents of Berkeley County by the late Hon. Chas. James Faulkner. Pages 185-188, GENERAL ELISHA BOYD Was born in the County of Berkeley, at the eastern base of the North Mountain, on the 6th of October, 1769. Up to the age of 14 he enjoyed only the limited means of education which the common country schools of that period afforded. During that time he attended a small school not far from the present site of Martinsburg. Our thriving town was then a forest, and whilst its eligible locality, its gushing springs and valuable water power invited to such a destiny, few, if any at that time, contemplated it as a seat of population, manufactures and trade. In 1785 he was entered as a student of Liberty Hall Academy, (so baptised amidst the revolutionary tires of 1776,) in Rockbridge County, Va., a most excellent and patriotic institution then under the rectorate of the Rev. William Graham, largely patronized throughout the south, and yielding a rich harvest of patriots and statesmen. Although bearing the modest title of an academy, it had all the attributes of a college, with power to hold land, confer degrees, etc. Like the great Virginia State University, springing from the germ of "Albemarle Academy," it grew into "Central College," and then reached its present grand proportions; so did this spirited academy, expanding in dignity, reputation and importance, first develop into "Washington College," and recently — in 1871 — into "Washington and Lee University." Amongst those well known in our State who were associated with young Boyd as schoolmates, were Dr. Archibald Alexander, of Princeton, Hon. John Baker, of Jefferson County; Chancellor John Brown, Judge John Coalter, Col. James McDowell and many others distinguished for their worth, learning and ability. He studied law in the office of Col. Philip Pendleton, one of the earliest as well as one of the ablest lawyers that ever qualified for practice in our courts. Mr. Boyd was elected to the House of Delegates in 1797, with Richard Baylor as his colleague, and also in 1796, with William Lamon as his colleague. In 1798 he was chosen by the County Court of Berkeley as its attorney for the State, which office he continued to fill for forty years. He was married in 1795 to Mary, the daughter of Major Andrew Waggoner of revolutionary memory, by whom he had one child, a daughter, Sarah Ann Boyd, who was married to Philip C. Pendleton on the 25th of November, 1813. For forty years he gave his almost undivided time to the practice of his profession and to attention to his several farms in this county, varied at occasional intervals by military service, a seat in the House of Delegates and Senate of the State, and in the Constitutional Convention. During all this time he had probably the largest and most lucrative practice of any lawyer in this section of Virginia. Some years after the death of his first wife he was, in 1806, married to Ann Holmes, daughter of Col. Joseph Holmes and sister of Gov. Holmes and Major Andrew Hunter Holmes. By her he had four children — Ann Rebecca Holmes, married to Humphrey B. Powell, of Loudon County; John E. Boyd, Rev. Andrew II. H. Boyd and Mary, married to Charles J. Faulkner. Mrs. Ann Boyd died on the 20th of July, 1819. An eloquent and impressive funeral sermon was preached over her remains by the Rev. J. B. Hoge, which was printed in pamphlet form, and copies of it are carefully preserved by the family. He had command, of the 4th Regiment of Virginia militia in 1814 during the war with Great Britain, when the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth were threatened by a second attack of the British land and naval forces. The Norfolk Herald, 1814, contains an interesting correspondence between the officers of that regiment and Col. Boyd when the term of service of that regiment was about to expire. It bears date the 1st of August, at Camp Peach Orchard. The officers say that they cannot permit the occasion to pass by "without paying to Col. Boyd the tribute of their highest respect and esteem." "They have at all times felt confident that when the hour of danger arrived that on his patriotism and courage they could, with the utmost confidence, rely to lead them on in defense of the country." They also take pride in declaring that whatever military knowledge they have acquired is due to that strictness of military discipline which has uniformly characterized the 4th Regiment since he had the command of it. "And if they ever should again be called into the service of their country, it is their wish that they should be placed under his command." To this complimentary letter Col. Boyd replied, which is also published in the same paper. He was subsequently elected a brigadier general by the General Assembly of Virginia. He was a member of the convention of 1829-30, which framed the first amended Constitution of Virginia, serving in that body with Madison, Monroe, Marshall, Giles, Tazwell, Leigh, Barbour, Johnson and many other of the most distinguished men of Virginia. In the election which occurred after the adoption of the "Amended Constitution" in 1830, he was chosen without opposition, and by the unanimous vote of the counties of Berkeley, Morgan and Hampshire, to a seat in the Senate of Virginia. He was commissioned a magistrate of the County of Berkeley, in 1838, upon the resignation of his office of State's attorney. He was an earnest and sincere advocate for a reform of the "Old Constitution" of Virginia, and for placing its government upon a more liberal and republican basis. He was generally selected as Chairman of the county meeting held here, and a delegate to the State Reform Convention. He took an active interest in the educational institutions of the county; and had the principal agency in establishing the Martinsburg Academy, not far from his residence. He was a third time married and then to Elizabeth Byrd, of the Westover family, who died on the 16th of November, 1839, leaving no issue. Gen. Boyd departed this life on the 21st day of October, 1841, and was buried in the family graveyard ad- joining Norborne Cemetery. He was a man of vigorous mind, and of indomitable energy and perserverance. His power at the bar consisted in his unflaging attention to business, his thorough capacity to master details, and in his earnest, direct and manly appeals to the common sense and intelligence of courts and juries. He was a man of perfect system and of extraordinary capacity for labor; and he commanded universal confidence by his stern and unbending integrity of character. ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access other biographies for Berkeley County, WV by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/wv/berkeley/bios.html -------------------------------------------------------------------