John Boyd is said to have resided in Mecklenburg County, NC and David Boyd moved to Texas.  Another earlier possibility is that James was the son or brother of William Boyd, who purchased land in Buncombe County between 1790 and 1796.  During the 1790's, William Boyd did live in Lincoln and Burke Counties, NC, and could have also owned land across the county line.

     James married Rachel McGill in Lincoln County, NC on December 18, 1794. Rachel was also born in Ireland on May 29, 1769.  Most of their lives were spent in an area known as Sandy Mush Creek, now a part of Madison County, NC. Family historians and the will of James Boyd identify only two children, James Berny Boyd and Robert McGill Boyd.

1.  James Berny Boyd, born August 7, 1798, and died in July 1847, married Annis Worley, born 1810 of Buncombe County.  They had the following six children:  James Francis, born 1830, married Margaret L. Jones; Rachel Catherine, born 1832, married Abraham B. Worley; Robert McGill, born 1833, married Elizabeth Worley; Mary Naomi, born 1834, married George Styne/Stines; Annis Louisa born 1837, married Montraville Robeson/Robinson; Violet Matilda, born 1840 married Josiah Worley.

2.  Robert McGill Boyd, born October 23, 1800, and died 1884, married Elizabeth Garrett (1812-1904) of Buncombe County.  They had the following nine children:  William J. Greenberry Boyd, born 1834, never married; Rachel McGill E. Boyd, born 1835, married Dr. Samuel L. Love; Frank Alexander M. Boyd, born 1837, married Sallie Parks; Margaret Mary I. Boyd, born 1838, died young; Doc J. Thomas Boyd, born 1841, married Esther Ferguson; John Henry H. Boyd, born 1843, married 1st, Rebecca J. Brown and 2nd, Sarah R. Plott; David Larry S. Boyd, born June 9, 1845, married Belle (M.L.) Howell; H. Louisa Boyd, born 1847, died young; Charlotte Janie W. Boyd, born 1853, married David Crockett Hampton.

     James Boyd and his sons are recorded as purchasing up to a thousand acres of land on Sandy Mush Creek, and were neighbors to each other.

    At the drawing of his will in December 1840, James Boyd had at least seven slaves.  It was one of these slaves which eventually led to disharmony and break-up among the Boyd family.

     In 1840, when James Boyd prepared his will, James Berny Boyd's last child was born.  James Boyd left to James B. Boyd's lawful children a portion of his estate.  It is told that about this time, James Berney Boyd started another family and ended up in Texas.  Records show that James B. Boyd did go to Texas during the Mexican War and died there in the summer of 1847.  During that same year Annis (Worley) Boyd and several Worley family members were appointed guardians of James B. Boyd's minor children, who remained in Buncombe County.

     During these later years, James Boyd's health declined and he was unable to attend to his land and slaves.  In 1851, a slave, George Anderson Boyd, was charged with the murder of James Lowrey, who was a slave of one of James Boyd's closest friends, Col. James Lowrey.  It was about this time that Robert M. Boyd was appointed guardian of his father's estate.  One of his first duties was to help apprehend George Anderson Boyd.  Based on court testimony, Anderson Boyd hid in the surrounding mountains with the aid of James B. and Annis Boyd's children.  Eventually, James Francis Boyd and John Garrett helped Anderson Boyd escape to South Carolina to avoid being sent to the gallows. Unfortunately, due to Robert Boyd's fiduciary responsibility and James F. Boyd's involvement, some family members were dissatisfied and filed suit against them.  It is probably a combination of this family disturbance and the fact that his father, James Boyd, died November 12, 1852, which caused Robert M. Boyd to relocate to Haywood Co., NC.  It should be noted that Robert and family went on to become prominent and highly regarded citizens of the Jonathan's Creek area of that county.

     It is not known what happened to the slave, George Anderson Boyd, other than he was brought back to North Carolina and was to be charged with a lesser count of manslaughter.  The Estate court cases surrounding G. Anderson Boyd went on well into the early 1860's and was finally settled with the family members receiving their inheritance and Robert Boyd being exonerated.

     James Francis Boyd also left the Sandy Mush area during the 1850's and took his family in covered wagons to Texas.  It is told that some of his relatives remained, but he, along with this wife and children, returned to Madison County, NC prior to 1870.  It was here that he and Margaret reared several nieces and nephews in addition to their thirteen children.

     This writer is a descendant of one of these children, Rachel Hasseltine Boyd, who later married James W. Ramsey.  The family has heard stories of the Boyds going out west in covered wagons and how the Boyds loved to dance and enjoy life.