CONFIDO:

CONFIDO:

CLAN BOYD

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The first known Boyd representative of Clan Boyd appeared in Scotland ca. 1200. The Boyds have had an interesting influence throughout Scottish history, earning the nickname "The Trusty Boyds" because of their loyalty to the cause of Scottish independence.

The origin of the Boyd name is undoubtedly Gaelic, probably "buidhe," meaning "fair" or "yellow" (the first Boyd was probably a blond). The Clan's motto is "Confido" or "I trust" (i.e., "The Trusty Boyds") and its badge is laurel leaves.

The first Chief of Clan Boyd was Robert Boyd, who was originally forced to swear fealty to King Edward I ("Longshanks"), AD 1298. In the following year, Chief Robert Boyd joined Sir William Wallace in support of Robert the Bruce "and did everything a valiant man could do to relieve his country from the ignominy of a foreign yoke" (as depicted in the popular Mel Gibson movie, "Braveheart"). In return for this good service to Robert the Bruce, Robert Boyd was granted the lands around Kilmarnock, which became the family seat. Kilmarnock Castle (later Dean Castle) was the ancestral home of the Boyd family. The castle was gutted by fire in 1735 and thereafter suffered nearly two centuries of neglect. After its restoration in the 1900s, it became a museum, which opened in 1976.

In 1460, James III became King of Scotland at the tender age of eight years old. Lord Alexander Boyd became Regent to the young King during his minority, and Alexander's eldest son, Thomas, married the King's sister, Mary Stewart. Thus the Boyd family achieved its height of influence in Scottish history. This influence was not to last, however. Alexander was executed as a traitor, the result of a plot by enemies of the Boyd family. Thomas Boyd and Mary Stewart had a son named James, but he was killed in a duel when only 16 years old. This James Boyd was a nephew to King James III, and there were those who didn't want a Boyd with royal blood to be that close to the throne.

Several hundred years later, during the Jacobite uprising of 1745 (which attempted to restore "Bonnie Prince Charlie" Stewart to the Scottish throne), there were Boyds, father and son, on opposite sides of the conflict. William Boyd, 4th Earl of Kilmarnock, did not join in the rebellion and support the Pretender until the battle of Prestonpans. He first encouraged his tenants to serve the King (of England). His eldest son, James, apparently took this message to heart, and was thus in the army of the King during the battle of Culloden. Culloden was a bloodbath for the Scottish Highlanders, and William was taken prisoner, charged with treason and ultimately beheaded on Tower Hill, with all the Boyd lands and honors forfeited as a result. James, son of William, later inherited the estate of Mary Hay (his maiden aunt, who died with no issue), and thus changed his surname from Boyd to Hay. The family surname remained "Hay" in Scotland until the 20th century, when the 6th Baron of Kilmarnock, Gilbert Allan Rowland Hay, changed it back to Boyd, the surname of his ancestors.

The migration of my Boyd ancestors out of Scotland took place before this name change however. Although it has yet to be officially proven, it has long been believed that John Boyd (1704-1789) of Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts (ancestor of my great-great-grandmother, Cemantha Boyd Barnes, whose picture appears in the Family Photos section of this web page) was a member of Clan Boyd, a son of Captain James Boyd. Captain James Boyd was born in Scotland, ca. 1669, but died in Ireland. Captain James Boyd was the younger son of the first Earl of Kilmarnock, William Boyd, born 1691/92 in Scotland.

My great-great-grandmother, Cemantha Boyd Barnes, was the tenth child born to Susannah Smith and Thomas Boyd between 1798 and 1815, only seven of whom survived childhood. It would also seem that Cemantha's birth on August 23, 1815, was responsible for her mother's death three days later, August 26, 1815. Thomas Boyd married twice more during his lifetime, and moved from Massachusetts to New York in 1828, dying in Livingston County, New York, in 1856.

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