Sunday, March 16, 2008

HISTORY OF ANDREW MCDOUGAL BOYLE


Information furnished by a granddaughter, Edna Batty. Also excerpts taken from Carter's books. History arranged for Enda by Nora Lund- Historian.

My grandfather, Andrew Boyle, was born Jan 24, 1848, in Kilmarnoch, Ayrshire, Scotland. His parents were George and Mary McDougall Boyle. He and his younger brother, George, were the only boys in the family. His older sisters were: Jean, Mary, Janet, Margaret and Elizabeth.

Grandfather was born into a mormon family; his father had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 21, 1844, and his mother on October 20, 1845. He was baptized on May 22, 1862.

We don't kow anything about his early life in Scotland but he did attend school because he had a good education. His father was a shoe maker by trade and made a good living for his family.

When grandpa was 16 years old he had the great adventure of crossing the Atlantic Ocean with his family on the big sailing ship the 'General McClelland'. There were between 800 and 900 passengers on board. Thomas E. Jeremy, a missionary to Wales who was returning home, was the leader in charge of this large group of Mormons. Elder Jeremy was assisted by Counselors, Elder Joseph Bull and George C. Bywater. This ship left Liverpool, England, on Saturday, May 21, 1864 and landed at New York on June 23. The saints were assisted by the Church Immigration agents in boarding the trains which took them to Wyoming and Nebraska. They arrived there July 3.

Wyoming, a village seven miles north of Nebraska City, Nebraska, had been selected as the outfitting place for the emigrants crossing the plains at that time. About 170 Church teams were sent from Utah to the Missouri River in 1864 to help the emigrants on to Utah.

Grandpa Andrew and his family were assigned to the Joseph S. Rawlins' train of 400 souls, with 50 wagons. They started on their journey on July 15 and arrived Tues, Sept 20, 1864, after a fairly good trip. While crossing, grandpa soon got the hang of handling the oxen and was a great help to the teamsters.

Being a shoe maker by trade, great grandfather soon set up shop and made and repaired shoes for the family of President Brigham Young as well as others. Grandfather worked as a stone mason, a trade he had been apprenticed to in Scotland. He also continued his education at the local schools until his father died in Oct. 1871. He helped to support his widowed mother, as his sisters had married and had homes of their own by this time.

When grandfather was 27 years old, on April 22, 1875, he married Margaret Young, who was 21 years of age. The family group sheet or family information says that they were married in Richfield. Grandma was born April 4, 1854 in Kirkintillock, Dunbarton, Scotland, to Archibald Miller Young and Mary Graham Young. The Young family emigrated to America in 1872 and went to Richfield to settle. Their marriage was later solomenized in the Salt Lake Endowment House. Grandfather had received his endowments on May 26, 1866, according to the group sheet.

Grandpa was a stonemason by trade and built many of the stone residences that were popular in the early days. He took an active part in the construction of the Salt Lake Temple, also the government buildings at Fort Douglas and other buildings around the city.

In his early years in Utah, he had employment on the Weber grade of the Union Pacific Railroad System. The shovel which he used was displayed for many years in the Deseret Museum on the Temple block.

Grandpa and grandma's first child, Mary McDougall Boyle, was born on Jan. 8, 1876, in Salt Lake City. (She later married Finallay John McNeil and they became my parents.)

From here on we will follow the life of grandma and grandpa by the birthplace and dates of their children.

In the fall of 1876 they went to Richfield, Sevier County, to live to be near her folks. Their 2nd child, Margaret, was born there in 1877, also Joseph and Jennette in 1879, Marion Mitchell in 1882 and Mable Taylor in 1884.

Grandpa farmed in Richfield and worked at his stonemason trade.

I don't know why they spent a couple of years or so at Niels Station in Millard County. I suppose he had employment there. It was at Niels Station that their next two children were born: George David in September 1886 and Annie Swenson in August 1888. By January 1890 they were back in Richfield where Andrew Robert was born.

Then we follow them to Provo where James Sterling was born February 14, 1892. They didn't stay long in Provo because we find them making their home in Salt Lake City in April of 1894 where Ruth was born and died the same day. How fortunate, out of their large family of eleven children, this child Ruth, was the only one who did not grow to maturity and marry. Theirr last child, Royden Archibald, was born in Salt Lake City July 18, 1898.

I remember grandpa as rather a small man of medium weight. I have heard that he had quite a bad temper which he didn't control very well. In fact, he suffered for many years because of this very thing. The story goes that one time when he was living at Richfield he was away from home working. The weather was so extremely cold that he got his hand frozen. He became so angry and I guess it hurt so badly, that he took his small ax or hatchet, and deliberately cut off his fingers. Then he was in serious trouble and could hardly get to town to a doctor soon enough to keep from bleeding to death. He suffered another afflication in his later life which caused him much discomfort. He had some kind of an operation which injured his spine causing him to be partially paralyzed from his waist down. He couldn't walk on his legs so he got around by crawling on his knees. In spite of all this, he was a jolly fellow and had a witty personality. He loved his grandchildren and had lots of patience with them.

He lived the gospel principles and attended church before he became crippled. Grandpa died on Jan 23, 1930 at his home on 464 Hazel Street in the 9th Ward. He was survived by his wife and 4 sons and 4 daughters and 45 grandchildren. He was 82 years old when he died. Grandma was 76 years old when he died but she lived on until July 12, 1952, when she died at the age of 97.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Thanks for all that info cousin