Boyd, Charles N.

Charles N. Boyd, a prominent business man of Butler County, is the vice president of the Farmers National Bank at Butler, where he is also engaged in the real estate and insurance business. He was born at Sarversville, Butler County, Pennsylvania, May 27, 1852, the son of W. S. and Margaret (McCafferty) Boyd.

Mr. Boyd's paternal grandfather, Rev. Abraham Boyd, was a native of Ireland and came with his father John Boyd to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, at an early date. Rev. Abraham Boyd was a graduate of Cannonsburg College and for many years was located in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. He organized the Westminster and Buffalo Presbyterian churches of Butler County, and was one of the well known ministers of pioneer days. It was necessary in those days to carry weapons to church to protect themselves from the hostile Indians. His first wife was Eleanor Hillis of Washington County, Pennsylvania. After her death he married Mrs. Agnes Scott.

W. S. Boyd was born in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, in 1818. In 1850 he located at Sarversville, Butler County, where he engaged in general merchandising until 1854. In that year he settled on a part of the old homestead in Allegheny County, where he spent the remainder of his life in agricultural pursuits. He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church for many years and died July 25, 1865. By his marriage to Margaret, daughter of James McCafferty, he was the father of three children, as follows : James S. ; Mary B., married J. S. Christy; and Charles N., the subject of this sketch.

Charles N. Boyd was reared in Allegheny County and attended the public schools of that county. He was connected with the postoffice at Saltsburg, Pennsylvania, until in 1874 he formed a partnership with his brother, James S., in the drug business at Tarentum, removing to Connellsville in 1876, where he remained for three years in the drug business. He also carried on a drug business in Somerset, Pennsylvania. In the fall of 1887 he established a drug store in Butler, where he built up one of the leading drug stores. In 1906 he entered the real estate and insurance field and has developed it into one of the really important enterprises of Butler.

In 1880 Mr. Boyd married Miss Della G. Carson, a daughter of David Carson of Connellsville, Pennsylvania. She died in 1882. On December 5, 1889, he was again united in marriage to Miss Agnes B. Barnett, a daughter of Rev. J. M. Barnett of Washington, Pennsylvania, and to this union two children were born: Eleanore, married Clarence L. Stein, manager of the L. Stein & Son Store of Butler, Pennsylvania; and Margaret B., a student at Wheelock School, Boston.

Mr. Boyd was one of the founders of the Farmers National Bank, and has served as its vice president for many years. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Pharmaceutical Association, and has served as president, and at this time is one of the oldest members and past officers of the association.
Mr. Boyd is a thirty-second degree Mason, and is a member of Butler Lodge No. 272, F. and A. M., of Butler Royal Arch Chapter No. 273, and Lorraine Commandery No. 87, Knights Templar, also New Castle Consistory. He is a member also of the Butler County Historical Society. Mr. Boyd is now president of the Pittsburgh Agency of Life Underwriters for the Provident Mutual Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia. He takes an active interest in church work and has been an elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Butler for many years. Mr. Boyd is one of the alert and progressive business men of the county, and a man highly esteemed in his community.

History of Butler County, Pa, 1927