"

this is now in the possession of the "Connecticut Historical Society," where he placed it some years ago.

Mr. Boyd was a graduate of Yale college in class of 1821, and attended the commencement exercises in the summer of 1881, when his class celebrated its sixtieth anniversary, nine members being present. He studied law in New Haven after his graduation at Yale, and was admitted to the bar of New Haven county, in 1825. He was a representative in the general assembly from Winchester in 1820 and 1832, and was a senator from the fifteenth district of Connecticut, in 1853. He was county commissioner of Litchfield county in 1848, 1849 and 1850, and was town clerk of Winchester for twenty-six years, being first elected in 1829, and at different times between that date and 1875. He was judge of probate for the Winchester district for fifteen years, and until disqualified by age in 1869. He was secretary of state for Connecticut for three years from 1859 to 1861. He was identified with the anti-slavery in the early days of the anti-slavery agitation, and was several times a candidate for governor on the ticket of that party. Much might be said in regard to his management as a political leader, if space would admit. To show his standing with the opposing party, we will copy the following from the Palladium, a paper devoted to the interest of the opposing parties. It reads thus:

"Good! Give us your hand, John Boyd. Let us forget and forgive all past differences, and go together for liberty and the constitution. We wish we lived in the Seventeenth district,, in order that we might vote for John Boyd. 'Principles, not men,' should be the motto until the north is redeemed." ****

In 1827 he entered business with his father as an iron manufacturer in Winsted, under the firm of James Boyd & Sons, succeeding his twin brother James M., who died in 1826. He continued in business with his father until 1850, and after his father's death, continued in the iron business alone until 1853. After that date his official duties in the different positions he held occupied most of his time. He was especially fitted by his legal education, and by his sterling integrity, rare good sense, and sturdy adherance to his ideas of justice and right, for the position of judge of probate, which he held for so many years. The rights of the widow and orphan were known to be safe when he guarded the administration and settlement of estates. He was an honest man in every sense--in business, in politics, in the expression of his opinions;

and in this he never concealed his dislike for corrupt men, and for shams and trickery of ever kind. He was a man of genial nature, had many warm friends of all ages and conditions in life, and could well be called a true gentlemen of the old school." His ardent patriotism, which was exhibited in all his political life, was shown in 1861, when at the age of over three score, he inlisted in a Winsted company, and marched with them to the camp in New Haven, eager to strike a blow for the defense of his country. When the company was mustered into the United State service, he could not be accepted.

The funeral of Mr. Boyd was largely attended at his residence in West Winsted on Sunday afternoon, December 4, 1881. The Rev. Mr. Hallock of the Second Congregational church, of which he was a member, conducted the services, and in addition to his address, brief remarks were made by the venerable Rev. Ira Pettibone, now about eighty years of age, and formerly for many years pastor of the First Congregational church in Winsted, and by the Rev. S. B. Forbs of Rockville, formerly of Winsted. Fitting allusion was made to his pure record in all the walks of life, and especially to his connection with the church. He was for a long time a member of the First Congregational church in Winsted, and later aided in the organization of the Second church in West Winsted, and for years, he was seldom missed from church gatherings. His enlistment in the army, was also recalled in alluding to his earnest patriotism, and there were many present who recalled the time when his white hairs, frosty at sixty as they were at four score, were seen in the ranks with the younger men and boys who marched away from Winsted in the early days of 1861. During his last summer, as he was gradually failing in strength, the assassination of President Garfiield, and his subsequent sufferings, affected him deeply, and he remarked that he could not live if the President should die. Feeble as he was, he read his daily paper, and kept up his interest in public affairs, until within two or three days before his death.

Mr. Boyd-besides his political and manufacturing business-took a deep interest in the work of preparing a historical and genealogical history of his native Town, through the year of 1870 to 1873, and published a work entitled the "Annals of Winchester, Conn." This History gives the early history of that town, including a family record of each early settler, down to the present day. I am much obliged to