The ancestors of the first Boyds to live in the Grand River area were from Kilmarnock, Scotland. John Boyd, one of six children, came to Iowa from Ohio in 1852, locating in Wapello County and later in Decatur County in 1856, where he farmed and taught school. He married Elizabeth Anne Bullock; and they had seven children: Henry, Curtis, Frank, Laura, Ida, Nora and Mattie. Curtis married Susie Fear.