Person Record

Metadata

Name

Boyd, Mary

Born

1815

Birthplace

Deceased

07/1870

Deceased where

Golden, CO

Places of residence

Newcastle, PA
Golden, CO (arrived June 1859)

Notes

Researched and shared by Richard Gardner in 2017:

Mary Sharp Clow Boyd

Mary was born in Pennsylvania in 1815, where at Beaver County on October 19, 1837 she married Theodore Perry Boyd. They had 6 children while they lived at Newcastle, in order of age: James Beach Clow, Mary Elizabeth, Maggie, Eliza Maria, Joseph T., and Edward. They came to Golden in June 1859 and built Golden's first private residence, a rough hewn pine log cabin, at what would now be across 11th Street from Clear Creek Commons. In later June Mary, a devoted Christian woman, attended Golden's first church service in the Ford Brothers saloon tent, where she and other town ladies sat in front of the colorful roulette table that was the makeshift pulpit. They sat upon whiskey kegs, nail keys and champagne boxes, "surrounded by a motley crowd of pistol-bedecked men" who were tough miners, teamsters, gamblers, plainsmen, and more. There being no hymnals, the preacher gave the name of the first church hymn sung in Golden's history, "A Charge To Keep I Have" by Charles Wesley (best known for something they may well have sung later that year, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing"), which Mary and the other ladies began singing loud and clear, accompanied by a couple miners playing a violin and flute. After the first line or two they were joined by the whole group of men in the tent. In later years long after Mary was gone George West wrote "From that time on the influence of those sweet ladies for good in our camp was far-reaching and undeniable, making one of the most orderly of all the camps in this whole mountain region."

Late that year the Boyds began farming where the North Golden Road, today's West 44th Avenue, crosses Clear Creek, building the bridge that would be known for many years as Boyd's Crossing. There they were among the pioneer farmers, among whose crops they could grow was wheat, in the place that would soon become known as Wheat Ridge. They moved their home to the farm, and in its place in Golden built a larger building, which they ran from 1859-60 as the Golden City House hotel.

When the Mountain Fever epidemic hit the mining camps in the summer of 1860 Mary and other ladies of Golden joined together to form the Ladies' Samaritan Society, Golden's first health organization, "for the purpose of alleviating the sufferings of strangers who may be sick among us." Mountain Fever was a typhoid fever, a type with much suffering. Mary served as President of the Society, and many of its ladies had already been caring for the sick who had come down here. For some it was too late and they are buried in Golden's lost original cemetery. But many others survived with the help of Mary and the other ladies.

In 1860 the Boyds built and ran a hotel at their crossing, which Mary and Theodore ran together for traveling patrons. They moved their other Golden cabin to the place in 1869 and it also became part of the farm. However, Mary was far from out of Golden's life, as she continued as a founding member of Calvary Episcopal Church 150 years ago this year. At Calvary she helped organize another ladies' society, the Mite Society, which successfully raised funds to give Calvary its first organ.

Mary died on July 22, 1870, not long after her husband who had passed away in 1865. She rests at Golden Cemetery today. Her son-in-law George West, who had married Eliza, wrote in the Transcript "In the death of this estimable lady a large and loving family mourns the loss of the best of mothers, the church of which she was a member one of its strongest and consistent pillars, and the community one who was ever foremost in every good work of Christian duty. She has gone 'over the river,' but still lives by her Godly example in the hearts of all who knew her."