F.C.C. Boyd Biographical Details

As a follow-up to John Lupia's entry from last week's E-Sylum on Frederick Charles Cogswell Boyd I would like to address certain biographical information.

The entry on John's website indicates that no 1880 US Census record has been located for the Boyd family. I was able to find this record and it adds legitimacy to Boyd's statement that his mother was Arabella Sherwood Boyd. Arabella Boyd is shown as 31 years old and the wife of James Boyd (age 34) with children: Thomas S. (age 4), Lizzie F. (age 2) and Ada F. (age 3 months). F.C.C. Boyd would be born a few years later and consequently does not show on this census record.

Arabella Sherwood's identity as the mother of the Boyd children is also confirmed by the 1952 death certificate of F.C.C.'s sister Elizabeth Francis Boyd Porter ("Lizzie F." in the 1880 census), which lists her parents as James T. Boyd and Arabella Sherwood. Also 1915 marriage certificate of F.C.C's younger brother William, lists his parents as James Boyd and Arabella Sherwood.

In my opinion the 1900 census record for the Boyd family should be looked at with extra caution as to the veracity of the information as it appears the census taker made a number of minor errors. Having been employed as an enumerator for the 2020 census I can confirm firsthand that the census does make errors!

In regard to F.C.C. Boyd's son Cogswell Boyd, Lupia lists his name as "Cogswell Charles" while his obituary (Press and Sun Bulletin, Binghamton, NY, 4/15/2005) indicates his name as "Cogswell Coombes Boyd." This son was not the out of wedlock child of F.C.C. and Mary Helen Lynch, as detailed by John Lupia on his site, but the child of F.C.C.'s marriage to Maud Coombes Boyd (later St. John). F.C.C. and Maud G. Coombes were married on June 15, 1910 in New York City. Maud indicates her status as "divorced" when she married Harry Lamar St. John in Manhattan on 1/27/1925.

F.C.C. apparently married Mary Helen Lynch sometime between 1918 and 1925 (if the 1930 Census is accurate on this, it would have been about 1924/1925). Mrs. Helen L. Boyd of 33 Fifth Ave., New York, NY was admitted as a new member of the A.N.A. in December 1925 (#2937). The Boyds appear as a married couple in the 1925 New York State Census. Maud C Boyd was listed as F.C.C.'s wife on his 1918 WWI Draft Registration. The mentions of "Mrs. Boyd" in numismatic literature in the 1910s are likely to Maud C. Boyd.

On the Newman Numismatic Portal there is a scan of a 2011 email from Jerry Fochtman to Eric Newman asking if he had any information about F.C.C.'s divorce from Maud, later marriage to Helen Lynch or the death of Helen Lynch Boyd. I was able to locate an obituary for Helen in the Newark Star-Ledger, 10/30/1971 and both F.C.C. and Helen are buried in the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in East Hanover, N.J.

The photo is from the NNP Eric Newman - Boyd Correspondence file, see:
F.C.C. Boyd Correspondence, File 5, 1958-2003(https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/527956)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
FREDERICK CHARLES COGSWELL BOYD (1884-1958)(https://www.coinbooks.org/v24/esylum_v24n06a17.html)