Attached to this email is a scan of the oil color painting of my great grandmother, the author of Cavalry Life in Tent and Field. I had previously thought this was a chalk drawing, but when I took it out of the frame to scan, it appears that it could be a painting in oils. On the back is a handwritten note, in the handwriting of my mother Ruth E. Boyd (wife of the deceased Francis Orsemus Boyd). The note says, “Frances Ann Boyd (known as Mummer). Mrs. Orsemus Bronson Boyd, author of ‘Cavalry Life in Tent and Field’ Portrait painted in Italy .”

     The spelling of her name in that note differs slightly from what I had learned from other sources in my family. I had previously thought her maiden name was Frances Anne Mullin (known as Munner), 1848-1827. Charles R. Novak has a webpage (http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~clanboyd/orsemus.htm) in which he lists her name as “FRANCES ANNE MULLEN (1848-1926).” I believe that Frances was the daughter of an Irish baker in Manhattan , and that she went to dances at West Point , where she met Orsemus and was impressed with his story of unjust treatment for a theft he didn’t do. There may be something about that in the Introduction to her book.

     This painting is in a gold frame, and the opening in the frame measures 5 and ½ inches tall and 4 and 1/8 inches wide (within the oval frame that might cover up 1/16 or so of the outer edge of the painting). After the death of Captain Orsemus Boyd, Frances became involved with Judge William Alonzo Day, who worked at the Equitable Life Insurance Company in Manhattan .  Judge Day was comptroller of the company from 1905 to 1911, and he gave Henry a job working for him.  Judge Day was Henry's mentor, and Henry was Judge Day's protegee (^[1]).  In 1911 Judge Day became president of the company, in 1919 he had a heart attack, and in 1927 he became chairman of the board of the Equitable.  That was the year that Frances Boyd died. Judge Day lived in Tuxedo Park in New York State , and was quite wealthy. It is he who bought the Sunny Bank tract of land in Boonton, along with the house at 135 Boyd Street, and gave it to Frances, and that is where my side of the family grew up, overlooking the Jersey City Reservoir in Boonton, which reservoir was built around 1805, I believe. Judge Day was mentor to Henry Boyd (“Hal”) who worked at the Equitable Life Insurance Company, in charge of investing money in mortgages.

     It is reasonable to assume that this painting, done in Italy , would have been during a trip with Judge Day.

 

 

     Also attached to this email is a scan of a brown-and-white photograph of my other great grandmother on the Boyd side, Mary Campbell Holliday Stroup ("Nonnie")        1842-1924. She was also the wife of a Civil War Captain from Ohio , and was the mother of Henry Boyd ("Hal") 1877-1934 and  Mary Emilia Stroup Boyd  1870-1962.  That couple parented four children: Henry Stroup Boyd (born 1902), James Lawrence Boyd (1904-1989), Francis Orsemus Boyd (born 1907), and Mary Lydia Boyd (born 1909). The woman in the photo lived in an upstairs bedroom at 135 Boyd Street , Boonton NJ when my father (Francis Orsemus Boyd) was a teenager). She was very kind to him. She had a broken hip the last ten years of her life and was confined to bed. She was a church going Christian, and her faith impressed my father, who was an atheist. This was important years later when I converted from atheism to Christianity.

Cordially,

Jeffrey Howard Boyd

57 Woods Road

Bethany CT 06524

Phone 203-573-8555 extension 2