The FAMILY of
SAMUEL BOYD
and
ISABELLA JANE ANDERSON DOBIE

These photos and short history were provided by .

This photo shows Samuel Boyd seated at left, as part of the village council in Komgha, Eastern Cape, around 1927. He served a term as deputy mayor before giving up his chemist shop to move back to Ixopo, possibly because Isabella may have been in poor health -- she died a year later. John Dodd Boyd, youngest son of Samuel Boyd, with an older sister Jessie, circa 1919. John Dodd Boyd, youngest son of Samuel Boyd.

Isabella Jane Anderson Dobie, b. 21/09/1865; d 1928 married Samuel Boyd, b. 13/11/1854 in Parish of Ruthwell, county Dumfries, died in 1931 on the farm in Ixopo District, Natal, belonging to his daughter Muriel Gold (Boyd) and her husband. They arrived in South Africa sometime after the 1901 (UK) census, because they were recorded as "in residence" at "The Glint", Annan, in 1901 – Line 3 role CSSCT 1901_427”.

This household appeared in the 1901 census as follows:

               Samuel Boyd      45  father
               Isabella Boyd    34  mother
               Muriel Boyd      16
               Jessie Boyd       9
               Samuel G Boyd     6
               Grace J. Boyd     1
               John Boyd        28  nephew
               Annie Bryson     19  servant
               Mary Byers       19  nurse – was she connected to Janet Paterson (Dobie) Byers?
               Thomas Rule      55  stableman

A "Dumfries & Galloway Standard and Advertiser" news cutting of 1905 records that, on the recommendation of the Colonial Pharmacy Board, Samuel Boyd had been authorized to practice as a chemist & druggist in the Cape Colony and that he was formerly of Annan Scotland.

We also know from newspaper records that Samuel was involved in a court case in Annan in 1901.

Consequently, he and Isabella could not have left for South Africa soon after their marriage in 1883, contrary to information covering the snapshot of the Dobie family showing Isabella as having been pasted in.

Once in South Africa, we understand Samuel was in business as a chemist and druggist in Ixopo, Natal, (an area that apparently was developed by Scottish immigrants of that period). It was, at some stage, called Stuart Town, possibly during the Frontier Wars.

Later he acquired a pharmacy in Komgha, Eastern Cape, during the 1920’s. He was on the local Village Council and became deputy mayor during 1926/7.

Isabella died in 1928 and he in 1931 on the farm of his daughter, Muriel Gold (Boyd), in Ixopo.

The 5th child of Samuel and Isabella, namely John Dodd Boyd, was born in South Africa on 18 July 1907, in either Ixopo or Harding, Natal. He was the father of Dudley Boyd who provided these photos.