Another Pioneer Gone

I was mistaken about the degree to which Benjamin Case distinguished himself among the pioneers of Ross Township by his unmarried and childless condition. Just about a month after Benjamin's death, another bachelor pioneer followed him — Levi Boyd.

Levi and his twin brother, Eli, had settled in the Lake County area in 1848, according to the Rev. T.H. Ball's biographical sketch (although the 1850 census found them in Michigan). They lived and farmed together always, even after Eli married and started a family — they were "inseparable through life" and held their property jointly. And that property had grown to be considerable over the years; by 1918 Levi owned some "965 acres of Lake county's finest land." He had lost his twin brother in 1911, and was living with a nephew, Alex, the Ross Township Trustee.*

Levi died on October 29, 1918, a week after suffering a paralyzing stroke. He was 82 years old, well known in the area and, according to his obituary, well beloved — "a generous and liberal man who numbered his friends by the score, and it is said of him that he had not an enemy in the world."

And so, another pioneer gone; another veteran of the Civil War as well, for he had fought with the 99th Indiana Infantry and been wounded in July 1864; another "staunch republican" who had cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln.

__________________________
*Another nephew, Warren, had been Lizzie Sauter's first husband.

Sources:
♦ 1850 Census.
♦ "Additional Local News." Hobart Gazette 25 Oct. 1918.
♦ "Eli Boyd Dies." Hobart Gazette 24 Mar. 1911.
♦ Lake County Encyclopedia.
♦ "Levi A. Boyd, Lake County Pioneer Passes Away Last Tuesday." Hobart News 31 Oct. 1918.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 1 Nov. 1918.