Page 1228

COMMEMORA TI VE BIOGRAPIHICAL RECORD.
ping the scale at 240 pounds-- each one,
verily, a umodern Goliath.
   . James M. Sinions, whose name opens
this sketch, was two years old whell his
parents broighit him t( \XVisConsill, and at
the common schools of the peri lihe re-
ceived a fairly liberal edlucation, At the
age of fifteen calrs lie left the parental
roof ani eiigaged in steamnlboating in the
engineer (department, and so assiduous
and diligtnt was he that at the early age
of twenty he found himself chief engineer
Of a steamboat called the "Adrionack,"
then plyin g between Green Bay and no1rth-
ern ports. This vxocatti ll hie followed
during tile season of navigatiti for aibout
twenity years, iii the winter mol)n1ths work-
ing at his trade of machinist oil shore,
and since tgiing Il) steaillboatinlg hias con-
tinned the latter, exelIlSively, in Oslikosh.
    Our subject has ieen twice married,
first time to Mliss Ada Grigsnoi, afterward
in Februar v, 1893, to Miss Laura Miles,
of Indiana.   Mr. andi Mrs. S    o111011S tire
consisttt ii members of the 'Methodist
Church, anid sociallyv he is aftiliated with
the Societv of Marine Engilneers. tle is,
probably, the only one now holding cer-
t ificates as chief engineer on all lakes,
bays and(l sMiIis, tid his 11,111C in steail-
b)oat connecti(o is familiar as household
words. I
W        II tANI H. BO()YD), prIoprietor
          of the blo x factolry in (O)shlkosh,
          \\inielbago countl , known lis
          thle Boyd Manufacturling (o.,
 and one ()f the, leadtiu.- prosperous busi-
 ness ieilt of northwestern \Wisc onsin, is a
 native (tf \Villnebago count\", Wis., born
 at Stou\y teachl, ()shlkosh, in 1840.
    \Viliam A. Boyd, fathe r of o(r sub-
jtct, was l5 )rii :it At\;iltcr, ()hio, a  son  of
.]()h]n lB()'y, a native, of Alexaidria, Va.,
but ill all eaihla day    i to O)hio, n111(
w\as in buiesiess in litkini cmint\. NV.
A. tBoy{! reeec iwd hIs edlication III Ohio,
wheitnce in 1838 lie t allte to \Wisconsin,
landing, at (Creen Blay, tilt' trip beiilg ialldt'
by water from Cleveland. He was by
tirade a shoemaker, whichi he followed in
Green Bay until burned out, losing nearly
all his effects, in the fall of which unlucky
year he moved to Oshkoshl by water, the
vessel which conveyed him being known
'IS a'' (Ill" out. " At that time there were
lbut a few families residing in the tplace,
an'd here lie continued at his trade, work-
ing for years at one dotllar per day. Later
he settled oii a farm, in Black Wolf town-
silip, w\\hich he cleared and cultivated and
in addition to agrictiltlural pursuits carried
the iiaii oil ihorseback to Ripon, aind also
to Green Ba'; for several years lie was
township treasurer.    He and his wife
passed from earth in i89o, the parents of
five children, viz. : I'm ia, wife of G(, W.
Merritt, of Black \Wolf township, \Viin-
nebagI) county: \William   H., our sub-
ject; Mary, wife of John Merritt, of Osh-
kosh; Etdgar, who enlisted in 1862 in the
Twentieth    \Visconsin  I nfantry, three
I years' service, and tlied of typhoid fever
at Fayettville in I 863, and J. F., in busi-
ness at Marinette, \Visconsii.
    \Villiam H. Botd, whose naite intro-
duces this sketch, was reared and edti-
catedi at Oshkosh, and assisted his father
until lie was of age. In 1861 he enlisted
in Company E, Second Wisctonsin In-
fantry, for three 'ears, (Ir during the war,
was mustered in at Madison, and his reg-
iment attached to the army of the Po-
toriac, " Iron Brigade. " He participated
in all the battlt's from that of first Bull
Run up to the battle of Gettysburg, where
he was wounded with a rifle ball the first
lay, July 1, 1863, c-ausing his confine-
ment toI hospital at (;ettysburg till the
following November. IFrom there lie was
sent to York, saiie 'State, in XXhich city
lie received his disc'large from the armiy
iln 1864, and returned to hlis hoile in Osh-
kosh,where he was elected city treasurer,
serving one year. On 1his retirement from
that offic'e lie engaged in the grocery,
flour and feed blusiness oil Main street,
anti subsequently in iother enterprises, till
in i89 i he opened his preseit box factory
1228