WILLIAM BOYES	MARGARET ANN BARRY
1809--1892	1812--1889

William Boyes was born September 5, 1809 to Jonathon and Nancy Boyes in North Carolina. As a young man he migrated to Callaway County Missouri, where he met Margaret "Peggy" Ann Barry.

Peggy was born October 15, 1812 to Sally Mannen and John K. Barry near Bowling Green, Kentucky. Peggy and William Boyes were married in Callaway County, Missouri, September 8, 1831 and had eight children:

Catherine Boyd	b. Oct. 29, 1832 d. Sep. 22, 1864	m. William Allen Jan. 17, 1856; 4 children
Sarah Caroline	b. April 14, 1835	m. William H. Baker Aug. 13, 1861; Seven children
Rebecca McCord	b. Sept. 11, 1837	m. John P. Webb; Ten children
Robert	b. 1840
Enoch Marvin	b. 1842
John Kentucky	b. 1845	m. Adora Beck
Margaret Ann	b. 1847	m. Lewis J. Hedgepeth
Leonard Peck	b. July 1, 1853

April 21, 1857, the Boyes family, with four hired hands, their daughter Catherine and her husband William Allen and another family of seven started for California--twenty-one people and five wagons. Daughter, Sarah Caroline (called by her second name) wrote a diary of the trip: A JOURNAL FROM CALAWAY COUNTY, MISSOURI TO SHASTA COUNTY CALIFORNIA, KEPT BY CAROLINE BOYES. (The diary was copied in longhand but is not complete, ending mid sentence, at a fork in the road.)

The party made their way north through Missouri before starting northwest through Iowa to Council Bluffs. They crossed the Missouri and continued up the north side of the Platte, reaching Fort Laramie on June 16. There, Indians stampeded their stock but did not manage to steal any.

On July 1st at South Pass (halfway between Casper, Wyoming and Logan Utah--sixty-four days on the trail), they met a company of fourteen men, one of whom was an acquaintance of William Allen's.

On July 23rd they found an open grave with a body in it. Apparently, Indians had dug him up for his clothes. They re-buried him and moved on. They were again bothered by Indians when they stopped at Deep Wells, but now there were twenty-one wagons and two large droves of cattle. The copy of the diary ends on July 28th near Elko Nevada.

Further history comes from public records and family legend. Comparing the 1860 and 1870 census records shows their real estate values increase and personal property decline. Possibly they shared household items with the children who were setting up their own households. In 1870, Peggy and William each filed for a 160 acre homestead. The two homesteads included the family home with Cow Creek running through both.

After their daughter, Catherine Allen was killed by the Indians, they helped care for her children. (In 1870, the older three children are as living with their father and his mother, Polly Allen. Six-year-old Roert was with the Boyes family.

Peggy Ann Boyes died October 19, 1889, age Seventy-seven and William Boyes died September 18, 1892, age eighty-three. Both are believed to be buried in Millville Cemetary, though no markers have been found.

Source: Shasta Historical Society