Generations Past

There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors and no slave who has not had a king among his.  
----Helen Keller

Mary Boyd


Mary J. Boyd, known as Mollie, my great-grandmother, was born on 15 Dec 1854, in Ashland County, Ohio to Robert and Anne Johnston Boyd.  Her early life could not have been easy.  Her father died when she was nine years old and her mother when she was 12.

She married Edward Castor on 12 Feb 1873 in Ashland County, Ohio.  She and Ed had five children over the next ten years.  Then in 1883, with five young children, they decided to move to Nebraska to be closer to Edward's half brother, Toby Castor, who had made a name for himself in politics. I would love to know how they traveled.  Did they go by train or stage couch? It must have been an exciting adventure.

The Nebraska State Census for 1885 shows Edward and Mary and children living in Wilbur, Saline County, Nebraska.  Mary's youngest child, Robert Carroll,  was born on 10 Feb 1889, in Lincoln, Lancaster County, Nebraska.  Ten months later, Mary died of Typhoid Fever.  She is buried in Wyuka Cemetery in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Her brother-in-law, Toby Castor, is buried near her.

Edward and Mollie had three sons and three daughters, the first five born in Perrysville, Ashland County, Ohio.

  1.  Ida CASTOR born about 1873; died between 1910-1920. She married Jake TUGEND (1869-1933) about 1887. They had no children.
  2. Bessie CASTOR, known as Sister Barnaby born in 1875; died in Umatilla County, Oregon, in 1962 at the age of 85.  She was a Catholic Nun. In 1930, she was teaching at St. Francis's in Umatilla County, Oregon.
  3. Harry CASTOR was born about 1877;  died about 1899 in Ashland, County. Little is known about him. He never married.
  4. Guy B. CASTOR (1879-c1913)
  5. Henrietta CASTOR was born in 1882; died in 1962 at the age of 79. She married Leroy HIRSH, who owned a drugstore, in Ashland, Ohio. Leroy died in 1935.
  6. Robert Carroll CASTOR, Sr. was born in Lincoln, Lancaster County, Nebraska on 10 Feb 1889. He married Edna Mae MILLER and had three children. --obit--
    1. Richard CASTOR, who only lived nine months
    2. Virginia CASTOR (1912-?)
    3. Robert C. CASTOR, Jr. (1919-2003),a well known golfer in Ohio. He won the Ohio Senior Tournament in 1980 and 1981. --obit--

Edward and his family are found on the following censuses.

Much of the Boyd information is from the book, Boyd, compiled by Scott Lee Boyd and published in 1935 by Book Division, Haynes Corporation in Los Angeles


For more information on Mary and Ed's family or other Boyds or Castors please go to
the Castor Directory.  You will find more information and many more names.

I am interested in sharing any family history information and in correcting any misinformation. Please send corrections or additions to my e-mail box.