Cal Boyd retired in December 2004 as Genealogist for the House of Boyd Society. He had served in this capacity since the early 1990s. He created and maintained the database of the membership's genealogies.  It took quite some time for anyone to come forward to take on this position.  In the meanwhile, Mike Boyd of Australia, Historian for House of Boyd had been responding to queries as he was able to fit them in with his duties as Chair of the Historical Committee.

At the end of 2009 we were fortunate to have a very capable and highly qualified young man step up to the position of Genealogist for House of Boyd.  His appointment was confirmed by the Executive Board on 12 January 2010.  Christopher Smithson has been doing genealogy since he was 8 years old. He has been an active member of a number of Historical and Genealogically based societies.  He has held and continues to hold positions of leadership, including:

About the House of Boyd Society Database - Entry to our database will resume when the new Genealogist has a chance to settle in and determine what changes he needs to implement.

Members are welcome to contact us for a form in order to submit their genealogies to the database. We cannot stress enough how much this may help your search. If you do not submit your data sheet for the database, you may miss connecting with your cousins when they join the Society. Not all of our members are online. Each time we enter a record to our database, it is cross checked against all the previous entries. This means that each time a member submits their data, it is compared with your data to see if there is a match. Contact us if you have questions by emailing genealogist@clanboyd.org

Boyd Clan List at Rootsweb

In the early 1990s, a small group of Boyds were visiting with each other at the Clan Tent at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Gathering and Games. This group included Dr. William Barneyback (then President), his wife Marianna Barneyback, Marilyn DeReggi (then Secretary), her mother Jeannette Boyd and sister Virginia Boyd Rogers, Grover Gore (former Executive Board Member), his daughter Alison Gore Wikle (then Treasurer), and James Green.

This group decided that it would be a wonderful idea to use an email mailing list as a place for all Boyds to gather and discuss their genealogy and the family history. It was decided to keep the list 'open' and not limit it to House of Boyd members only. So, to this day, the Boyd mailing list (as it has come to be known) has welcomed all those interested in the Boyd Clan Family History, and in researching their own Boyd family tree.

The process was begun and the list was formed. At first it was managed by an individual who received the emails in his personal email mailbox and forwarded copies to everybody on the list. It soon became too large and was moved to a mailing list server. As time has passed we have moved the list a few times, until most recently settling at Rootsweb.

We owe thanks to all those who created this list and those that have helped to keep it going. We owe a debt of gratitude to all of those mentioned above, and also those that did the work to keep it going -- thanks again Sam Boyd, James Green III, David Hamiter, Margaret Olson and Lauren Boyd!

The mailing list  is the oldest online Boyd discussion group.  There are hundreds of Boyds and Boyd researchers subscribed.  The list can help with researching your family tree, will give news about Highland Games, and generally provide a forum talk with other Boyds about 'Boyd' topics. Note that you do NOT need to be a member of the House of Boyd Society to join our mailing list. Click the button below to create an email message that will subscribe you to the list.  Subscription is free.

The mailing list can also be received in digest mode, where several postings are combined and sent to you together as a single large message. To join the mailing list in digest mode, click the button below.

Internet Uploads

The House of Boyd Society will never upload your submitted data to a website or a surname list. This is something you may do for yourself and remain in control of what is released. There are several sites at which you can do this. No need to have a third party do it for you. Remain in control of your data on the Internet. Most sites have a search engine that enables folks to connect with your data on the site even though it seems to be in its own file and not connected with a larger body of genealogies.

Here are a couple of links:

Rootsweb's World Connect Project
World Family Tree

Research Assistance

Assisting our members (and other Boyds too) with their family research is one of the main aims for the House of Boyd Society. There are several ways that we do this.

Our Genealogist uses software for storing and searching Boyd genealogies. On joining the Society you are invited to send your genealogy to us. When your genealogy is entered into our database, any matches with other genealogies in the database are automatically highlighted. Our genealogist will then try and put you in touch with those who share this common link, so that you can exchange information.

The Boyd mailing list can put you in touch with House of Boyd Society members, and other Boyds, who use the Internet. You can use the list to ask questions regarding your own research, about research methods and sources, and get lots of other information which is posted to the list.

We understand that research can be a lonely and isolated activity. Wherever possible, we encourage our members to attend Highland Games and Gatherings, and to help out whenever there is a Boyd tent at these events. This activity not only helps encourage others into genealogy and to join the House of Boyd, but it gives a very welcome social side to research. You will meet many others doing research and be able to have friendly chats about your research and their research. To a certain extent, our Boyd mailing list also gives the opportunity for social contact and friendships.