Richard Boyce
BIRTH 1733
Ireland
DEATH 7 Feb 1837 (aged 103–104)
Boyce, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA
BURIAL Morgan Family Farm Cemetery
Bridgeville, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA
Richard Boyce was born in 1733 in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. County Antrim is one of six counties that form the country of Northern Ireland within the province of Ulster, the region of Antrim. He immigrated to America, landed in Philadelphia, and located to the Virginia colony where he farmed for a short time before moving on to the Kentucky territory, but later returned to Fawcett Gap in Frederick County, Virginia and settled in the Shenandoah Valley where he farmed. Richard Boyce was a practicing Quaker and it is supposed his frequent change of place was due to his religious views, not wishing to oppose the Indians.
In 1769, he married his cousin, Lydia Fawcett (1738-1787), widow of Goodman Young in Frederick County, Virginia. Joseph and Margery (Walsh) Fawcett and their family (including daughter, Lydia Fawcett) moved from Chester County, Pennsylvania to Frederick County, Virginia in about 1745. Lydia was seven years old during this move. Assumed Goodman Young and Lydia Fawcett married about 1756, and Goodman died about 1768. Probably between 1756 and 1768, the couple issued their three children. The exact birth dates are unknown, but in historic documents the boys are probably listed in birth order.
Richard adopted the three boys from Lydia’s first marriage – Joseph, James, and John Goodman Young. In 1772, the family moved to current day Boyce Station, Upper Saint Clair, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania where their children Jane, Robert, and Mary Boyce were likely born. Little are known about Joseph, James, and John Goodman Young and their step-siblings Jane, Robert, and Mary Boyce. John Fawcett, his wife and family lived in or near Boyce Station, and John Fawcett was Lydia Fawcett’s uncle (Joseph Fawcett’s brother who lived in Franklin County, Virginia). It is speculated that the couple moved to Allegheny County with the adopted children to be near the John Fawcett family.
Allegheny County was officially created on September 24, 1788, from parts of neighboring Washington and Westmoreland counties. In 1780, Boyce Station came under the boundaries of Washington County, Pennsylvania. In 1793 Richard purchased 400 acres of land on the west side of Chartiers creek from Joseph Shipper, Jr., where he remained until his death at 104 years old – reportedly in South Fayette Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
Richard married Margaret “Peggy” Lesnett in 1789 likely in Allegheny County and issued seven children, namely, Isaac (1790-1884), Christian or “Christy” (1793-1852), John W. (1796-1884), Nancy (1798-1859), Lydia (1801-1884), Joseph (1803-1874), and Elizabeth (1809-1883).
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/74733277/richard_boyce
