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John Sylvester Boyce & Matilde Marshall Boyce
John Born 1841 Died 1917; Matilde Born 1841 Died unknown
Old Red Church Cemetery, Tivoli .Mausoleum on south side of the church and little red shed, along the access road.
Driving along the road to the southern part of the Old Red Church Cemetery, one notices a mausoleum that stands out. This is the resting place of the Boyce family. While Boyce and his wife spent most of their adult lives in Brooklyn, NY, they were natives of Clermont and Tivoli respectively and chose to be buried in Tivoli.
John Sylvester Boyce was born on June 16, 1841. He was “descended from the early Holland Dutch settlers of that section,” stated his obituary that appeared in the Brooklyn Times Union of December 12, 1917. It continued, “His ancestors were farmers, dating back beyond the Revolutionary War: his grandfather was in the War of 1812. The old Colonial house where his mother was born, with its massive oak beams erected more than one hundred years ago, is still in good state of preservation. He chose the occupation of mechanical engineer, for which he qualified himself by several years’ experience on the Hudson River. During the Civil War he entered the Government transport service as second assistant engineer of the steamship Charles C. Leary and was subsequently promoted to first assistant. At the close of the war, he entered the merchant service of the steamer Star of the South, running to New Orleans. In 1867, he entered the employ of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle as engineer and was employed by Isaac Van Anden, the proprietor. In 1874 he retired for the purpose of engaging in the tugboat business on his own account. In 1877 he was reengaged by the Eagle, where he remained until he retired. He was a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the Brooklyn Consistory No. 24, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, and was formerly the treasurer of that body. He was one of the charter members of the Marine Engineers Benevolent Association No. 61 and was its first vice president. In 1859 he married Miss Matilda Marshall, whose ancestors date back to the Revolutionary War. Mr. Boyce is survived by his wife, a son, Wellington Boyce; three grandchildren; two sisters, Mrs. Margaret Lasher and Mrs. Mary Miller, and a brother, William Boyce.”
Matilde Marshall Boyce was born November 13, 1841, in Tivoli, but the date of her death is not inscribed on the monument. She was the daughter of Susan Miller (1807-1841) and Robert Marshall (1805-1878), according to information on FindaGrave.com, which also reports the following: Matilde's mother Susan died the day after giving birth to Matilde. Matilde was a sister to Anna Matilde Marshall (1833-1839), Delia Catharine Marshall Simmons (1837 - 1912), and Montgomery Marshall (1838-1918). Matilde was also a half sister to Robert Marshall (1843-1891), Lucinda G. Marshall (1849-), and Alice Amanda Marshall Ring (1857 - 1935) through her father's second marriage to Hannah Smith. Matilde’s father is buried at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church cemetery in Red Hook, while her mother is buried at the Old Red Church Cemetery.
John and Matilde’s marriage produced four sons: Wellington Boyce (1861–1945), Harry Boyce (1866–1893), Frederick Boyce (1870 –1917), and Franklyn Boyce (1873-1898). All four sons are buried on the grounds of the Old Red Church Cemetery. Wellington and Frederick have their own tombstones, while Harry and Franklin are interred with their parents in the Boyce vault.
There are Civil War connections for both husband and wife. John’s service was noted earlier. Matilde’s brother Montgomery was a Civil War veteran and pictured in the 1908 photograph along with George Minkler and other veterans. Montgomery Marshall, according to FindaGrave.com, “and his second wife Margaret Annie Fraleigh Worden Marshall (1847-1910) were married on November 8, 1875, and had six children ... Clarence M. Marshall (1876-1950), Sylvester Boyce Marshall (1877-?), Alice Marshall (1884-1887), Florence Marshall (1885-1885), Morton Marshall (1888-1901) and Gertrude M. Marshall Clark (1890-?). “Montgomery Marshall served in the Civil War in the ‘Ulster Guard’ Company R, NY 20th Militia Volunteers. This unit was given a 90-day service to protect the Nation's Capital, Washington, D.C. Montgomery was recognized as a True Patriot on Nov 28, 1866, by Brevet Major General John Watts DePeyster at the dedication of the Defender's Monument that stands proudly still in the Village of Tivoli. The Monument recognizes the men who gave their lives in the Slave Holders Rebellion (Civil War) and the dedication honored those that returned to the area.
“Montgomery Marshall was, by profession, listed as a Blacksmith, like his father Robert. He was also the first Police Constable for the Village of Tivoli,” concludes the information on FindaGrave.com.
Once again, the connections of those interred in the town’s cemeteries weave in and out from surname to surname and family to family. The links are strong, and the desire to return to one’s home to be buried there is as well.