Catharina Staats Boyd

Catharina Staats was born in January 1774. She was the daughter of Albany-area residents Barent J. and Anna Winne Staats. She was an older daughter in the large family of a prominent Bethlehem landholder.

In January 1796, she married the somewhat older Albany native Hugh Boyd at the Albany Dutch church. Although cut short by Boyd's untimely death, the marriage ultimately produced at least ten children who were christened at the Dutch and Presbyterian churches. Thru the 1790s, she was a pewholder at the Dutch church.

These Boyds set up their home near the waterfront on Dock Street. Catherine's husband was a merchant and mariner in partnership with other family members.

However, by 1814, they had begun to sell off their Albany holdings and to relocate to a 100-acre farm they had purchased from Staats family in Bethlehem.

In December 1816, Hugh Boyd had his family settled in Bethlehem when he made out his will. Catherine was named co-executor and principal heir. Ten children plus the child Catherine was carrying were provided for in the will. Hugh Boyd died on December 29.

In 1820 and 1830, her household was configured on the Bethlehem censuses. After that Catherine's name fell off the community-based record. Perhaps she had moved in with one of her children - several of whom became area residents.

The Albany newspaper reported that Catherine, the "widow of Capt. Hugh Boyd," had died in May 1840 at the age of sixty-seven.

Sources: The life of Catharina Staats Boyd is CAP biography number 6280. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.