SAMUEL L. LOYD.
Samuel L. Loyd, an enterprising and successful farmer, of Shannon township, was born June 11, 1860, in Brown county, Ohio, a son of Thomas F. and Celina (McGinness) Loyd, natives of Kentucky and Ohio, respectively. His paternal ancestors were of Welsh extraction. William Loyd, grandfather of Samuel Loyd, after making a home for his family in this country, started on a return trip to his native land, in order to secure a legacy which had been willed to him by a deceased relative, and on the way was afflicted with cholera, and died. With his death, practically all knowledge of the family in the old country passed away, and his widow and two children were left to get along as best they could. Two years later the widow died. Thomas F. Loyd was reared by a Mr. Boyd, and removed from Kentucky to Brown county, Ohio, when he became of age, and there married Celina McGinness. About 1865 he set out for the western country to obtain cheaper land, and make a permanent home for his family. After living for one year in Clark county, Missouri, he loaded his effects on a covered wagon, and with his wife and children crossed the Missouri river at St. Joseph, and settled on a farm in Doniphan county, Kansas, April 14, 1866. Thomas F. Loyd was a member of the Home Guard in Brown county, Ohio, during the Civil war. He was born in 1825, and died in 1910. His wife, Celina, was born in 1829, and died in 1906. They were the parents of ten children, seven of whom are living: William, Mollie, deceased, Charles, deceased, Samuel L., Anna, George, Effie, Otis, Oscar, and Celina, deceased.
Samuel L. Loyd was six years of age when his parents located in Doniphan county, and consequently knows a great deal about the early days in Kansas, and the struggles of the early settlers to make homes on the prairie. He was brought up on the farm, and attended the district school when possible, and learned very early in life to do farm work. After his marriage he farmed in Doniphan county until 1899, when he came to Shannon township in Atchison county, and purchased 160 acres of fine land, which he has brought to a high state of cultivation. During his sixteen years of residence here he has improved his farm to a considerable extent, and has spent over $5,000 in the erection of a handsome brick residence which sets far back on a rise of ground and is reached from the highway by a private driveway. Other improvements on the place in the way of buildings and fences have cost him over $1,500. A severe storm, which swept this section May 3, 1903, did damage to the extent of over $500 to his buildings, and he found it necessary to repair all of this.
Mr. Loyd was married September 2, 1896, to Miss Lulu Voelker, born and brought up in Atchison county, a few miles north of the city of Atchison. To this union five children have been born: Myrtle Ceina, Edna Lula, good educations by their ambitious parents. Mrs. Loyd is a sister of Conrad Voelker, a wealthy and prominent farmer residing on one of the finest farms in the county, about four miles north of Atchison, and who earned the title of “Cabbage King” of Kansas, because of his wonderful success in growing that vegetable some years ago. Mrs. Loyd was born July 14, 1872, and is a daughter of Karl Voelker, who immigrated to this country from Germany in 1861, and operated a dairy and truck farm in Shannon township for several years. The mother of Mrs. Loyd was Christina Neuhaus, of German parents. Further details of the history of the Voelker family are found elsewhere in this volume. Conrad M., a nephew of Mrs. Loyd, is county clerk of Atchison county.
Mr. Loyd is a Republican, but gives little or no attention to political affairs, other than to vote as his conscience dictates. He is affiliated with the Central Protective Association, and is a member of Good Intent lodge, of Shannon township. While Mrs. Loyd was reared in the Lutheran faith, the members of the Loyd family attend the Methodist church. For a man who was forced to make his own way in the world, Mr. Loyd, with the assistance of his faithful wife, has accomplished a great deal, for which he deserves credit and honor among his neighbors.