Hi Mabus,
I am not related to the Boyds, but I am from Straid, and I know of two descendants of James Boyd and Joyce McKeen who have done DNA tests. One is descended from their daughter Mary (born c1845) and another from their daughter Helen (born 1855).
They had at least 7 children – which one are you descended from?
Gilby
Hi, thanks for the response. I have information for eight children of James and Joyce (seven confirmed) of which Helen isn't one. However I think that can be remedied by the fact they had a daughter called Ellen born c1854 - who no doubt must be the Helen you speak of. She married John Alexander Green and they are my 2nd great-grandparents. Ellen would name my great-great grandfather after her brother William Andrew who died seven year old.
I know Mary married John Wilson and I have details of all their children's births and 1901-1911 census details.
I would be most interested in seeing if I could compare those DNA tests to mine (23andme) or via Gedmatch to see what common relations/connections/leads pop up.
[Edit:] Just doing more research on Ellen and Mary's brother Thomas and it turns out his grand-son is the highly prominent anatomist James Dickson/Dixon Boyd
http://www.newulsterbiography.co.uk/index.php/home/printPerson/1970, who in turn has two highly notable sons, Sir Robert David Hugh Boyd and Sir John Dixon Boyd, who would be my mum's third-cousins.