William D. Boyce

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William Dickson Boyce (June 16, 1858 – June 11, 1929) was an American newspaperman, magazine publisher, and explorer.

He was the father of Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and the short-lived Lone Scouts of America (LSA).

He was born in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and discovered a love for the outdoors early in his life.

Boyce attended Wooster Academy in Ohio before heading to the Midwest and Canada after being a schoolteacher and a coal miner.

Boyce, a savvy businessman, has owned two newspapers, such as The Commercial in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and the Lisbon Clipper in Lisbon, North Dakota.

He and his first wife, Mary Jane Beacom, migrated to Chicago to fulfill his entrepreneurial aspirations.

Personal life and family

Boyce was born on June 16, 1858 in New Texas, Pennsylvania – now Plum Borough – to a Presbyterian farm couple, David and Margaret Bratton Boyce. William Dickson, Mary, and John were among the Boyces' three children. Boyce developed a passion for the outdoors during his rural childhood. At the age of 16, he began teaching school and then worked briefly as a coal miner for a short time. He returned to teaching before joining his sister at Wooster Academy in Ohio, which—accord to school records—he attended from 1880 to 1881. It's uncertain if he graduated or was banned.

He worked as a teacher, lumberjack, secretary, and salesman in the Midwest and Canada before settling in Chicago, where he quickly became known as a savvy and shrewd salesman and learned quickly. The phrase "We pushed forward" appeared in his books on work, travel, and expeditions. Boyce married Mary Jane Beacom (1865-1979), whom he had known since his Pennsylvania childhood. Betsy, the boyce's, was a nickname she matched because she was an expert shot and rode horses cross saddle. Although she hadn't admitted it, it was also apparent that she was more masculine than Boyce himself, although he had never discussed it in his journal. Benjamin Stevens (1884-1948), Happy (1886-1948), and Sydney (1889-1950): They had one son and two daughters.

Boyce's personal interests included hunting, yachting, Odd Fellows, Freemasonry, Shriners, golf, country clubs, and the Chicago Hussars, an independent equestrian military group.

Boyce bought a four-story mansion on 38 acres (15 ha) in Ottawa, Illinois, which became the center of his family's and social activities in 1903. He showed no interest in Chicago or its social activities; he would only go there for business. Boyce and Mary continued to separate lives and eventually divorced, according to the Chicago Tribune's front page, owing to the fabled presence he had attained by that time. In September 1908, a divorce was certified in a Campbell County, South Dakota court; his wife's property settlement was almost worthless (USD).

Boyce convicted Virginia Dorcas Lee, a 23-year-old boy from Oak Park, Illinois, and the eldest child of Virginia and John Adams Lee, a former Lieutenant Governor of Missouri, after the divorce was announced. Both Virginia's parents and Boyce's son Ben condemned the marriage. An infuriated Ben scuffled with his father outside the Blackstone Hotel and Boyce suffered a facial wound in May 1910, a decade before the proposed marriage was announced. Ben was jailed for disorderly conduct and fined $5 and court costs. Boyce and Virginia married and went to Europe for an extended honeymoon two days later. Almost immediately, there were rumors of marital issues, as well as in newspapers. Boyce and Virginia had a daughter named Virginia on April 9, 1911, and they named her Virginia. Boyce signed an agreement in December 1911 to support and educate their infant daughter. After Boyce's wife filed for divorce in March 1912, she and her daughter and their parent moved to Santa Barbara, California, where they and their parents were reunited. Boyce did not contest the divorce and arranged for a $100,000 settlement. The elder Virginia married Richard Roberts, a New York banker, and moved with her and Boyce's daughter to Greenwich, Connecticut, years later. Roberts, the younger Virginia, was given the surname Roberts. Boyce was her first cousin before she was eight years old, but she didn't know her natural father until then.

On June 11, 1912, Ben married Miriam Patterson of Omaha, Nebraska. Both Boyce and his first wife were present at the wedding. Mary, Boyce's first wife, exchanged some of her Chicago home for the home in Ottawa, igniting rumors that Boyce and Boyce might reconcile. They remarried in Ottawa on June 14, 1913. They departed on a honeymoon to Alaska, Hawaii, Panama, and Cuba with their daughter Happy, son Ben, and his mother Miriam.

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