Mary E. Boyd, Reminiscences of Palatka, 1903

The Boyd papers include business correspondence of the Boyd and Monroe timber firm, with particular concentration on the 1855 incident of timber confiscation, along with an 1854 account book. Also included are correspondence, land records, tax records, and deeds concerning the family's land in Georgia, which they owned from 1830-1889. A large portion of the collection involves the personal and legal correspondence of Mary E. Boyd with the state of Florida in post-Civil War Palatka concerning the ongoing land claim (1868-1916). In addition to this, the Boyd family's tax and banking records are included.

Of particular interest to the researcher is Mary Boyd's personal account of the 1862 Civil War gunboat incident, written in 1903 and published in the local newspaper that same year, along with a draft of her informal autobiography. Also of note is the formal letter written in defense of Robert T. Boyd and Peter Monroe, providing witnesses who testify to the two gentlemen's loyalty to the Union.

The papers in the collection span from 1830-1916 and are arranged chronologically, with the exception of Mary Boyd's personal "Reminiscences of Palatka" (1903) which precedes her series of correspondence (1854-1916).

Oversized plats of land owned in Palatka and the vicinity are included in the collection but have been separated and stored flat.