Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


 
M. B. BOYCE, 
 
who is engaged in the law, real estate, loan and insurance business on Utah 
avenue, Santa Monica, California, is a native of New York, born in 1831. His 
father was a millwright by trade, and later in life a manufacturer. His mother 
died in New York State in 1864, after which his father moved to Illinois where 
he died in 1873. Their two sons both received a college education. From the 
academy of Charlotteville, New York, under Professor Alonzo Flack, the subject 
of this sketch entered the sophomore class in Union College, New York, and 
graduated at that institution in 1857, under Dr. Eliphalet Nott. After his 
graduation he went to Chicago, Illinois, with his brother, M. M. Boyce, and was 
admitted to practice law in the courts of that State, and formed a copartnership 
under the firm name of M. M. Boyce & Bro. The senior member of that firm died in 
1874, at Independence, Iowa, stricken down with paralysis, while advocating the 
cause of his client.  The shock upon the subject of this sketch, then in rather 
poor health, caused him to close up all business of the late firm, and seek the 
invigorating climate of California, where a complete restoration to health and 
enjoyment of life seem to surround him in the "city by the sea." He has recently 
become associated with H. S. Legrand, a successful botanist and nurseryman, 
under the name of Boyce & Legrand, for the purpose of propagating the finest 
flowers and plants that are known. His green-house and garden, called Exotic 
Nursery, is a part of his unassuming but cozy home, on the corner of Third 
street and California avenue; and here are now some of the most beautiful roses 
in Southern California, the climate of this place being especially adapted to 
their growth and culture. Mr. Boyce was married in 1878 to Miss Julia E. 
Calkins, who is also a native of the Empire State. Mr. Boyce has served the 
people of Santa Monica as postmaster for a term of nine years, and for a number 
of years as justice of the peace and notary public. He was made a Mason in 1857 
in St. George's Lodge, No. 60, Schenectady, New York. Mr. Boyce possesses the 
elements of a successful business man, is courteous, intelligent and scholarly 
in his bearing, and is highly respected by all who know him.
 
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California �  Chicago, The Lewis 
Publishing Company, Page 390
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler