> Has anyone on this list read this book? Yes, unless you have direct family, he provides no new information. I recall no BOYD mention. Boyd's may have moved into area in 1800's but not as a direct immigration from overseas. > What period in Massachusetts history goes it cover? Covers only western Massachusetts post 1760s. Scouts refers to the Scotch-Irish who fought in French-Indian and American revolutionary war from the region > While it is known that the Penn's in Pennsylvania encourage both Ulster-Scots and German migrants to settle on the boundaries to defend the Quakers, so did the good Fathers of Boston do the same think in the 1600's? Actually, Willam Penn offered land for settlement in his grant lands (PA, NJ parts of Delaware) immediately after he gained access in 1681. It was Rev. Mather's in New England who considered the Indian element and location of available land. James Logan of PA met with him and others and added the idea to his settlement of Scotch-Irish in the 1720s. The 1600s was a time of increasing established settlements and making them permanent. The huge influx of Scotch-Irish forced Mather to figure out where to put the new arrivals. The same happened in PA with Germans and Scotch-Irish, and Logan realized the Quakers, Mennonites, Presbyterians really didn't get along as much as William Penn had hoped. Eventually, we figured it out (sorta ;) > While I have not found any direct Boyds in MA before about 1720. Yes you have, George Boyd ship-builder of Portsmouth, New Hampshire is just one of the families. No, we don't know the Ireland/Scotland connection.