John & Ann's Children

John & Ann had 2 children:

John, born April 9, 1802 in Philadelphia

Mary Ann, born in 1803 in Bristol, PA


John married Susan Letitia Yardley of Lower Makefield, Bucks Co., PA on November 30, 1828 at Morrisville.
They had 11 children.

Mary Ann, born October 25, 1829 in Philadelphia, PA. married Richard Cyrus Cabeen, September 9, 1851. died March 11, 1898.

William Yardley, born August 6, 1832; died June 12, 1842

Annie, born January 17, 1834 in Bristol, PA; died April 12, 1914, Cambridge, IL

John, born November 6, 1835 in Bristol, PA; married Emily Warner Welton, November 25, 1858; died March 20,1917, Phillips Co., KS

George Yardley, born April 16, 1837; married Sarah A. Matheson December 30, 1869; died August 1917

Olivia, born March 7, 1839; died March 7, 1839

Elizabeth K., born February 7, 1840; died April 18, 1882 in Hankow, China

Sarah Yardley, born February 7, 1840; died February 9, 1840

Susan Yardley, born July 11, 1842; married Thomas L. Attwater, October 5, 1868; died July 26, 1924

Horatio Nelson, born July 29, 1844 in Wilmington, DE; married Mary E. Attwater, October 7, 1868; died January 13, 1930 in Norfolk, NE

Robert Cabeen, born February 7, 1847 in Wilmington, DE; married Maria Josephine Briggs October 15, 1871 (died March 13, 1876); married Mary F. Smith September 6, 1877 (died 1879); married Sophia Jenett Thornberg November 26, 1880; died Deceber 20, 1930, Columbus, NE

Mary Ann married Horatio Nelson Bostwick April 17, 1826 at Bristol Boro, PA

They resided in Bristol, PA and ran a mercantile store Bostwick & Cabeen there.

They had no children.

Ann Bessonet Boyd Cabeen's Family

Information below comes from "The Cabeen Family, The Bessonet Family and Ann Bessonet Cabeen" by Mrs. Thomas McKeen Chidsey


"This family is of Huguenot extraction and probably descended from Claude de Besonet, sieur de Gatuzieres, Dauphiny, now the Department de la Lozere. At the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 1685, the family fled from France to England, supposed to consist of a father and three sons, Claude, Alexander and John. Claude Bessonet, presumable the father, was naturalized in London in 1700.


The Claude Bessonet branch settled in Ireland, where the family held a high social position in Waterford, and where Francis Bessonet was minister of the French Church in Dublin, 1765.


Alexander Bessonet went to Batavia, Java, where he died.

John Bessonet came to America, settled first in Bensalem Township, and afterwards in Bristol, where he died in 1778. His name appears as one of the vestrymen in the earliest remaining records of St. James' Church."


"He married Sarah Dye. Their children were:

Elizabeth, born January 13, 1721
Mary, born December 7, 1723
John, born October 21, 1725
Sarah, born May 10, 1728
James, born October 21, 1730
Catharine, born October 7, 1732
Charles, born October 5, 1734
Ann, born January 28, 1736
Margaret, born September 18, 1739
Martha, born January 25, 1742  m. Richard Johnson Oct. 12, 1783
Daniel, born February 25, 1743  m. Sarah Johnson, May 31, 1764


The children of Daniel and Sarah Johnson Bessonet were:

James, born May 14, 1765 d. October 26, 1766
Margaret, born August 1, 1766 d. November 7, 1769
Samuel, born October 26, 1768 d. September 4, 1769
Sarah, born November 4, 1769 d. July 9, 1811
Mary, born July 15, 1771 d. 1796
Elizabeth, born April 6, 1773 d. March 7, 1796
Ann, born April 15, 1775 d. January 10, 1832
Daniel, born July 8, 1779 d. December 1806

New Jersey Volunteers - Bessonett's Coy - Muster Roll shows Daniel Bessonet as the Captain of the 4th Battalion
"At the end of the Revolutionary War, Captain Daniel Bessonet of the British Army, being loyal to the Mother Country whose cause he had espoused, emigrated from Philadelphia to Halifax, with other refugees, accompanied by his wife, Sarah Johnson Bessonet, his three daughters, Mary, Elizabeth and Ann, and his son Daniel. He died December 1, 1783, aged 40 years. His wife, Sarah Bessonet, died December 3, 1790, aged 42. These three daughters were remarkable for their beauty and their grace of manner. Halifax being a garrison town, they probably led a life of gaiety and excitement, resulting in the early death of Mary and Elizabeth. Consumption, the disease of which they died, was probably induced by exposure to the night air in thin ball dresses, as well as by the unhealthiness of the climate."

Living in Philadelphia

According to the Philadelphia City Directories of 1802 & 1803 - John & Ann made their home at 381 S. Front Street in Philadelphia. John Boyd, Jr. was born there.

Modern day view of 381 S. Front Street, a few blocks from the harbor.

Meeting Ann Bessonet

We know that John was married to Ann Bessonet of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Ann's family lived for a time in Pennsylvania. Her father, Daniel was a Loyalist during the Revolutionary War, so they were forced to leave this country at the end of the war. They settled in Halifax.

According to the Bessonet Cabeen Manuscript, Ann's two sisters died of consumption in the same year, 1796. "Benjamin Etter, the husband of Mary Bessonet, is said to have been very proud of his beautiful wife. After her death in 1796, he was anxious to marry her youngest and only remaining sister, Ann, Elizabeth and Mary having died in the same year. Persecuted by his attentions which were distasteful to her, she desired to leave Halifax. She had a kind and faithful friend in Mrs. Wright, the wife of a clergyman of the Established Church, who not only encouraged her in her desire, but gave her practical assistance. Ann Bessonet, having found a sum of money apparently mislaid upon a windowsill, took it to Mrs. Wright, and was told by her that it was not lost money, but her own. By this means she was enabled to go from Halifax to Philadelphia. She took passage in the vessel commanded by Captain John Boyd, sailing between Philadelphia and Halifax, and afterwards married Captain Boyd in Philadelphia.

After her marriage -- probably immediately after -- she sailed with her husband on a voyage to Lisbon. Three years before his death, which occurred in 1805, his health failed and he left the sea and removed with her to Bristol, PA. Their son, John, was born in Philadelphia in 1802, their daughter, Mary Ann in Bristol, PA in 1803.

John Boyd died in 1805, aged 27 years, and was buried in Bensalem, PA. Soon after she married Robert Cabeen.

Ship Superb Sailing from Philadelphia, PA

John Boyd was the Master of the Ship Superb, originating from Philadelphia and traveling to Cork, Hamburgh, Havanna, Jamaica and other points along the way. They shipped cargo such as sugar, gum, varnish, and spirits of turpentine.

According to an index held at the National Archives, the Ship Superb was built in Massachusetts in 1788. I was registered in New York, Nov. 12, 1801.

Log Entries from the Ship Superb

"Lying in at Halifax" from April 27, 1798 to May 18, 1798.

May 18 left Halifax towards Philadelphia.

Thursday, May 17, 1798 - Light breezes from the northward the first part of these 24 hours. At 8 a.m. got the passengers on board. Got a ________ out to a ship in the stream.

Friday, May 18, 1798 - Light breeze and clear for the first part of these 24 hours. At 7 a.m. hove up and got underway. At 8 we was brought to at George's island over _____ by a boat from the island over ________ by a boat from the island and 2 men ________. Got clear made sail in company with ship Gadsden of Charleston at noon Cape Sambro lighthouse ______ dist of 8 or 9 miles got the boat in and stowed the anchors

May 22, 1798 - under way to Philadelphia. While in Halifax time was spent working on the boat. Some of the things they took on board -- ballast, deck nails, 2 gallons paint, oil, varnish, asirits of turpentine, 16 yards of canvas, 85# beef, burch broom. 8 oars.

Friday, May 27, 1798 - Light winds and hazey all these 24 hours the captain did withdraw shore apeals and log book and ships papers were given up to begin the ships way got fore and main of qmaster was oblidged to put the logwood up at publick _____ to pay the ships disbursements. Winds to the southward.

Thursday May 31, 1798 - Came into South Street Warf at 4 pm in Philadelphia.

They were busy then calking, painting, etc. on the boat.

Friday, July 14, 1798 last date entered

Ship Superb

John Boyd - FOUND!

The life of John Boyd is a puzzle that we have worked to solve for a number of years . . . finally with a little persistence, some great assistance from "internet cousins" and a little document from a library in Pennsylvania, we have been able to learn more about the life of such an elusive fellow. We'd like to tell you the little bit that we know about him in hopes of learning more . . . .

John was the Master of the Ship Superb, originating from Philadelphia, PA. He was at sea as the captain at least from 1797 to 1800. In 1802, his health failed and he left the sea and removed to Bristol, PA. He died in 1805 and was buried in Bensalem, PA. His widow went on to marry Robert Cabeen.