The Ancestral Homestead of Boardman and Boyd families and Frederic Boyd, founding Father and President of the Republic of Panama
The front of Coolbeg Farmhouse incorporates the ways of the orginal thatched home steading of the Fermanagh Boardman and Boyd families. The Irish Boorman family came to Ireland as Dutch mercenaries during the Williamite War of 1689 – 1691.The name being anglicized from Boorman to Boardman. The Boardmans were at Coolbeg in 1770 when one John Boardman of Coolbeg is shown on the Fermanagh Electoral Register but their occupation may have been much earlier.
The Boyds came to Ulster from Ayrshire, Scotland in the late 1600’s and early 1700’s, Fermanagh and Antrim having a particular occurrence of the name. The fascinating inscriptions on the headstones at old Aghalurcher Cemetery in nearby Lisnaskea, record many Boyds living in and around Upper Lough Erne from the 1700’s.
In 1827 a marriage between Margaret Boardman and James Boyd brought into being the Boadman/Boyd family who occupied Coolbeg and neighbouring land at Aghamore. At least four of the ten children immigrated to the United States under the names Boyd and Boyd-Boardman (including, John, James and Hugh).
A fifth child, Archibald Boardman-Boyd, emigrated to Panama where he fathered Frederico Boyd, one of the four members of the revolutionary Junta or próceras, which in 1903, secured Panama’s independence from Columbia. He later served as the 4th President of Panama. His son, Dr Augusto Samuel Boyd became the 18th President in 1939.
Coolbeg was also inhabited by another branch of the Boardman family which in 1941 passed to the Boardman’s of Aughakillymaude, Knockninny who held Coolbeg until the last of the line in 2009.
Coolbeg welcomes ancestors of the Boardman and Boyd families, or students of Panama’s history to visit or stay at the ancestral homestead. We are very keen to find out more about the American and Irish Boardman and Boyd families. Any information is welcome.