James F. Boyce, Sr.

James F. Boyce was an American chemist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries involved in the manufacturing of soaps and detergents. He also pioneered techniques now used in the isolation and removal of consumable hydrogenated vegetable oils from plants, especially cottonseed. Later in life, he ran the Chicago Glass Novelty Company.^[1]

Family

Boyce was born in Chicago, Illinois on November 15, 1868, to Joseph (1832–1889) and Mary [Barre] Boyce (1834–1925), both mid-century immigrants to New York City, New York. ^[2]

The success Boyce had in his work as a commercial chemist allowed him to move to the somewhat exclusive Hyde Park area of Chicago's South Side^[3] where he met his future wife, Mable Hannah Thompson. Her parents owned a summer estate, 'Kemah', located in Saugatuck, Michigan, in Allegan County.^[1] They were wed on June 22, 1899 in Chicago.^[4] The Boyces had nine children. Early in the twentieth century the family relocated to a fruit farm near Saugatuck.^[5][6]

Early life and career

Gold Dust Washing Soap box.

In 1889, Boyce went to work as a chemist for the industrialist, Nathaniel Kellogg Fairbank. He quickly rose to the rank of foreman^[7] at the N.K. Fairbank Soap Company of Chicago.^[8] Boyce had his first career success working as the supervising chemist in the formulation of Gold Dust Washing Powder,^[1] an all purpose cleaning agent, first introduced in 1889. Initially a regional success, the brand quickly rose to national prominence. The product's mascots, the iconic Gold Dust Twins,^[9] were featured in print, written and radio ads. The twins, "Goldie" and "Dustie", made an easily recognizable trademark found in most U.S. homes during the first half of the twentieth century, even spawning a radio program in 1929, the Gold Dust Twins Radio Show. Gold Dust was distributed in the U.S. and Canada by the Lever Brothers Company.

Boyce made his most notable discovery while working with cottonseed in an attempt to extract usable oils for the soap industry in the 1890s.^[1] Cottonseed oil, as it was then being produced, proved to be of little practical use as a food supplement or additive for human consumption. However, Boyce's industrial hydrogenation procedure, when applied to cottonseed (and other plant materials), proved successful and was considered a scientific breakthrough.^[1] This allowed its subsequent application (by the likes of French chemist Paul Sabatier and manufacturing giant Procter & Gamble) in the commercial exploitation of vegetable oils and fats, resulting in such products as "oleomargarine" and shortening. These are in worldwide use today.

Retirement and later life

Boyce retired from the Fairbank labs and took up growing fruit at Kemah, with hired hands doing most of the physical labor in the orchards. Around 1915, Boyce took on the position of President of the Chicago Glass Novelty Company, headquartered in Marion, IN. This is a position he held until his death.^[1]

Death

Boyce died on Jun 02, 1935. He is buried in the Gibson Cemetery, in Laketown Twp., Allegan Co., outside Holland, Michigan.^[5]

References