John Elliot Boyd, M.D. ~ Bessie L. Williamson

Duval County, Florida

John Elliot Boyd, M. D., a young physician of Jacksonville, was born at Darlington, S.C., December 11, 1869. His father, Col. Robert Watson Boyd, who died in 1900, was a native of South Carolina and one of the most prominent lawyers of the state. During the civil war he served with distinction in the Confederate States army as adjutant on the staff of Brigadier-General Farley. The mother of Dr. Boyd, Mary Louise McCall, was also a native of South Carolina, being a daughter of George C. McCall, a wealthy planter of that state. Dr. Boyd was reared at Darlington and received his literary education at the University of South Carolina, at Columbia. After leaving college he spent one year as a drug clerk preparatory to the study of medicine. In 1891 he entered the Medical college of the state of South Carolina at Charleston, and graduated in 1894, receiving first honors in his class and winning the collegiate prize, a handsome silver cup. Returning to Darlington he practiced his profession there until the breaking out of the Spanish-American war in 1898. Dr. Boyd, who had always been attracted to the military life, was at that time a member of the Darlington Guards, and old company which served with honor during the war between the states. This company, of which Dr. Boyd was first lieutenant, at once prepared to go into active service, but before entering its rendezvous, its captain, Henry T. Thompson, was promoted to the position of major, and Dr. Boyd was made captain. The Darlington Guards were mustered in as Company A, independent battalion, South Carolina volunteers. Dr. Boyd was offered the position of surgeon of the battalion by the governor of South Carolina but declined the offer, preferring to remain in the fighting line, and he commanded his company, later placed in the first battalion, Second South Carolina regiment, all through the war, spending three months in Cuba with the Seventh army corps under the command of Gen. Fitzhugh Lee. The company saw a longer term of service than any other from that State, and Dr. Boyd was distinguished throughout by his bravery and faithful execution of duty. At the close of this service he returned to private life, and settled in Jacksonville for the practice of his profession, becoming a resident of the city in 1899. In the winter of 1896-97 he took a post graduate course at the New York Polyclinic. He is a member of the Duval County Medical society and of the Florida Medical association. Dr. Boyd is at the present time chief surgeon of the Jacksonville and Southwestern railroad, and is also surgeon of the Cummer Lumber company of Jacksonville. He was married April 23, 1895, to Miss Bessie L. Williamson, of Darlington, S.C. 

Source: Memoirs of Florida, Volume 1: embracing a general history of the province, territory and state, and special chapters devoted to finances and banking, the bench and bar, medical profession, railways and navigation, and industrial interests by Rowland H. Rerick, Southern Historical Association, Atlanta, Ga. 1902.

     Here is a short bio that was done after John E. Boyd died in 1934.

John Elliott Boyd was born in Darlington, SC, the son of a Darlington attorney, Robert Watson Boyd and his wife Louise McCall Boyd.

After receiving his early education in the Darlington schools, he attended the South Carolina College, graduating in 1890.  He began the study of medicine under his uncle, Dr John A.  Boyd, also of Darlington, and clerked in his Grocery Store until September 1891, when he entered the South Carolina Medical College.  He graduated in March 1894, with the highest standing in a large class, and won the annual award for first honors.

Dr. Boyd returned to Darlington and entered the office of Dr. W. J. Garner as a junior partner, where he remained until called into service with the Darlington Guards during the Spanish American War.

In 1899, his military service completed, Dr. Boyd decided to locate in Jacksonville, Florida.  Once there he quickly gained an honored reputation; he was for many years Chief Of Staff of St. Vincent's Hospital and the Duval County Hospital.  He was local surgeon of the A. C. L. Railroad and chief surgeon of the Jacksonville & Southwestern Railway.  During World War One, Dr. Boyd served in France with the U. S. Army Medical Corps.

Dr. Boyd was first married on April 23, 1895, to Bessie Lenoir Williamson of Darlington; no children were born of this union.  

On August 28, 1914, Dr. Boyd married Hazel Locke of Jacksonville; their children were Robert Watson Boyd and Anna Locke Boyd.

Charles Boyd, Atlanta, Georgia