Obituary: Linn Boyd

A message, in writing, was received from the Governor, by the hands of Mr. Thomas B. Monroe, Jr., Secretary of State, announcing the death of the Hon. Linn Boyd, Lieutenant Governor elect and Speaker of the Senate.

Which was taken up and read as follows:

Executive Department,

December 20, 1859.

Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:

It has become my painful duty to announce to you the death of Hon. Linn Boyd, Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth, which occurred at his residence, on Saturday night last, at 8 oclock.

Col. Boyd has for many years occupied exalted positions of trust and confidence in the councils of the State and nation. Remarkable for his honesty and tried integrity; for his fidelity to principle, and for his unwavering attachment to the best interests of his constituents, his death will be lamented by the people of Kentucky as a public calamity. Out of respect to his memory, I have caused an order to be entered upon the executive journal that the public offices be closed, and that the transaction of the business of the Executive Department be suspended for the day; and it is needless for me to suggest to the representatives of the people, what I am sure is the first impulse of everyone, the adoption of such a course as will be most appropriate in your better judgment to testify your appreciation of the public loss in the death of a public servant so illustrious as Col. Boyd.

B. Magoffin.

Mr. Johnson moved the following preamble and resolutions, viz.:

The Senate of Kentucky having received the intelligence of the death of the Hon. Linn Boyd, the Lieutenant Governor and presiding officer elect of this body, and sharing in the universal sorrow this sad event will carry to every part of his adopted State, which he has so long and faithfully served in the councils of the State and nation, do unanimously

Resolved, That the Speakers chair be shrouded in black during the session; and that the officers and members of this body will wear mourning on the left arm for thirty days.

Resolved, That we are penetrated with profound sorrow for the loss, at this time, of one so firm in all good and patriotic purposes; so exalted in virtue; so pure in all the relations of life; and a statesman so inflexibly attached to the union of these States.

Resolved, That the Speaker of the Senate be requested to direct a copy of this preamble, and these resolutions, to be transmitted to Mrs. Ann L. Boyd, assuring her that this body deeply condole with her in the irreparable loss she has sustained in the severely afflicting dispensation of Providence; and that we shall ever cherish a profound respect for the manifold virtues and inestimable worth of her late husband.

Resolved, That when the Senate adjourn, it will adjourn until tomorrow, 10 oclock.

Which was unanimously adopted.

And then the Senate adjourned.

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