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John N. Boyd ~ Isabella George

Livingston County, MO

Mr. Boyd is one of those men, too few in number, who fully recognizes the truth so often urged by the sages of the law, that, of all men, the reading and thought of a lawyer should be the most extended. Systematic reading gives a more comprehensive grasp to the mind, variety and richness to thought, and a cleaver perception of the motives of men and the principles of things, indeed of the very spirit of laws. This he has found most essential in the persecution of his professional practice. Born in Licking county, O., October 6, 1832, he was the son of William Boyd, a native of Pennsylvania, and whose father was Richard Boyd, of Maryland nativity. The latter was

a pioneer in Greene county, Pa., and continued to till the soil there until his death. When about twenty-one years of age William Boyd went to Ohio, then regarded as the far West, there marrying Miss Mary Ann Nelson, the daughter of William Nelson, of Huntingdon county, Pa. William Nelson was a mechanic by occupation, and after remaining in Ohio until a short time following the birth of John N. both families returned to Washington county, Pa., William Boyd living there until his death in 1881. His wife had departed this life in 1854. In their family were the following named children: John N. Boyd, Milton R. Boyd, now deceased; Margaret Boyd, wife of Rev. Joel Wood, of Pennsylvania; Jennie Boyd, now Mrs. Joseph Smith, of Ohio; Scarab Boyd, wife of John P. Hunt, of this county; Herschel V. Boyd, a physician at Piedmont, TV. Va.

John N. Boyd was reared to a farm experience, obtaining an education at Waynesburg College, in Greene county, Pa., and subsequently he commented teaching school at $15 per month. After this he taught in village schools and in then graded schools, climbing rapidly in this profession until he became the principal of large graded schools in Monongahela City, Pa., Wheeling, Va., and finally in Alleghany City, Pa. In the latter city, in 1860 and 1861, he had the superintendency of 1,200 children and 18 assistant teachers, all in one building. The war having commenced, the subject of this sketch was anxious to enter the service of his country and might have gone in as captain of a volunteer company from Alleghany City, but at the time was physically disabled for the service in the fall of 1862 he removed to Fairmont, the county seat of Marion county, Va., - now West Virginia, - where for six years he published a newspaper and through which he so vigorously advocated the cause of the Union that his paper (the Fairmont Vedette) attained great popularity and wielded much influence among the Union people of that region. Mr. Boyd participated and was active in the stirring events which led to and resulted in the division of the State of Virginia and the organization of the new State of West Virginia. In June, 1864, he was a delegate large from the new State in the National Republican Convention at Baltimore, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for a second term. Mr. Boyd took a prominent part in the adoption of a free school system in the new State and for several years was county superintendent of the schools at Marion county. To obtain qualified teachers he established and conducted normal schools, and in 1866, by the aid of an appropriation from the State, he founded at Fairmont the present State Normal School.

In August, 1868, Mr. Boyd located with his family in Chillicothe, Mo., and engaged in the drug business for nearly two years. April 6, 1870, he and Rev. Samuel Sawyer began the publication of the Chillicothe Journal as a Liberal Republican paper. Mr. Boyd had control of the editorial department, and in a few months the Journal attained a wide circulation. In the first issue Mr. Boyd published an editorial strongly advocating the nomination of B. Gratz Brown as the Republican candidate for Governor of Missouri. This article was extensively covered by the press of the State, and is believed to have been the first suggestion of Gov. Brown's name for that office, and to have led to his nomination by the Liberal wing of the Republican party, and his election in the fall of 1870 by over 40,000 majority, on the issue of enfranchisement then before the people.

Mr. Boyd was admitted to the Chillicothe bar in 1869, and since 1872 has ignored politics and devoted himself to law and the real estate business for four years, under Circuit Clerks Dunn and Wright, he kept the minutes and records of the Livingston County Circuit Court, and is familiar with the records of all the county offices. Careful, painstaking and searching in the points of the law, he has achieved to an honorable esteem among his fellow members at the bar. In 1884 he was elected to the position of public administrator for a four years' term. Mr. Boyd was married August 4, 1859, to Miss Isabella George, who was born and reared in wheeling, W. Va., the daughter of William George, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. They have four children: Jessie F. Boyd, a music teacher; J. Nelson Boyd, for several years assistant postmaster in Chillicothe, and both graduates of the Chillicothe High School; Masters Charlie D. Boyd and William Boyd. Mr. Boyd is a member of Friendship Lodge No. 89, A. F. and A. M., and has been a member of the fraternity since 1858. He has always taken great interest in the historical matters of the county, and has prepared several articles relating to that subject, and which have proved of much value.

 

Source: History of Caldwell and Livingston Counties, Missouri : including a history of their townships, towns, and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri...biographical sketches of prominent citizens; general and local statistics...incidents and reminiscences; St. Louis : National Historical Co., 1886. FHL Film 844894


 

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