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l»llll#l»ICTW3CHAPTER 114.COL. JAMES P. BOYDuds'Career of an Able Lawyer and Deprives Community of a Most Useful Citizen.James P. Boyd was one of the seven Decatur lawyers who deserted their offices and foresook their clients to go to the front in defense of the union in the Civil war.Three of this group sacrificed their lives in this service and Colonel Boyd was one of these. He was forty-two years of age when he entered the service, was settled in life, had a wife and family and a successful practice. It is a tremendous wrench to uproot a man thus firmly fixed but the great struggle between the sections had reached the stage that such sacrifices were called for and he was not the man to be deaf to the call.He enlisted in the One Hundred Sixteenth Illinois, that regiment recruit-etf In August and September, 18*2, which so nearly stripped Macon county of its aWe bodied men and which fought bo valiantly during the remainder of the war.He w*3 made lieutenant colonel of the regiment. He was shot through the lungs In the siege of Vicksburg la June 18*3. He returned to his command in October, but never recovered ifis health. He died at hfe home in Decatur in October, 1669. A poet mortem examination revealed the fact that a portion of cloth carried into the wound by the bullet had never been removed and that his death was directly traceable to thia wound.BORN IN KEYSTONE STATE.James P. Boyd was bom near Bloomfield. Pa., Nov. 17, 1B20. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Boyd, both of them natives oC the state. He was reared alter the manner of farm boys. He attended the schools of his community. He waebright and etudioua, found hooka congenial and decided upon preparing himself for a profession.When he was a young man he accompanied Ws parents who moved to Ohio and settled near Cambridge. He again took up farming and acquired a farm of 200 acres.A professional career stilt lured him and ho decided to take up the otudy of law. He became a school teacher, reading law In his leisure hours. After two or three years of stndy of this kind he entered a law school in Cincinnati where he completed liw legal training.FINDS WIFE IN DECATUR.Ho was admitted to practlco in the courts oC that state but almost Immediately came to Illinois and selected Decatur as a location. HOopened a law ottioo hero in Z8S4 andin n short time entered into a partnership with. Attorney James C. Lake.Soon after coming to Decatur he married Susan McGovern Packard, the widow of Dr. Edmund Packard. Their home was ut North College and West William streets, which Is stilt the borne of Mrs. Boyd.There were four children born of that marriage. One daughter, Mrs. A. M. Meckdnburg of Pittsburg; Is now with her mother in Decatur. Two sons, Frank and James P. reside in Spokane, Wash.' AS A MAN AND LAWYER.Both as a lawyer and os a man he quickly made a place for himself In Decatur. He came at o fortuitous time, at the coming of the railroads and the beginning of the real development of the city. There was a fine typo of citizenry which received Colonel Boyd on his merits as a tunn and there was a strong bar whfch quickly recognized hla legal Ability. His knowledge of the law was thorough. and exact and in tho sevenyears before the Civii War he built up an excellent practice. He was concerned in most of the important litigation In the Macon county courts. He was also a good business man end acquired a fine farm In Niantic which remained in possession of the family until recent years.EDITS DECATUR GAZETTE.It is a matter of record that Colonel Boyd for a time edited a newspaper, but the record does not Inform us how long or at what time he was in that capacity. He was associated with A. J. Davis in the publication of tlie Decatur Gazette. This wan Decatur's first newspaper * and was established by James Short ft in 1851. Mr. Shoaff sold theJAMES F. BOYD A* he appeared at Ltarttngut Col* onel of the On* Hundred IfiteuHlIllinois.N. Underwood. The latter won r» tired and was succeeded by Mr.Tbfs fixes the dal# at 1UI or a little later. The yean Just before the war were a period of beetle Journalinto. The Gazette and lie contemporaries were weekly newspapers hut the editors had something to say on the burning political,lianas of tho day and often sold it with more emphasis than politeness. Whether Colonel Boyd bad sot yet got Into the full swing of a busy law practice and was merely a newspaper dltetania to occupy some leisure hears and exercise his wits or like many men of his Ume had some convictions which he nought a means to express. Wo know that ho was • man of strong convictions.WAR ENDS ALL.Then came the war. Colonel Doyd’e part In It has been briefly told already*. Ho resigned his commission as lieutenant colonel Jan. 28, 1864, and went south in the hope of improving his health. He vUiUd several southern cities and finally Vacated in New Orleans with the et-nectatioo of making that bis homo. He was offered there the appointment na circuit Judge, a position for which his legal attainments especially fitted him, but the condition of his health forbade him to accept.His health grew steadily worn* and finally Mrs. Boyd went to Kaw Orleans and brought him home ft# die. Ho is buried In Greenwood Gazette .cemetery. - -in 1856 to A. J. Davis and Isaac(Tlt;r Be Continued) ■ l+uA tlx* n^inU nr thfl D(- , V? ft DBA ZIW0
Newspaper Details
Decatur Daily Review
Decatur, Illinois, US
Tue, Mar 25, 1924
Page 21
Full Page
Clipped by
Muskingum C.
OH, USA 11 Feb 2020
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Decatur Daily Review
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