Clan Boyd
Society, International
CAPT. JAMES I.H. BOYD - CARTER COUNTY, TENNESSEE
CAPT. JAMES I.H. BOYD, was
born near Gap Creek, Carter County, TN; May 29, 1821, the son of JOHN and
MARY (TIPTON) BOYD, the former born in North Carolina in 1783, the son
of WILLIAM BOYD, a native of North Carolina, and a captain of light horse
soldiers in the Revolution.
WILLIAM BOYD married REBECCA
PORTER, and removed between 1785 and
1790, settling at Gap Creek,
as a pioneer. The first deed on record after Tennessee became a State and
in Carter County, was made to him by William Sharp. In 1823 a powder-mill
explosion killed him. JOHN, the father, was a farmer and died August
19, 1873, and the mother was born in 1785, the daughter of Samuel Tipton,
of Virginia, and a pioneer of Carter County. He was the son of John Tipton
of the John Sevier difficulty fame; she died in Springfield, Ill., in 1856.
Our subject grew up on the farm, and even when twenty years old could not
read a verse in the Bible correctly after having attended a few schools
in log
cabin school houses. In 1843
he attended school four months at Holston College and then began teaching,
alternating farming and teaching, until he adopted the latter. In 1851
he went to Springfield, Ill., and for two years was deputy sheriff. In
1857 he returned and began teaching at Buffalo (now Milligan) College,
and in 1860 took charge of Duffield Academy at Elizabethton until August
11, 1861. He then joined the Federal Army and became a messenger between
East Tennessee people and those intending to burn the railway bridges;
he then became colonel and organized a company of 1,000 men in Carter County,
but they were dis- banded and soon went to Kentucky. On May 11, 1868*,
be was made captain of ompany B, Fourth Tennessee Infantry, at Louisville,
Ky., and resigned June 7, 1864, on account of ill health. He then went
to Knoxville and in 1865 to Elizabethton. He had charge of Washington Hotel
at Jonesboro, for a time, and in 1867 taught school at Elizabethton until
he became a representative in 1869. He then returned and taught school
until 1881, when he became assistant door-keeper of the National House
of Representatives, under Hon W.P. Brownlow who was principal
door-keeper of the XLVII Congress.
Since 1882 he has been at home. During the above time he has practiced
law more or less. MARTHA J. a daughter of Isaac TIPTON, became his
wife October 7,1847, and was born in 1824 in this county. Two of their
five children are living, HENRY C., a lawyer, at Elizabethton, is one.
The wife and three children died in Springfleld, Ill., in 1856 and 1857,
and February 28, 1860, he married RHODA WILLIAMS, born November 7,1824,
in this county. They have two children. She is a member of the Christian
Church. Rhoda is a daughter of Edmund Williams, several times sheriff of
Carter County. He is a son of Archibald Williams, and Archibald is a son
of Edmund Williams, a
pioneer, both of whom had
served as sheriff, etc.
Source: Biographical Appendix
- Goodspeeds' History of Tennessee -
Carter County - 1887
*Must be an error in transcription, could be 1863
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Thanks to Karen from Ohio, USA
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