THOMAS BOYD, attorney at law, Mound City. The Boyd family on the paternal side is of Scotch ancestry, and on the maternal English. William Boyd, the great-grandfather of Thomas, was a native of Ireland, and emigrated to America during the Revolutionary was espoused the cause of the patriots, joined the army under Washington and fought for the independence of his adopted country. After the close of the war, he married and settled in Georgia, where his son John, the grandfather of the present family, was born in 1818. John Boyd moved to North Carolina, and from thence to Tennessee, and in 1823 came to Illinois and settled in Washington County, but soon after removed to Randolph County, to a point then known as Heacock's Prairie, now known as Dutch Hill Prairie, and there remained till his death, which occurred about 1837. During the war of 1812, he enlisted and was a soldier under Jackson in the Southern army. His son William, father of Thomas, was born in Georgia in 1806, and came with his father to Illinois, and here married Isabel Douglass, daughter of Isaac L. Douglass. She was a native of Scotland, though partially roared in Illinois. She survived her husband, who died in 1854, and she in 1880. By this union there were eight children, five of whom are living. Thomas, the subject of this sketch, was born in Randolph County September 6, 1847. He was reared upon his father's farm, and received his education in the district schools of his neighborhood. At the age of nineteen, he left home and worked at his trade of carpenter; subsequently taught school, which he continued till 1870, when he entered the law office of Murphy & Boyd, at Pinkneyville, and commenced the study of law. He, however, continued to follow teaching in the winter months, returning to his studies during vacation. At the January term of the Supreme Court, held at Springfield in 1875, he passed a successful examination and was admitted to the bar; he then formed a law partnership with his preceptors, and became a member of the well-known law firm of Murphy & Boyd Bros., which continued until July, 1882, when John Boyd withdrew, and Thomas Boyd remained a law partner with Mr. Murphy until the latter part of November, 1882, when the dissolution of the firm took place by mutual consent. Our subject was joined in matrimony, March 13, 1878, to Mrs. Sarah J. Hight, nee Hughes, daughter of William A. and Sarah (Moore) Hughes, who were counted among our most esteemed citizens. Mrs. Sarah J. Boyd, born August 8, 1852, in this county, at Old Caledonia, is the mother of three children — Maud S., deceased; Loren H., born August 15, 1880; and Pearl Hope, born February 7, l883. Our subject was always a reliable Democrat, true to his principles, and without doubt or shadow of turning. He is an honored member of the A., F. & A. M., and also of the high degree of R. A. M. As a practitioner, he has had reason to be gratified with his success. He brought to the profession studious habits, industry and an earnest desire to excel. While comparatively on the threshold of his professional life, he has given undoubted evidence of his fitness and ability to cope with the subtle intricacies of the law, and in good time, we hope, will become eminent and learned in his chosen profession.
Extracted 02 Nov 2014 by Norma Hass from 1883 History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part V - Biographical Sketches, page 254.
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