Montgomery County PA Archives Biographies.....Boyd, Col. James March 29, 1821 - 
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Source: Biographical Annals of Montgomery County Pennsylvania, T. S. Benham & Company and the Lewis Publishing Company, 1904
Author: Ellwood Roberts, Editor

COLONEL JAMES BOYD. The bar of every county in Pennsylvania has its oldest 
member, the honor being handed down from one to another as each in turn 
departs from the scene of his earthly labors and triumphs. Colonel James Boyd 
enjoys special distinction in this respect. He is not only the nestor of the 
bar of Montgomery county but he is the oldest attorney in active practice at 
this time in the state of Pennsylvania.
  James Boyd, grandfather of Colonel Boyd, was a native of County Tyrone, 
Ireland. Emigrating to this country, he settled at Connellsville, in the coke 
region of Pennsylvania.
  Colonel Boyd is the son of Jeremiah and Elizabeth (Long) Boyd. He was born 
in the old homestead in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, March 29, 1821. He was 
educated in the common schools of that vicinity in his earlier boyhood days, 
and when he was eighteen years of age his father and the family removed to 
Germantown, in Philadelphia county, where the son completed his education at 
the old academy conducted by Professors Green, Smith and Collum. The family 
then removed to Norristown, where the question of a profession for the son 
arose, he being upon the threshold of manhood. It was the father's wish that 
his son should become a druggist, and, without consulting with him, the elder 
Boyd purchased a drugstore in Norristown at the corner of Main and Cherry 
streets then owned by Dr. Huddleson, an early practitioner of medicine who is 
long since deceased. The son entered the store and, after a trial of business 
for three months, came to the conclusion that he was not fitted by nature for 
that occupation, and so disposed of it to another person. He then went to his 
father, who was greatly displeased at the turn of affairs, and informed him 
that he had decided to go west. The mother of Colonel Boyd prevailed on him, 
however, to remain at home.
  At that time debates in the public schoolhouses were very common, and young 
Boyd soon became talked about for the forcible, arguments which he advanced 
for the side which he happened to take, whatever might be the subject of 
dispute. Being six feet three inches in height and endowed with a clear voice 
and pleasing mode of address, he invariably commanded attention when he 
spoke. The father, hearing of the success of his son's efforts in this line, 
at once made the suggestion that he enter the legal profession through the 
usual course of preliminary study. The idea was acceptable to the young man 
and he acted upon it at once, entering the office of Daniel H. Mulvany, a 
Norristown lawyer of great learning and ability. In response to a request of 
the elder Boyd, Mr. Mulvany engaged in conversation with the son, the result 
of the conference being that Mr. Mulvany accepted him as a student, and he 
immediately started in to read law.
  Mr. Boyd applied himself to his legal studies with his habitual earnestness 
and diligence and he soon mastered the intricacies of the law, being admitted 
to the bar August 16, 1842, by Judge Fox. He then opened an office for himself 
in the same building in which he is now located, and waited, as is the custom, 
for his first client.
    Mr. Boyd made a success for himself in his profession from the start. 
Attorney Freedley, who soon gained a lucrative practice, was thought to have 
done exceedingly well by securing four hundred dollars in fees for his first 
year's work, but Mr. Boyd outstripped all his competitors by his perseverance 
and attention to business. His fees for the year in which he began practice, 
amounted in the aggregate to seven hundred and sixty dollars, a sum which has 
never before or since been equaled by a beginner in the course of his first year.
    The successes of Attorney Boyd rapidly increased and he soon became known 
far and near as a prosperous and popular lawyer. His business grew rapidly 
and he was generally recognized as one of the most prominent members of the 
Montgomery bar, which then, as now, had a high reputation among the legal 
fraternity of the state.
   In railway management Colonel Boyd has long held a very prominent place.  
1845 he was appointed counsel in Montgomery county for the Philadelphia, 
Germantown & Norristown Railroad Company. In 1852 he received a similar 
appointment for the Philadelphia & Reading Railway Company, which he still 
holds, although Montgomery Evans is associated with him. He still travels 
frequently to Philadelphia where he is summoned to confer with the president 
and other officials of the Reading Railway Company, who have the greatest 
confidence in his judgment, which in matters of legal business, is unequaled. 
In 1884 he was elected president of the Perkiomen Railroad Company, a few 
years later of the Stony Creek Railroad Company, and a short time afterwards 
of the Philadelphia, Newtown & New York Railroad Company, all of which 
positions he still holds. He has been a director of the Montgomery National 
Bank of Norristown since its organization, and also counsel for the 
institution. He is a director of the Philadelphia & Reading Railway Company 
and also of the Plymouth Railroad Company. He was one of the organizers of 
the Norristown Insurance &Water Company and also of the Norristown Gas Company, 
and was for many years president of both, holding the office until recently.
Colonel Boyd has always been a careful investor. He holds stock in many of 
the prominent corporations of Philadelphia and is the owner of valuable 
property in Montgomery and other counties of the state, being generally 
regarded as one of the wealthiest men in Norristown.
  In politics Colonel Boyd was a Whig during the existence of that party but 
later became a Democrat. He was elected burgess of Norristown many years ago. 
At that time there was no regular police force. After asking the town council 
to provide police protection and being refused, he appointed a policeman, and, 
later, an additional one, and, there being no public funds available from 
which to pay them, he met the expense from his own resources. It was quite 
common in those days for the youngest member of the bar to be elected burgess 
for one year, but at the end of Colonel Boyd's term, he had conducted the 
borough government so successsfully that there was not the slightest 
difficulty in securing him a re-election, the rule being set aside for the 
time being.
  In 1873 Colonel Boyd was elected a member of the constitutional convention 
of Pennsylvania on the Democratic ticket and became a prominent member of that 
body which framed the constitution under which the people of the state are now 
living. He was one of three members who refused to attach his signature to 
the instrument after it was drafted and accepted by a majority of the 
convention. There were some provisions in the document of which his conscience 
did not approve and he decided that he would not sign. It is characteristic 
of him that, having once made up his mind, he can not be swerved from his 
decision. Colonel Boyd's speeches at the time the constitution was discussed 
in the convention were considered models of good sense and elegant diction, 
and they added very much to his reputation as an orator. At this time an 
amusing episode occurred, being a mock trial of Colonel Boyd for the offense 
of impersonating a Methodist minister. During the existence of the constitutional
convention, E. C. Knight invited its members to be his guests at Cape May.
  On the trip Colonel Boyd was introduced to a Methodist clergyman, and, being an 
inveterate joker, succeeded in making him believe that he belonged to the 
same profession, much to the amusement of the other members of the 
convention. Later the mock trial was arranged by ex-Governor Andrew G. 
Curtin, Colonel Boyd being arrested as the defendant in the case of the 
Commonwealth vs. James Boyd, on the charge of impersonating a minister. Men 
of note from all parts of the state being members of the convention, 
including many prominent lawyers, the trial proceeded in due form, the 
testimony being carefully recorded by a court reporter. The speeches of 
counsel on both sides caused much merriment, and some of the rulings were 
absurdly funny, Colonel Boyd adding much to the general amusement by his 
witty sallies. The trial was printed and the demand from the legal fraternity 
all over the country greatly exceeded the supply.
  Colonel Boyd was and still is a strict disciplinarian, severely rebuking 
familiarities. He counted among his personal acquaintances, Lincoln, Grant, 
Sherman and many other notabilities of their time. Few men in Pennsylvania 
were better or more widely known than he during the more active years of his 
life. His after dinner speeches are renowned for their wit, and several bar 
dinners recently held in Philadelphia have been greatly enlivened by the 
scintillations of his dry humor.
  As a lawyer Colonel Boyd owes much of his success to his keen wit and to 
superior management, especially in the handling of witnesses on cross-
examination, in which he is an adept, leading those of his opponent to 
contradict themselves in their statements and thus to ruin their case.
Colonel Boyd has long been president of the Montgomery County Bar 
Association. He has won the respect and esteem of all with whom he came in 
contact. He is exceedingly kind-hearted and genial. Many a young man in the 
legal profession has come to him for advice, and he has given them advice 
that has been of the greatest benefit to them in the trial of their cases. 
Struggling lawyers have been very much aided by his friendly suggestions.
Colonel Boyd often relates with much gusto the practical joke which he once 
played on Daniel Dougherty, the "silver-tongued orator" of Philadelphia, who 
was very popular with the ladies because, of his fine Shakespearean renderings 
and other accomplishments. He had at one time built up quite a practice 
in the courts of Montgomery county, and was very often in Norristown. At his 
parlor in the leading hotel, the old Montgomery House, now the Hotel Montgomery,
he entertained delighted audiences in the evenings. When he had 
occasion to deliver a speech in behalf of a client in the courthouse, his 
admirers usually made it a point to be present. Colonel Boyd decided, when he 
had an opportunity, to head off the brilliant Philadelphia lawyer, whom no 
one else had ever been able to match, and the opportunity was not long in 
presenting itself. The two were pitted against each other and the followers 
of Dougherty had gathered in force to witness his triumphs through his 
brilliant oratory which was supposed to be irresistible when he addressed a 
jury. On this occasion, however, Colonel Boyd had the right to speak first, 
and he made the most of the privilege. He knew that Mr. Dougherty would be 
obliged to leave on the 5:30 train in the evening, and, launching into his 
address at 3 o'clock, he contrived to consume the time so that it was 5:20 
o'clock when he concluded his speech, to the utter discomfiture of Mr. 
Dougherty and his friends. The great orator made no attempt to speak at all. 
Colonel Boyd has often been pitted against Wayne MacVeagh and other eminent 
lawyers, whose fame was world wide, and he proved himself equal to any of 
them in fertility of resources and skill in handling his case. Wayne MacVeagh 
said of Colonel Boyd on one occasion that he was the most forcible and 
convincing speaker he 'had ever heard; stern and unbending at times, but with 
a heart as mellow and kind as could he desired when occasion required it.
Colonel James Boyd married Sarah Jamison, who died in 1884. She was the 
  Their children were Howard (deceased), who married Miss Mary, 
daughter of William H. Slingluff, they having 
one child, James S. Boyd, Jr., a student at the University of 
Pennsylvania, where he takes much interest in athletics; and 
Wallace J., who served in the house of representatives, and is 
long deceased, leaving one child who died in infancy.
  Colonel Boyd is widely known for his charity to the needy, his 
benevolence being unostentatious but none the less prompt and 
generous. He is universally esteemed by his fellow members of 
the bar and by all who know him. The dinner given to him by the 
members of the bar on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary 
of his admission, was an event long to be remembered. Eminent 
associates in the legal profession vied with each other in 
paying deserved tribute to their guest and friend. Hon. Wayne 
MacVeagh left an important case in Washington to be present and 
add his word by way of testimony to the splendid qualities of 
the grand old man.
  Mental power and self control are the qualities which have 
given to Colonel Boyd his preeminence in the profession in which 
his success has been so great. With a jury he has been almost 
irresistible, carrying its members with him by his mental force. 
Independent in his bearing, his humor and sarcasm are powerful 
weapons against his adversaries in legal contests. His invective, 
when he feels called upon to use it, is terrible. His 
varied and wide experience, his legal knowledge, and his attainments 
in his profession have long given him fame and 
reputation that have not been approached by any of his 
contemporaries in the practice of law. Had he cared for 
preferment of that kind he might have occupied a seat on the 
bench where his great learning and the force of his intellect 
would have made him a shining light in the judiciary of the 
state and country.

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