John Boyle

John Boyle (October 28, 1774 – February 28, 1834) was a United States representative from Kentucky and later a judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals (now the Kentucky Supreme Court), and finally a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Kentucky. Education and family life Born on October 28, 1774, at "Castle Woods" in Botetourt County in the Virginia Colony, to the former Jane Black and her husband the patriot Major John Boyle. Boyle had an elder brother Alexander, and four sisters who also survived to adulthood. Their father moved his family to Whitleys Station, Kentucky in 1779, upon receiving land for his patriotic service, where his sons were educated by private tutors and in private schools. Although his elder brother continued as a farmer in Garrard County (moving to Lincoln County, Kentucky after the Civil War), John Boyle then read law with Congressman Thomas Terry Davis and was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1797. John Boyle married Elizabeth Tilford, and they had ten children, the first four of whom failed to survive their parents. Their eldest daughter Arethusa Jewell died in 1818 while visiting her parents' home after giving birth to their first and second grandchildren. Their eldest surviving son, James Madison Boyle (1809–1892), moved to Illinois, as did his youngest brother Henry Boyle (1821–1846) and longest surviving sister, Ellen B. Lagow McAllister (1816–1844). Son Marmontel Boyle (1811–1851) died in California. Only sons John Weir Boyle (1815–1845) and Jeremiah Tilford Boyle (1818–1871) remained in Kentucky, the last following his father's example and becoming a lawyer and politician before his Civil War service.