John Boyd (Texas politician)

John Boyd was born on August 7, 1796, in Nashville, Tennessee.[1][2][3] His father was Abraham Boyd and his mother, Nancy Linn.[4] His brother, Linn Boyd, went on to serve as the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1851 to 1855.[4]

By 1835, Boyd settled in Sabine County, Texas, with his wife and children.[1][2] He then served in the Texas Revolution.[2]

Boyd served as a member of the Congress of the Republic of Texas from 1836 to 1845.[2] In 1845, he moved to Limestone County, Texas, where he staked a claim near the Tehuacana Hills, northwest of Tehuacana.[2]

From 1862 to 1863, Boyd served in the Texas Senate.[2] By then, he had become a secessionist, in favor of the Confederate States of America.[1][2]

Boyd was also a landowner in Nashville.[5] He donated 11,000 acres (4,500 ha) of land as well as financial assistance for the establishment of Trinity University.[2]

Boyd married Elizabeth McLean.[1] They had nine children, but only three reached adulthood.[1] He was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.[2]

Boyd died on May 4, 1873.[1][3] After his death, the land he owned in Nashville, Tennessee was inherited by his granddaughter, Rachel Douglas Boyd Smiley, the wife of Senator Henry S. Foote.[5] They built a house, Old Central, which was later acquired by Vanderbilt University, on whose campus it still stands today.[5]