HISTORY OF KENTUCKY, by Lewis Collins, and J.A. & U.P. James, published 
1847.  Reprinted by Henry Clay Press, Lexington, Ky., 1968, pp. 207-208 
[Boyle county].

JOHN BOYLE, for more than sixteen years chief justice of Kentucky, was 
born of humble parentage, October 28, 1774, in Virginia, at a place 
called "Castle Woods," on Clinch river, in the then county of 
Bottetourt [sic], near Russell or Tazewell.  His father emigrated, in the 
year 1779, to Whitley's station in Kentucky, whence he afterwards moved 
to a small estate in the county of Garrard, where he spent the remainder 
of his days.  
	Young Boyle's early education, notwithstanding the limited means 
of obtaining scholastic instruction, was good, and his knowledge of what 
he learned thorough.  In the rudiments of the Greek and Latin languages, 
and of the most useful of the sciences, the Rev. Samuel Finley, a pious 
Presbyterian minister of Madison county, was his instructor.  Energetic 
and ambitious, Mr. Boyle readily settled upon the law as the calling 
most congenial to his feelings, and most certain and gratifying in its 
rewards.  He studied under the direction of Thomas Davis, of Mercer 
county, then a member of congress, and whom he succeeded as the 
representative of the district.
	In the year 1797, just after he had entered upon his professional 
career, he married Elizabeth Tilford, the daughter of a plain, pious, 
and frugal farmer, and moved to the town of Lancaster.  In the following 
year, upon an out-lot of the town, which he had purchased, he built a 
small log house, with only two rooms, in which not only himself, but 
three other gentlemen - who successively followed him as a national 
representative, and one of whom succeeded him in the chief justiceship, 
and another served a constitutional term in the gubernatorial chair of 
Kentucky, - began the sober business of conjugal life.  Here the duties 
of his profession engrossed his attention until 1802, when he was 
elected, without opposition, to the house of representatives of the 
United States.
	As a member of congress, Mr. Boyle was vigilant, dignified, and 
useful, commanding at once the respect and confidence of the 
Jeffersonian, the then dominant party, with which he acted, and the 
hearty approbation of a liberal constituency.  He was twice re-elected 
without competition, and refused a fourth canvass, because a political 
life was less congenial to his taste, than the practice of his own 
profession amid the sweets of his early home.  The same feeling 
compelled him to decline more than one federal appointment, tendered him 
by President Jefferson.  President Madison, among his eaerliest official 
acts, appointed him the first governor of Illinois, a position doubly 
alluring, and which Mr. Boyle conditionally accepted.  On his return to 
Kentucky, he was tendered a circuit judgeship, and afterwards a seat 
upon the bench of the court of appeals.  The latter he accepted, and 
entered upon its onerous and responsible duties on the 4th of April, 
1809.  Ninian Edwards, then chief justice of the court, solicited and 
obtained the relinquished governorship.
	On the 3d of April, 1810, Judge Boyle was promoted to the chief 
justiceship, which he continued to hold until the 8th of Novembr, 1826.  
The decisions of the court, while he was upon the bench, are comprised 
in fifteen volumes of the State Reports, from 1st Bill to 3d Monroe, and 
are marked with firmness and purity.
	Chief Justice Boyle was the head of the "Old Court" of appeals, 
during the intensely exciting contest of three years duration, between 
the "Relief" or "New Court," and the "Anti-Relief" or "Old Court" 
parties.  The notes of "The Bank of the Commonwealth," issued upon a 
deficient capital, were necessarily quite fluctuating in value - at one 
time depreciating more than fifty per cent.  A serious revulsion in the 
monetary interests of the State, opened the way for a system of popular 
legislation, designed to satisfy temporarily the cry for relief.  The 
two years replevin law - prolonging from three months to two years the 
right of replevying judgments and decrees on contracts, unless the 
creditor would accept Commonwealth bank money at par - was the crowning 
project of the system.  The court of appeals unanimously decided the 
statute unconstitutional, so far as it was designed to be retroactive - 
a step that brought upon them the full torrent of popular abuse and 
indignation.  The relief party carried the day at the election soon 
after, (1823), and on the meeting of the legislature, an addess was 
voted - by less than two-thirds, as the constitution required, to remove 
by address - calling upon the governor to remove the apellate judges, 
and setting forth their decision as unauthorised, ruinous and absurd.  
This bold effort at intimidation failing in its end, at the succeeding 
session the majority, grown more determined as the echo of the popular 
will becme louder, "re-organized" the court of appeals, or abolished the 
court established by the constitution, and instituted a new court, for 
which purpose commissions were issued to other persons.  Matters now 
reached a crisis, and Kentucky was required either to take her stand by 
the broad fundamental law which had so powerfully contributed to her 
progress, or to yield to the inconstant, unreasonable and selfish clamor 
that rang hoarsely through the State.  The struggle was, as it were, for 
the life of the State - involving the stability of a constitutional 
government, and the efficiency and independence of an enlightened 
judiciary.  In August, 1826, the appeal to the ballot box decided the 
contest.  The "Old Court" party triumphed, and confidence was gradually 
restored in the ability, integrity and purity of Chief Justice Boyle and 
his associates.  
	In the November following, the earliest day at which it could be 
done consistently with his determination to ride out the judicial storm 
the memorable decision of the court had brewed, Boyle resigned the chief 
justiceship of Kentucky.  But his services upon the bench were too 
highly appreciated to be dispensed with.  The federal government, 
anticipating his resignation, tendered him the office of district judge 
of Kentucky which he accepted, and was induced to hold, although his 
better judgment prompted him to give it up, until his death, which 
occurred on the 28th day of January, 1835.  His estimable lady preceded 
him a year and a half, having fallen a victim to the scourge of the 
nations, the cholera, in 1833.
	The appointment of associate justice of the supreme court of the 
United States was twice within his reach; but he loved retirement, and 
distrusted his qualifications for a position so responsible.  Upon the 
death of Judge Todd, he refused to be recommened as his successor; and, 
subsequently, expressed the same unwillingness upon the demise of Judge 
Trimble, of the same court.
 	For one year, in the latter part of his life, he was sole 
professor in the Transylvania law school.  Numbers of young men followed 
him to the quiet of his home, where his pleasures were divided between 
teaching law, miscellaneous reading, and the cares of his family and 
farm.
	His dying ejaculation - "I have lived for my country" - is the 
best eulogium that could be written upon his life and public services.  
In all the relations of father, friend, representative and judge, his 
conduct and conversation marked him a a man, tender and symphasing, 
generous and disinterested, faithful and vigilant, deliberative and 
incorruptible.

Boyle Whitley Finley Davis Tilford Jefferson Madison Edwards Bibb Monroe 
Todd Trimble
=
Botetourt-VA Garrard-KY Madison-KY Mercer-KY IL

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/boyle/boyle.j.txt