John Boyd

John Boyd (May 1, 1824 – July 2, 1882) was an Irish American immigrant, politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He represented northern Fond du Lac County as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly for four terms. He later served part of a term in the Kansas House of Representatives, but was unseated due to a dispute over his election.

Biography John Boyd was born in England on May 1, 1824, and graduated from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, in 1843. He emigrated to the United States with his parents and siblings in 1844. The Boyd family settled at Calumet, in the Wisconsin Territory.

Boyd became active with the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and was elected to four terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly from the district comprising northeastern Fond du Lac County. He served in the 1855, 1860, 1862, and 1870 sessions. In addition, he was a member of the Fond du Lac County Board of Supervisors for nine years between 1854 and 1866, and was chairman for 1857 and 1861.

He was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives in 1873, with an apparent margin of victory of just four votes. His Republican opponent, C. S. Brown challenged the results of the election in the Kansas House Committee on Elections, alleging he had identified at least four illegal votes for Boyd. The House ultimately voted to grant the seat to Brown in February 1874, by a narrow vote. He remained involved in Kansas politics and served as an officer of the state Grange and was active in the Greenback movement in the latter half of the 1870s.

His health began to decline about 1880 and he returned to Wisconsin, hoping the environment would improve his health. After a year in Wisconsin, he returned to Kansas, feeling restored. Two months later, he began to fail again until finally, in June 1882, he decided to take another trip to Wisconsin. He died at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, on July 2, 1882.