John Boyle (congressman)
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John Boyle (October 28, 1774 - February 28, 1835 or January 28, 1834) was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky from 1803 to 1809. He was born near what is now Castlewood, Virginia and moved with his father to Whitley's Station, Kentucky (a settler's fort near present-day Crab Orchard) in 1779.
Boyle was educated by private tutors and in private schools. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1797 and began practice in Lancaster, Kentucky and was a member of the State house of representatives in 1800. He was elected as a Republican to the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth U.S. Congresses (March 4, 1803 - March 3, 1809).
Boyle was one of the managers appointed by the House in January 1804 to conduct the impeachment proceedings against John Pickering, and, in December of the same year, against Samuel Chase. He was chairman of the Committee on Public Land Claims in the Ninth and Tenth Congresses. Boyle was appointed Governor of the Illinois Territory in 1809, but declined the office.
Boyle served as a judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals from April 1809 to April 1810, serving as chief justice from April 1810 to November 8, 1826. His tenure spanned the Old Court-New Court controversy. He resigned to become a United States judge for the district of Kentucky, serving from November 9, 1826, until his death near Danville, Kentucky in 1834 or 1835. He is buried in Bellevue Cemetery there.
Boyle County, Kentucky is named after him.
