Biography

07/11/1883 - 03/13/1935

James Slingluff Boyd (R12) Montgomery County 1919-1922 (R12) Montgomery County 1927-1935

Early Life:

James Slingluff Boyd, born July 11, 1883, Norristown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania; son of Howard and Mary Slingluff Boyd; Norristown High School, 1900; University of Pennsylvania, 1905; journalist, 1905-1909; magazine writer; sports editor; engaged, automobile business; alternate delegate,  Republican National Convention, 1916, elected, Republican, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1917 term; not a candidate for reelection, 1918; elected, Republican Pennsylvania State Senate, 1919-1922, elected, Republican Pennsylvania State Senate, 1927-1935; elected, Senate President Pro Tempore, 1931-1933; died in the office of Senate, March 13, 1935 (age 51 years, 245 days) Montgomery Hospital, Norristown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania; interment, Montgomery Cemetery, Norristown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.  

Early Career:

Served, reporter, sports editor, and magazine columnist for several Western Pennsylvania publishing companies. Purchased several automobile sales agencies beginning, 1909.

Professional titles; business ownership; board memberships; local government; club memberships:

Episcopalian. Member, Beta Theta Pi, Sphinx Senior Society. 

Pennsylvania Politics:

Alternate delegate, Republican National Convention from Pennsylvania, 1916.
Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1917 term; not a candidate for reelection, 1918. 

Elected, Republican Pennsylvania State Senate, 12th District, Montgomery County, 1919-1922. committee assignments, Appropriations, Exposition Affairs, Game and Fisheries, Judiciary Special, Legislative Apportionment (Chairman), Mines and Mining, Public Grounds and Buildings, Public Health and Sanitation, Public Printing. Public Supply of Light, Heat and Water.

Elected, Republican Pennsylvania State Senate, 12th District, Montgomery County, 1927-1935, elected Senate President Pro Tempore 1931-1933, presided over the litigious Governor Gifford Pinchot extra-session of 1931, perhaps memorable only for its lack of productivity; chairman, Canals and Inland Navigation, 1927-1928, chairman, Legislative Apportionment, 1929-1932, committee assignments, Appropriations, Exposition Affairs, Game and Fisheries, Judiciary Special, Mines and Mining, Public Grounds and Buildings, Public Health and Sanitation, Public Printing. Public Supply of Light, Heat and Water; died in the office of Senate, March 13, 1935. 

Pennsylvania House of Representatives Biography:

Official Website - PA House Archives Official Website (state.pa.us)

Legacy:

Captained, Penn track team, once established collegiate sixteen-pound shot-putting record. 

The “tallest man in the Senate at six feet, six inches, 230 pounds,”

Cited: 

Cox, Harold. "Senate Members B". Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.

The Pennsylvania Manual, (1922). Miller, H.P., (Compiler). Baker, W.H., (Assistant Compiler). Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pages 1845, 1857, Biographical Sketches of Senators, page 1820. 

Dight, J.C., (Director). Whitmore, R.E., (Compiler). (1927). The Pennsylvania Manual, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pages 965, 970, Biographical Sketches of Senators, page 990.

Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, editor Henry Wilson Ruoff (Philadelphia: Biographical Publishing Company, 1895), pages 387,485. 

The Mercury (Pottstown, Pennsylvania) Wednesday March 13, 1935, Page 1.

The Evening News (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) Wednesday March 13, 1935, Page 1.

James Slingluff Boyd (1883-1935) - Find a Grave Memorial