Boyle, John Alexander

Boyle, John Alexander a Methodist Episcopal minister, was born May 13, 1816, at Baltimore, Md. His early years were spent in Philadelphia, and he entered the itinerant ministry in the Philadelphia Conference in 1839. He soon became marked as a preacher of vigor and promise; but his health failed, and in 1845 he was compelled to abandon itinerancy. He then studied law, and was admitted to the bar of New Jersey; but as soon as his health would justify it he returned to the ministry, laboring in a city mission in Philadelphia from 1854 to 1856, when a haemorrhage compelled him again to silence. He then became editor of a newspaper in Elk county, Pa., and was very useful in planting the Church in that region. When the rebellion broke out in 1861, he enlisted a company and entered the army as captain. He served through the campaign in Virginia with great distinction, and rose to the rank of major. At the terrible battle of Chattanooga, Oct. 29, 1863, his regiment held a post which was considered the key of the field against 6000 of the enemy, and he was shot through the head. Christian Advocate, Dec., 1864.