Thomas Duckett Boyd (1854 - 1932)

Born 20 Jan 1854 in Wytheville, Wythe, Virginia, United States

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 2 Nov 1932 at age 78 in Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States

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Biography

Thomas Boyd is Notable.

Thomas Boyd migrated from Virginia to Louisiana.

Thomas Duckett Boyd, Sr. (January 20, 1854 – November 2, 1932), was from 1896 to 1926 the president of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Earlier, from 1888 to 1896, he headed Northwestern State University, then known as Louisiana Normal, a teacher-training institute in Natchitoches.

Boyd was born in Wytheville, Virginia, a son of Thomas J. Boyd and Minerva A. French. He was educated at the Howard Shriver school in Wytheville and in 1872 received his bachelor's degrees from LSU. After a year of legal studies, he was named adjunct professor of mathematics at LSU. In 1875, he was elected Commandant of Cadets by the LSU Board of Supervisors. He was a professor of English and later history and English literature. He was an interim LSU president in 1886, two years before he relocated to Natchitoches to head Northwestern State University. He returned to LSU as president in 1896 and remained in that position for the remaining thirty years of his long academic career.[1]

At LSU, Boyd created the LSU Law Center and the Department of Education. He reorganized departments into colleges and supported agricultural programs. He arranged for permanent university funding through taxation. In 1904, he opened LSU to women. To encourage professional educators and based on his experiences at Northwestern State University, he organized teacher training institutes. He worked for successful passage of legislation guaranteeing public schools a stream of state funding.[1]

Today, LSU is designated by the Carnegie Foundation as a Research University I, placing it in the top 2% of the nation's colleges and universities. The distinction is shared by only 45 public and 25 private institutions.

In 1882, Boyd wed the former Annie Foules Fuqua of Baton Rouge, the sister of Louisiana’s Governor Henry Fuqua, and the couple had six children who lived past infancy:

1. Thomas Duckett Boyd, Jr. (1882-1964)
2. Minerva French Boyd Howell (1888-1973),
3. Annie Foules Boyd Grayson (1890-1979)
4. Overton Fuqua Boyd (1891-1951)
5. Henry Cecil Boyd (1895-1914)
6. Agnes Scott Boyd Pitcher (1896-1982).

These six children are shown in the group photo, one of the images with this profile. (Other sources have not included Agnes or Annie, and have included two children who died in infancy.)

At the time of his death, Boyd was the LSU president-emeritus.[6]

In 1935, Marcus Manley Wilkerson published a biography of TD Boyd through the LSU Press: Thomas Duckett Boyd: The Story of a Southern Educator.[8]

Thomas D. Boyd Hall, the LSU administrative building, is named in his honor.[9]

John F. Ohles, ed. (1978). Biographical Dictionary of American Educators, Vol. I. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishers. ISBN 0-8371-9893-3. Retrieved on October 24, 2014.

Louisiana - LSU - Boyd professors. wikispaces.com. Retrieved on October 23, 2014.

Harold B. McSween. T. Harry Williams: A Remembrance. Virginia Quarterly Review: A National Journal of Literature & Discussion. Retrieved on July 13, 2009.

"Thomas Duckett Boyd", Who's Who in the World, 1912

Thomas Duckett Boyd family papers, 1860-1966.

THOMAS DUCKETT BOYD.; President-Emeritus of Louisiana State University Dies at 78. The New York Times (November 3, 1932). Retrieved on October 23, 2014.

LSU - Thomas D. Boyd Hall. foursquare.com. Retrieved on October 23, 2014.

Sources

• Conservapedia https://www.conservapedia.com/Thomas_Duckett_Boyd

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/58176446/thomas-duckett-boyd

• "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHM7-BH8 : 18 February 2021), Thomas Boyd in entry for Thomas J Boyd, 1860.

• "United States Census, 1870", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MFGX-KSS : 29 May 2021), Thomas D Boyd in entry for Thomas J Boyd, 1870.

• "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MS59-ZTV : accessed 23 July 2021), Thomas D Boyd, Baton Rouge city Ward 2, East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 33, sheet 6A, family 128, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,240,563.

• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XMY4-GZ9 : accessed 23 July 2021), Thomas D Boyd, Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 10, sheet 31A, line 1, family 30, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 791; FHL microfilm 2,340,526.

• "Louisiana Deaths, 1850-1875, 1894-1960," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F3Q7-R32 : 4 March 2021), Thomas Duckett Boyd, 02 Nov 1932; citing Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, certificate number 12297, State Archives,...