CLAN BOYD INTERNATIONAL
Dr. ABRAHAM WEATHERLY and ELLA (WELLS) BOYD
Dr. Abraham Weatherly Boyd,
a member of the medical profession at
Chattanooga, who in recent
years has devoted his time and efforts to a
mastery of the disease known
as pellagra, becoming a recognized authority in
this branch of medical science,
was born in Bradley county, Tennessee, March
16, 1860. His father, John
Wesley Boyd, was a native of McMinn county,
Tennessee, and a wagon maker
by trade. In the days of the secession movement
he was a strong union man
but when the state decided to leave the Union he
felt it to be his duty to
follow the commonwealth. His service in the
southern army, however, so
exasperated some of the other Union sympathizers
that they brought about his
assassination in 1864. He was a son of
Micajah
and Mary (Barbe) Boyd
and the latter was a daughter of Colonel Abraham Barbe
of McMinn county, who organized
a company of cavalry for service in the War
of 1812. Both the Boyd and
Barbe families were pioneer planters of Tennessee,
descended from still older
pioneer families of other states and both were
represented in the struggle
for American independence.
Abraham Weatherly Boyd of this
review was educated in the schools of Bradley
county, Tennessee, and of
Murray county, Georgia, until he had completed his
public school course, while
later he pursued a collegiate course in Athens,
Tennessee. He next became
a student in the medical department of the
University of Georgia and
was graduated with the M. D. degree in 1885. Two
years later he took a postgraduate
course in the New York Polyclinic and
throughout his professional
career he has remained a close and discriminating
student of medical science.
He entered upon practice as a general physician
and surgeon and won creditable
success in that field but during the last few
years has been devoting all
of his time and talent to the study of pellagra,
a disease which has been scourging
the south and which up to a few years ago
was unknown to the profession
as to cause or cure. Dr. Boyd's researches,
however, have resulted in
the discovery of a cure in connection with which he
has established a laboratory
for its manufacture. In this respect his work is
of vast benefit to his fellowmen,
his contribution to medical science being
most valuable.
In 1897, in Whitfield county,
Georgia, Dr. Boyd was married to Miss Ella
Wells, a daughter of
Dr. W. B. and Mary (Pope) Wells, the former a surgeon of
the Confederate army during
the Civil war and afterward a leading and
successful practitioner of
surgery in Chattanooga. Her ancestors in both the
paternal and maternal lines
were prominent in the several communities in
which they lived. One of the
family was the Hon. D. H. Pope, a distinguished
attorney of Albany and a brother
of Mrs. Wells. Mrs. Boyd died from an
accident, in March, 1922.
She was at one time president of the Francis M.
Walker Chapter of the United
Daughters of the Confederacy and president of
the St. Elmo Book Club. She
also occupied the presidency of the
Parent-Teachers' Association
of Chattanooga and was a lady of marked
popularity and prominence
in connection with the social as well as civic
interests of the city. By
her marriage she became the mother of one son,
David Huel, who was educated
at the Baylor school, at the Georgia Military
Academy and at the Bliss Electrical
School of Washington, D. C. He enlisted
for service in the World war
in April, 1917, was sent to Fort Oglethorpe,
where he remained until the
12th of December, and was then transferred to
Fort Bliss, Texas, where he
continued until September, 1918. He was sent to
the Signal Officers' Training
Camp at Camp Meade, Maryland, and commissioned
a lieutenant in December of
that year. He still holds his commission in the
Officers Reserve Corps, being
attached to the Eighty-first Reserve Division.
He is a charter member of
the David King Summers Post of the American Legion
and is a member of the Jonathan
W. Bachman Camp of the Sons of Confederate
Veterans. He is likewise a
Master Mason and member of the Royal Arch chapter.
His business connection is
that of secretary of the Boyd Medicine Company.
During the World war, Dr.
Boyd participated in all the Liberty Loan drives
and much war work. He is a
democrat, active in support of the party yet never
an aspirant for office. He
holds membership in the Christian church, also in
the Masonic fraternity, in
which he has attained the Knight Templar degree of
the York Rite and is a Noble
of the Mystic Shrine. Along professional lines
he has membership in the Hamilton
County, Tennessee State and American
Medical associations and through
the proceedings of these bodies he keeps in
touch with the trend of modern
professional thought and progress.
Tennessee
The Volunteer State Vol 4, Biographies of professional
individuals ( including but
not limited to finance, medicine, teaching, law and politics)
residing in Tenessee from
1769-1923
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