Date Died: November 20, 1873

Place Buried: Old Lutheran
Church Cemetery in Salisbury, NC

Nathaniel Boyden was born on August 16, 1796 in Conway, MA, the son of John Boyden and Eunice (Hayden) Boyden. He received a liberal education at Deerfield Academy prior to attending Williams College and Union College of Schenectady, NY, where he graduated in 1821. While he was in college, he studied law under the tutelege of his uncle, Moses Hayden, a New York congressman.

In 1822, Nathaniel Boyden moved to North Carolina, first settling in Guilford County. While reading North Carolina law, he taught school at Kings Crossroads, a community in northwest Guilford County, and also taught in Madison in Rockingham County.

In December of 1823, Nathaniel Boyden was admitted to the NC bar, and he settled in Stokes County near Germanton.

On January 20, 1825, Nathaniel Boyden married Ruth Martin, daughter of Hugh Martin of Stokes County; she died on August 20, 1844, leaving four children.

In 1832, Nathaniel Boyden moved to Surry County. There he remained for a decade, gaining success as a lawyer and entering active political life.

In 1838, Nathaniel Boyden was first elected as one of three men to represent Surry County in the NC House of Commons of the:
- 62nd General Assembly that met from 1838 to 1839
- 63rd General Assembly that met from 1840 to 1841

In 1842, Nathaniel Boyden moved to Salisbury, NC and opened his law practice there.

In 1844, Nathaniel Boyden was elected to represent the 41st NC Senate District (Rowan County & Davie Coounty) in the NC Senate of the:
- 65th General Assembly that met from 1844 to 1845

In November of 1845, Nathaniel Boyden married a second time, to Mrs. Jane Caroline Henderson Mitchell, widow of Dr. Lueco Mitchell, daughter of Archibald Henderson and Sarah (Alexander) Henderson, and a niece of Chief Justice Leonard Henderson; they had one son.

In 1847, Nathaniel Boyden was elected to represent the 2nd District of North Carolina in the U.S. House of Representives of the:
- 30th U.S. Congress that met from 1847 to 1849

Declining to serve again, Nathaniel Boyden returned to his law practice in Salisbury, NC.

In 1865, Nathaniel Boyden was elected to represent Rowan County in the 1865 Constitution Convention.

In 1868, Nathaniel Boyden was again elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, this time representing the 6th District of North Carolina in the:
- 40th U.S. Congress that met from 1867 to 1869 - he took his seat on July 13, 1868

He served until March 3, 1869. After an unsuccesful bid for re-election, Nathaniel Boyden again returned to his law practice in Salisbury.

In May of 1871, Governor Tod Robinson Caldwell appointed Nathaniel Boyden as an Associate Justice on the NC Supreme Court, replacing Associate Justice Robert Paine Dick, who had been appointed a U.S. District Judge by President Ulysses S. Grant. He remained on the Supreme Court bench until his death.

On November 20, 1873, Nathaniel Boyden died, and he was buried in the Old Lutheran Church Cemetery in Salisbury, NC.

Born in Conway, Massachusetts in 1796, Boyden attended the common schools and then served in the War of 1812. He graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York, in 1821 and moved to Stokes County, North Carolina in 1822.

After teaching school for several years in North Carolina, Boyden studied law and was admitted to the bar and practiced. In 1838 and 1840, he was elected to terms in the North Carolina House of Commons. In 1842, Boyden moved to Salisbury, North Carolina and continued to practice law. In 1844 he was elected to the North Carolina Senate, and in 1846, voted to a single term in the 30th United States Congress (March 4, 1847 - March 3, 1849) as a Whig.

Declining to stand for re-election in 1848, Boyden returned to the practice of law. After the American Civil War, he was a delegate to the 1865 North Carolina Constitutional Convention, and, upon the readmission to North Carolina to the union, he was elected as a Conservative to the 40th United States Congress and served from July 13, 1868 to March 3, 1869.

He unsuccessfully contested the election of Francis E. Shober to the 41st United States Congress, and afterwards resumed the practice of law until elected Associate Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court in 1872. He served in that post until his death in Salisbury, on November 20, 1873; he is buried in the Lutheran Cemetery in Salisbury.

In 1844, he represented Rowan County in the NC State Senate, and in 1847, he was elected a member of the Thirtieth Congress. He declined re-election and continued to practice law until raised to the bench. He attended forty-eight courts each year and practiced regularly in twelve counties.

He was a member of the State Convention of 1865 and in 1868 was elected as a Republican to the Fortieth Congress.

Upon Justice Thomas Settle's first resignation, he was appointed an Associate Justice by Governor Tod. R. Caldwell in May of 1871 to the NC Supreme Court. He was then in his 75th year. He died in 1873 after a service of two and a half years.