John Robert Boyle - Early Life

Early Life

Boyle was born in Sykeston, Ontario on either February 1, 1870 or February 3, 1871, of Scottish and Irish descent. His father died in 1884, and Boyle had to leave school to support his family; he eventually completed high school at Sarnia Collegiate Institute in 1888 and 1889. Following graduation, he taught school for three years in Lambton County. In 1894, he came west, though accounts vary as to exactly where he settled and for what purpose: he either studied law in Regina, taught school in Pilot Butte, or settled in Edmonton.

Sources agree that he was in the Edmonton area by 1896, and that he taught school there before being called to the bar in 1899. In either 1892 or 1902 he married Dora Shaw, with whom he had either two or three children. He partnered with Hedley C. Taylor to form Taylor & Boyle, which was later known as Boyle, Parlee, Freeman, Abbott & Mustard; the firm was a forerunner of the present day Parlee McLaws. Boyle was made King's Counsel in 1913.

He ran in the 1904 Edmonton municipal election to elect the first Edmonton City Council (Edmonton had hitherto been a town). He finished second of seventeen candidates in the aldermanic race, and was elected to a two year term. He resigned in 1906, before the completion of his term.