Boykin Jones was born in Muscogee, Georgia on February 15, 1840 and spent much of his formative years in Columbus. After his formal education, he attended the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. When the Civil War erupted, he returned home to enlist on April 14, 1861 in Company "G", called the old Columbus Guards, in the 2nd Georgia Infantry Regiment. His particular company was attached to President Jefferson Davis as his personal bodyguard during his inauguration in Montgomery, Alabama. In July of 1862, he was transferred to Wilson’s Rangers, which was an independent cavalry command. He was home on sick furlough in Columbus, GA when he heard about Union General Wilson’s raid through Alabama. With the enemy advancing on Columbus, Boykin came back from sick leave and aided in the defense of the city. At the end of the war, he was paroled with the remnants of his company on April 10, 1865 in Columbus.
After the war, he became a cotton planter in Alabama until February 1881 when he and his family moved to Pensacola. With his education, he became a clerk and moved to 116 West Belmont Street (no longer there). By 1890, he was a commercial broker while also an agent for the Moulton & Company at 24 East Government. Six years later, he became a justice of the peace. Two years later he was the proprietor of the Jones Stationary Store and president of Gulf Real Estate Company. In 1866, he married Emily Chipley of Columbus, the sister of former Confederate William Dudley Chipley and one of the most influential Pensacolians of his time. The town of "Chipley" Florida is named after him and his statue adorns the center of Ferdinand Square in downtown Pensacola. Emily became the first president of the Pensacola Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, organized in 1899. While Emily was busy with her group, Boykin became the commander of the United Confederate Veterans (Camp Ward #10). She would bear Boykin five known children; Wm Chipley, Elizabeth, Frank, James Randal, and Charlie (daughter).
His daughter Elizabeth "Lizzie" would marry Robert Abercrombie Hyer of the influential Hyer family. Robert's father was William Knowles Hyer who named his estates on today's Scenic Highway "Bohemia" after his wife Belle's homeland in Germany.
In 1903, Boykin and Emily moved to 119 West Strong Street where he lost Emily to illness on January 9, 1906. In 1908, he applied for and was granted a Florida annual pension of $100 for his Confederate services during the war. The old judge finally passed away from old age on April 2, 1923 at the home of his son-in-law Robert Hyer at 704 North Palafox Street. He was buried in the St. John’s cemetery next to his wife Emily and his son William Chipley.
Emily Chipley Jones, wife of Judge Boykin Jones
Judge Boykin Jones
Boykin's signature on his Confederate Pension application 1907
Judge Boykin Jones CSA pension approved
for $100 per year 1908
Jones' application for an increase
to his CSA pension 1914
Pensacola News Journal of March 4, 1918 upon
the death of CSA veteran George W. Wright
Pensacola News Journal 3-14-1918, Judge Jones
represented Precinct #34 on the contentious issue
of forcing cattle to be dipped to kill the Texas tick
119 West Strong Street as it appears today. Home of Boykin
and Emily Chipley Jones when she died in 1906
Pensacola News Journal 1906
Judge Boykin Jones gravesite
in St. Johns Cemetery