• Born 1811 Bradford Massachusetts
• Baptized 1832
• Mission to Pennsylvania 1832
• Mission to Maine 1833-1834
• Participated in Zion's Camp 1834
• Ordained Apostle 1835
• Disfellowshipped for apostasy 1837
• Excommunicated for apostasy 1837
• Died 1890 Syracuse, New York

    John F. Boynton was born September 20, 1811, in Bradford, Essex county, Mass.; baptized in September, 1832, by Joseph Smith, in Kirtland, Ohio, and ordained an elder by Sidney Rigdon. He performed a mission, together with Zebedee Coltrin, to Pennsylvania in 1832 and another one to Maine in 1833 and 1834. February 15, 1835, he was ordained an apostle in Kirtland, Ohio, under the hands of Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris, after which he accompanied the Twelve on their mission to the Eastern States and Canada. During his last mission he borrowed all the money he could among the brethren, with which he entered into the mercantile business with Lyman E. Johnson, and followed it until he apostatized and was dis-fellowshipped from the quorum of apostles Sept. 3, 1837, in Kirtland, Ohio. On the following Sunday he made confessions and was forgiven, but as he did not repent of his evils, he was finally excommunicated from the Church.

    Heber C. Kimball wrote: ""At this time many faltered in their faith; even some of the Twelve were in rebellion against the Prophet of God. John F. Boynton said to me, 'If you are such a fool as to go at the call of the fallen prophet, Joseph Smith, I will not help you a dime, and if you are cast on Van Dieman's land, I will not make an effort to help you.'

    About Boynton's subsequent life A. H. Hale, of Grantsville, wrote: "Since the days of Nauvoo, Boynton has resided in Syracuse, N.Y., where he still lives. He has always been considerate to his former friends and co-laborers in the ministry, and never has said or done anything against the Church. When he visited in Utah in 1872, he called on President Brigham Young twice, in my company. The President was then a prisoner in his own house, guarded by U. S. marshals, and Boynton denounced in strong terms the persecutions then being carried on against the Saints. He also met Erastus Snow, who, when only sixteen years of age, was ordained a teacher by Bro. Boynton. Elder Snow told him that he had been preaching the same Gospel ever since. Bro. Boynton remarked, 'Stick to it, for it is good.' He also called on Orson Pratt and others, with whom he was very friendly. Since leaving the Church Mr. Boynton has never joined himself to any other denomination and does not believe in any religion whatever. He says, however, that if anything is right, 'Mormonism' is.

    For twenty years he traveled throughout the United States lecturing on natural history, geology and other sciences. In 1853 or 1854 he was appointed by the government to make a trip to California on a geological surveying expedition, and during the War of Northern Agression he was employed in the invention of torpedoes and other destructive implements of war." Up to 1886 John F. Boynton had his name in the national patent office for 36 patents on different inventions.

    He spent much of the latter part of his life gathering genealogy of the Boynton family. He died at Syracuse, New York, October 20, 1890.