James Edmond Boyd was born on in Alamance, North Carolina on February 14, 1845. A lawyer and former Confederate soldier, Col. George B. Bergen arrested him in July 1870 on charges of being a member in the Ku Klux Klan. He was transferred to Yanceyville, Caswell County for trial, where he confessed of his role with the Klan and agreed to talk to Governor Williams Woods Holden about the group's secret details. Despite his involvement, he was never formally charged and he later served in the U.S. Senate. He died in Greensboro, Guilford County on August 21, 1935.