John Farnham Boynton (September 20, 1811 – October 20, 1890) was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and an American geologist and inventor. He was one of the original members of the Latter Day Saint movement's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Boynton was born in Bradford, Massachusetts, to Eliphalet Boynton and Susan Nichols. He was married to Susan Lowell. In his teenage years, Boynton attended Columbia University and at age 20 began medical school in St. Louis, Missouri. Church service Boynton was baptized a member of the Church of Christ by Joseph Smith in September 1832 in Kirtland, Ohio. He was ordained to the office of an elder by Sidney Rigdon. Boynton proved to be an effective missionary for the church. He initially served in Erie County, Pennsylvania, with Zebedee Coltrin, in 1832. The following December, Smith sent him on a mission to Maine. In an 1834 letter written from Saco, Maine, Boynton states: "I have baptized about forty in this section; Elder Even M. Greene travelled with me from 16 Jan., 1833, till October following; while together we baptized about 130." While in Maine and Massachusetts, Boynton also served with Horace Cowen. Boynton was chosen as one of the church's apostles at the organization of the initial Quorum of Twelve Apostles on February 14, 1835. He was the only one of the original apostles who had attended university. Soon after, he accompanied the Twelve on their 1835 mission through the church branches in the eastern United States. He attended a conference in Laboro', Upper Canada, with six other members of the Quorum on June 29, 1835. Boynton returned to Ohio in the fall, and preached to a gathering of church members on October 18. After this mission, he began a mercantile business in Kirtland with church associate Lyman E. Johnson. Despite his dedication to the church's religious message, Boynton broke with Smith and Rigdon during the Kirtland Safety Society banking controversy. In May 1837, U.S. President Andrew Jackson ordered the U.S. Treasury to accept only gold for public land, rejecting privately printed paper money such as the Safety Society and other unchartered community institutions produced. This ultimately caused the Kirtland bank to fail. The failure of the financial institution, founded with the support of church leaders, led to widespread dissent in 1837. Two distinct factions developed in the community, with members of the church's leadership aligned