Emmet Derby Boyle
Birth: July 26, 1879 Gold Hill, Nevada
Death: January 3, 1926 Reno, Nevada
Role in Women’s Suffrage: Called the Special Session for ratification of the 19th Amendment; Signed the ratification resolution for the 19th Amendment
HisStory: Emmet Boyle was the son of Edward and Sarah Donoghue Boyle.
After graduating from the University of Nevada, in 1889, he earned a master’s degree in engineering in 1903 and established a successful career as a mechanical engineer. He married Vida McClure in 1903 in San Francisco, California.
He served as Nevada State Engineer, (1910-11) and was a member of the Nevada State Tax Commission, (1913-14). In 1915, he was the first native-born Governor of Nevada and at age 35, the youngest to hold the office. Governor Emmet Boyle worked on Nevada’s water laws and taxation legislation and introduced the state’s first executive budget. The Nevada Department of Highways was created under his governorship. He extended mothers’ pensions and teachers’ retirement salaries and workmen’s compensation.
Shortly before the end of his second term he purchased the Nevada State Journal. Vida Boyle ran the paper for a short time after his death.
Emmet Boyle died on January 3, 1926 at age 46. He is buried at the Masonic Memorial Gardens in Reno, Nevada with his wife Vida.