Born in Conway, Massachusetts in 1796, Boyden attended the common schools and then served in the War of 1812.

He graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York, in 1821 and moved to Stokes County, North Carolina in 1822.

After teaching school for several years in North Carolina, Boyden studied law and was admitted to the bar and practiced.

In 1842, Boyden moved to Salisbury, North Carolina and continued to practice law.

He unsuccessfully contested the election of Francis Edwin Shober to the 41st United States Congress, and afterwards resumed the practice of law until elected associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court in 1872.