John Henry Boalt
John Henry Boalt (March 29, 1837 in Norwalk, Ohio – May 9, 1901 in Cloverdale, California) was an attorney who resided in Oakland, California in the late 19th century. After graduating from Amherst College in 1857, Boalt attended the University of Heidelberg School of Mining and was a member of the Signal Corps in the Civil War. Boalt was also a judge and president of the local Bar association.
After Boalt's death in 1901, his widow, Elizabeth Josselyn Boalt, created a trust allocating two parcels of land in San Francisco valued at $100,000 to be sold for the benefit of the University of California to construct a building to house its new School of Jurisprudence on the Berkeley campus. Six weeks later, the 1906 earthquake destroyed the properties. The trustees were able to sell only one parcel, for far less than the original value. In recognition of the gift, the new building was named Boalt Memorial Hall of Law.
External links
- Genealogy Records at Amherst College
- Connecticut State Library Obituary Sketch
- Romance with Elizabeth Josselyn
- UC Berkeley's Boalt School of Law renamed