James McClellan Boal
{{Short description|American artist and politician}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = James McClellan Boal
| image =
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| office = Member of the Minnesota Territorial Council
| term_start = September 3, 1849
| term_end = January 6, 1852
| predecessor = Position established
| successor = William L. Larned
| office2 = Member of the Minnesota Territorial House of Representatives
| term_start2 = January 7, 1852
| term_end2 = January 4, 1853
| predecessor2 =
| successor2 = Alfred Elisha Ames
| birth_date = {{circa|1811}}
| birth_place = Pennsylvania
| death_date = {{circa|1862}}
| death_place = Mendota, Minnesota
| party = Whig
| otherparty = Republican Party of Minnesota
| occupation = Artist
| allegiance = United States
| branch = United States Army
| serviceyears = 1833–1846
}}
James McClellan Boal{{efn|Boal's last name is often erroneously listed as "McBoal"}} ({{circa|1811}}–1862) was an American artist, trader, and politician who served in the Minnesota Territorial Council and House of Representatives from 1849 until 1853.
Biography
Boal was born {{circa|1811}} in Pennsylvania. He enlisted as a drummer and went to Fort Snelling. He was bunkmates with Joseph R. Brown, a fifer. He then traveled to St. Paul and established himself as a house and sign painter. He was elected as one of the first Councillors of the territory by a vote of 98 to 91. His fellow Whig{{Cite news|date=13 February 1851|title=Circular of the Whig Members of the Legislature in Relation to the Disposition of the Public Printing|work=The Minnesota Pioneer|url=https://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn83025241/1851-02-13/ed-1/seq-1|access-date=2 May 2020}} partisans were apparently so happy he had won that they paraded him through the streets of the city with a chariot made from an oxcart. He served as a Councillor from 1849 until 1852 and then served as a Representative from then until early January 1853. He was also appointed as the territorial adjutant general by Governor Alexander Ramsey from 1849 until 1853.{{cite book |title=Minnesota in Three Centuries, 1655-1908 |date=1908 |publisher=Publishing Society of Minnesota |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mGgLAQAAIAAJ |access-date=February 10, 2020}}
Boal would go on to become a founding member of the Republican Party of Minnesota in 1855. He had received a letter from the Republican Territorial Committee saying that Boal "[held] the principles of the Republican Party, and [could] be relied upon as a Leading Man in [his] vicinity, to be active in forwarding the organization of the Republican movement in this Territory."{{cite journal |title=The genesis of the Republican Party in Minnesota |journal=Minnesota History |pages=24–30 |url=http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/2/v02i01p024-030.pdf |access-date=February 10, 2021}}
Boal moved to Mendota from Saint Paul sometime before his death in 1862. A street in Saint Paul is named after him, though it uses the erroneous spelling of his last name, McBoal.
Notes
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References
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External links
- [https://www.lrl.mn.gov/legdb/fulldetail?id=11293 Biography] at Minnesota Legislature
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boal, James McClellan}}
Category:Members of the Minnesota Territorial Legislature
Category:Artists from Saint Paul, Minnesota