After schooling in Ohio, Boal moved to Lacon, Illinois, where he practiced medicine for thirty years.

After serving a pair of two-year terms, he was made a trustee of the Illinois Institute of the Deaf and Dumb.

[2] Boal opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act and successfully ran for a seat on the Illinois House of Representatives in 1854.

[3] During his second house term, Boal was appointed to a joint committee to oversee conditions at the Illinois State Hospitals for the Insane, Blind, and Deaf & Dumb.

[1] During the Civil War, Boal was appointed Surgeon of the Board of Enrollment of Illinois's 5th congressional district, at the time covering Putnam, Marshall, Peoria, Stark, Henry, Bureau, and Knox counties.

Daughter Clara married general Greenbury L. Fort; their son Robert Boal later served in the state senate.