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 . After the legislature approved new oversight over those institutions , Boal was named trustee of the Deaf & Dumb Institute . He held this role for seventeen years . He was also a co-founder and director of the Cottage Hospital of Peoria . Boal was also a delegate at the Bloomington Convention , the first organization of the state Republican Party . Four years later , he was an alternate delegate to the 1860 Republican National Convention
1860 Republican National Convention
1860 Republican National Convention
Robert Boal