Boalt married Elizabeth Josselyn (born
Hanover, Massachusetts, 30 June 1838) on 31 July 1866, in Waverley, Massachusetts, and together they had one child, Alice Boalt Tevis, first wife of Hugh Tevis. She died unexpectedly; her death was "a blow from which Judge Boalt never recovered". At his death due to heart failure, his only surviving relatives were his wife and granddaughter, Alice, who later died at age 10. 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. In 1906, she created a further trust, whereby, subject to a life estate and certain powers of revocation, she transferred substantially all of her remaining estate "to establish and endow a professorship in the Department of Jurisprudence in the University of California, to be known as the 'John H. Boalt Professorship of Jurisprudence.'" She later modified the fund as a permanent endowment "for such chair or chairs as my said trustees or their successors, may designate and determine, or, in lieu of such designation, as the said Board of Regents shall determine." She was also a secret patron of artists, musicians, and writers. A pianist in her youth, Elizabeth Josselyn Boalt went on to enroll in Vienna as a pupil of Leschetizky at age 60. She studied Italian, German, and French and maintained a society of artists, musicians, and literary people. ==Legacy==