Joseph Dozier Boushall was born in Camden County, North Carolina on February 19, 1864. Boushall was an insurance agent in Raleigh (Wake County) who served as a member of the executive committee and later on the board of trustees for the Caswell Training School (formerly the North Carolina School for the Feeble Minded). He additionally played an influential role in the establishment of the State Department of Insurance and served as chief clerk to the state auditor (1887). His obituary makes special note of his white supremacist beliefs: "He was a member of and very active in the 'White Supremacy' Legislature of 1899...." Boushall died in Raleigh on September 5, 1943.