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	CLARK M. BARBER.  A well known and popular citizen of Knox county is the able educator whose name initiates this biographical review, who for a period of nearly thirty years has labored in his chosen field of endeavor in Pleasant township with remarkable success, his labors making him a much liked public character, being known as a man of keen perceptive faculties, scholarly attainments, unusual soundness of judgment and upright in all the relations of life.  Continuous application for over three decades of advancement has given him a clear and comprehensive insight into the philosophy of education and the largest wisdom as to method and means of attainment of ends, while his steady growth in public favor wherever he has labored and his popularity with pupils and patrons have won for him a high educational standing.  He possesses the personal charm and tact which make him popular with the young, and by entering into their spirit and pastimes, sympathizing with them in their troubles, listening to and settling their disputes and making their interests his own, he has become the idol, almost, of the juveniles of this part of the county, his being one with them rendering his work easy and adding greatly to his popularity.      Clark M. Barber was born May 6, 1862, in Washington county, Pennsylvania, and is the son of Abram and Margaret (Hindman) Barber.  In 1862 the family moved to Pleasant township, Knox county, and here the subject grew to manhood, in fact, has spent his life.  Here the father engaged in farming, becoming very comfortably established.  Politically, he was a Democrat and was active in public affairs.  For a period of seventeen tears he was treasurer of Pleasant township, Knox county, this being criterion enough of the confidence which his neighbors reposed in him.  He and his wife were members of the Presbyterian church.  He was a man of exemplary character and was well liked.  His death occurred on Nov. 3, 1901, and his wife died on August 3d of the same year.  They were the parents of six children, five sons and one daughter, namely: John lives in Rock Island, Illinois; Jennie married John Wood, of Mt. Vernon; Samuel M. lives in Hyattsville. Wyoming: Thomas P., of Pleasant township, this county; Allen S resides in Traverse City, Michigan; Clark M of this review.  These children are all living.      Clark M. Barber spent his childhood and youth on the home farm where he assisted with the general work about the place during the crop seasons, attending the district schools in the winter time.  He always had a laudable ambition to be a teacher and when scarcely past the age of fifteen years he began this line of endeavor and has taught in the schools of Knox county every year since, twenty-nine years of this time being spent in the schools of his own township, Pleasant. As already intimated, he is recognized as one of the most progressive teachers of Knox county and he stands high in educational circles in this part of the state. In 1906 he was appointed one of the county school examiners and is still serving in that capacity, having been reappointed for a second term in 1909, and he is clerk of the board.  He is a member of the state organization of county examiners and during the year 1911 was a member of the executive committee of that organization.  He is a member of the Ohio State Teachers Association and also a member of the Knox County Teachers Association and has been active in its work.  In addition to his common school certificate, he has an eight-year high school certificate.  He is an occasional contributor to the state educational publications.      Mr. Barber was married on May 19, 1885, to Belle Busenburg, daughter of David and Elizabeth (Ulery) Busenburg.  The mother is deceased, but the father is living in Harrison township, this county.  The union of the subject and wife has been graced by the birth of one daughter, Gertrude Marie, now a student in the Mt. Vernon high school, where she is making a splendid record.      Politically, Mr. Barber is a Democrat and he has always been an active participant in public affairs.  He served as clerk of Pleasant township for a period of eight years.  He has served as a member of the Democratic county committee for several years and be has been a frequent delegate to county, district and party conventions.  Fraternally, he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Lodge No. 316, at Mt. Vernon; Timon Lodge No. 45, Knights of Pythias; also the Masonic order and the Knights of Maccabees.  He and his family belong to the Disciples church at Union Grove and are active in church and Sunday school work.      Mr. Barber is an advocate of healthful outdoor sports and general athletics, and for recreation he enjoys an occasional hunt.  His home is just on the outskirts of Mt. Vernon, a modern, attractive and neatly furnished residence, well equipped with current and standard literature.  The family stands high in the social life of the community. Source: Past and Present of Knox County, Ohio - Vol. II - Publ. by B. F. Bowen & Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1912 - Page 823
	FRANK L. BEAM.   The name of Frank L. Beam is too well known to the people of Knox county to be formally introduced by the biographer here, for he has long been one of the progressive business men of Mt. Vernon, the efficient president of the local telephone company.  He was born Nov. 14, 1858, near Mt. Vernon, Ohio. He is the son of James A. and Martha (Letts) Beam, both natives of Knox county; his father was born in 1832 and died at the age of thirty-six years.      Frank L. Beam grew to manhood here and received his education in the local schools.  He began his business career as clerk in a hardware store in Mt. Vernon. In 1880 he engaged in the crockery and wall paper business here, which he continued successfully until 1901.  He became interested in the telephone business in 1894, and he has been president of the Mt. Vernon Telephone Company since its organization and its great success has been due very largely to his efforts.  He became general manager of the Columbus (Ohio) Telephone Company in 1899, which position he retained for a period of six years.  In 1904 he was elected president of the Ohio Independent Telephone Association, which he now holds.  On account of the duties connected with the state association work, he resigned as general manager of the Columbus Citizen Telephone Company in 1905.  He is also interested in a great many telephone plants in central Ohio.  He has mastered thoroughly every phase of the telephone business and is by nature an organizer and promoter, carrying to successful completion whatever he undertakes.      Mr. Beam is also president of the Coshocton Gas Company, of Coshocton, Ohio; also president of the Canton Rooting Tile Company, of East Sparta, Ohio, each of which is doing a large and constantly growing business.      Mr. Beam was married first to Mellie Greer, of Mt. Vernon, this county, and the daughter of H. H. Greer and wife.  Mrs. Beam was called to her rest in 1903, leaving two children, Henry Greer Beam and Margaret Josephine Beam.  The former is a graduate of Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, also of the law department of the State University of Ohio at Columbus.      The second wife of the subject was known in her maidenhood as Anna Louise Bogardus, daughter of W. P. Bogardus, a well known Mt. Vernon merchant.  To this union two children were born, James A. and Frances Louise.      Fraternally, Mr. Beam is a Mason, holding membership in all the branches of the same, including the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine at Columbus, Aladdin Temple.  Politically, he is a Republican, and he and his family are members of the Presbyterian church. Source: Past and Present of Knox County, Ohio - Vol. II - Publ. by B. F. Bowen & Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1912 - Page 826
	CLEM L. V. BLUE.  It is the pride of the citizens of this country that there is no limit to which natural ability, industry and honesty may not aspire.  A boy born in ignorance and poverty and reared under the most adverse circumstances and unpromising surroundings may nevertheless break from the fetters and rise to the highest station in the land, the most noticeable example of all history of this being that of Lincoln, who, in early life, was, as every one knows, a poor rail-splitter and his home was a backwoods log cabin.  These conditions give the youth of America ambition to push forward to achievement even in the face of obstacles.  One of the citizens of Knox county who has done this is Clem L. V. Blue, farmer of Jackson township, having worked his wav to a comfortable station in life.      Mr. Blue was born in the township where he still resides on Mar. 8, 1863.  He is the son of Hamilton and Adeline (Whitmore) Blue.  His paternal grandparents, Daniel and Eva Blue, were natives of Wheeling, West Virginia, but which was in the Old Dominion at that period, and there they spent their early lives, but emigrated to Knox county, Ohio, very early.  Grandfather Blue was a soldier in the war of 1812, and it is probable that he came to Knox county at the close of that war.  He took up land from the government and lived the life of the average pioneer of his time, redeeming a good farm from the heavy woods and undergoing the usual hardships of the times.  The maternal grandparents, Jacob and Elizabeth Whitmore, were natives of Pennsylvania, where they spent their childhood, coming to Knox county, Ohio, very early, locating in Harrison township where they, too, underwent the usual struggles of the newcomers to a new country.      HAMILTON BLUE, mentioned above, was born in Jackson township, this county, in 1834, and Adeline Whitmore, his wife, was born in Harrison township, this county, in 1837.  They grew up in Knox county, attended the old-time schools here and were married.  The father was a farmer and became the owner of four hundred acres of good land where he carried on general farming and stock raising on an extensive scale.  Politically, he was a Democrat until Cleveland’s first administration; after that he was a Republican.  He was a man of fine character and was well and favorably known.  His family consisted of seven children, six of whom are living, the eldest one, Willis A., dying in 1909.  Hamilton and Adeline Blue were members of the Christian Union church.  The father’s death occurred on June 30, 1906, and the mother died on Feb. 8, 1897.      Clem L. V. Blue, of this sketch, grew to manhood on the home farm, where he assisted with the general work, and he received his education in the public schools of Knox county.  He has always been a farmer and he managed his father's place for some time.  In 1902 he bought a portion of the home place and he now owns eighty acres, where he carries on general farming and stock raising and which he has kept well improved and tilled in such a skillful manner that it has retained its original fertility.      Politically, Mr. Blue is a Democrat.  He has served his township as trustee.  He and his wife were members of the Disciples church for nineteen years.      Mr. Blue was married on Oct. 11, 1888, to Josephine Horn, a native of Harrison township, this county, and the daughter of Martin and Elizabeth Horn, old settlers there, her grandfather, JOSEPH HORN, having been among the early pioneers of that vicinity.  One daughter has been born to the subject and wife, to whom the name Inez L. was given.      Joseph and Susan Horn, grandparents of Mrs. Blue, were natives of Pennsylvania, where they grew up, and from there they came to Ohio about 1810, locating in Harrison township where they reared most of their family.  The country was then a wilderness and the haunts of Indians and wild beasts.  Her maternal grandparents, George and Mary Adrian, were also from Pennsylvania and very early settlers in Knox county. Both her parents were born in Knox county, her father becoming an extensive farmer, owning about four hundred acres of land here at the time of his death.  His family consisted of ten children, all of whom are living, the oldest being now sixty years of age and the youngest forty.  The death of Mrs. Blue's father occurred on Oct. 9, 1910, having survived his wife twenty-seven years, her death occurring on Mar. 10, 1883.  Mr. Horn was a stanch Democrat and took much interest in public affairs. Source: Past and Present of Knox County, Ohio - Vol. II - Publ. by B. F. Bowen & Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1912 - Page 734