ROBERT W. BAIL.   In his younger years Mr. Bail was one of the very successful teachers of Vinton County, though is perhaps best known over the county as a whole through his valuable service as county treasurer, an office from which he retired only about a year ago.
     He belongs to a family that was among the pioneers in crossing the Allegheny Mountains from the original thirteen colonies into the vast and unsettled West.  The Bails were especially identified with that section of Virginia, which is now the State of West Virginia.  His great-grandfather was Thomas Bail who was born in Sutton in what is now West Virginia, about 1775-76, early in the War of the Revolution.  He lived in that rugged district of Western Virginia, and long with farming he combined his activities as a hunter and woodsman.  He lived to be an old man.  His son, Robert W. Bail, grandfather of Robert W. of Vinton County, and probably an only son and child, was born near Sutton, West Virginia, Jan. 13, 1813.  He grew up and came to know his native hills and the forests and waters of West Virginia like a book.  Like his father, he was proficient in all the arts and crafts of the frontier and was skillful with his rifle and also with the rod.  By those accomplishments he did much to supply a living in addition to his main business as a farmer.  Grandfather Bail married Alice Barnett, who was born in West Virginia of Maryland parents, who spent most of their lives in that state.  Soon after their marriage Robert W. Bail and wife set out for a still more distant point in the Middle West.  As was the usual practice in that time of limited transportation facilities, they embarked their family and possessions on a flatboat which voyaged down the Little Kanawha River and the larger Ohio River as far as Ironton.  After landing they located in Lawrence County and lived in the neighborhood of several of the old-tie furnaces of that date, the Vesuvius Oak Ridge and Latrobe.  There Mrs. Robert W. Bail died when between fifty and fifty-five yeas of age.  Afterwards Robert W. Bail moved to Vinton County, and died there in 1893 in his eighty-first year.  He was a democrat, and that has been the prevailing political faith of the family for generations.  Robert's son, Isaac V., had moved to Vinton County in 1873, and that was the cause of the father coming to this section.  The only other two children in the family were Thomas and Felix, both of whom died in childhood in Lawrence County, having been victims of the scarlet fever.
     Isaac V. Bail, father of the former county treasurer, was born in Lawrence County, Ohio, Jan. 21, 1848.  He was reared and educated there, having attended some of the old log school houses that then were in fashion.  In 1867 he married Mary (Markin) Gates, widow of Frank Gates.  Frank Gates was killed at Cloyd Mountain in West Virginia while a Union soldier with the Ninth West Virginia Volunteers, being at that time in the prime of life.
     In 1873 Isaac V. Bail and wife moved to Vinton County, and subsequently established a home in Vinton Township.  He died on his farm home in that township Mar. 20, 1913.  He was a member of the Latter Day Saints Church.  His widow is still living at Radcliff in Vinton County, and celebrated her seventy-second birthday in May, 1915.  She is also a member of the same religious faith.  While the family lived in Madison Township of Vinton County the following children were born: Robert W., James, who died at the age of twenty-eight after his marriage; Loie, who died at the age of nineteen, and William, who died at the age of twenty.  After the parents moved to Vinton Township their youngest child, Seth N., was born.  He is now a farmer on the old homestead in Vinton Township, and by his first wife, Oro T. Harris, who died young, he had two children, Ronald and Marie; while by his second marriage to Laura McGee he had a son named Orin.
     Mr. Robert W. Bail was born in Madison Township of Vinton County, Mar. 6, 1877.  He received his early education in the public schools and when twenty years of age he took up his vocation as a teacher and followed it steadily for fourteen years in Vinton County.  He has been one of the most proficient and capable rural schoolmasters and it is the large acquaintance he acquired while teaching, and the thorough integrity he has manifested in all his relations that brought him to the important county office of county treasurer, to which he was elected in 1910.  He was re-elected, and served altogether four years.  It has been frequently said that the affairs of the county treasurer's office were never in better hands than while Mr. Bail was in office.  He had previously filled the offices of township and school treasurer.   He is an active democrat, and a man of leading influence in his home county.
     In Meigs County, Ohio, Mr. Bail married Cora M. Bratton.  She was born in Columbia Township of Meigs County, Sept. 1, 1875, and was reared and received her education there.  Her parents were Adam and Millie (Chaney) Bratton, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Pennsylvania.  Her father was born in Meigs County in 1851 and her mother was born in 1860 in Western Pennsylvania.  Millie Chaney came to Meigs County with her parents when she was a small girl.  Her parents were Enos and Catherine (Boone) Chaney.  Her mother was a native of Pennsylvania and a direct relation of the noted Daniel Boone. Catherine Boone Chaney died in Clark County, Ohio, in 1915 at the age of eighty-six.  Her husband fell while a gallant soldier in an Ohio regiment during the Civil war.  Adam Bratton and wife after their marriage started out as farmers in Meigs County, and all their children were born in that community.  Later they moved to Vinton Township in Vinton County, and still occupy a farm in that locality.  Mrs. Bail was one of a family of six sons and two daughters, namely: Gayley, who is married and lives in Meigs County; Carrie, wife of J. M. Silves, a merchant at Point Rock in Meigs County, and they have one child named Otho; Mrs. Bail, who was the third among the children; Almeda, wife of William H. Little, a bridge carpenter in Clark County, and they have two children named Clare and Edith; Amy A., wife of Fern Vale, a locomotive engineer living in Columbus, and they have a daughter named Dorothy Helen; Elmer, a commercial traveler for the Shredded Wheat Company, with headquarters at Cleveland; Lola, wife of George Hess, who lives in Columbus, Ohio; Zelia, wife of R. H. Knapp of Vinton Township.
     Mr. and Mrs. Bail are the parents of two children.  Flora M., born July 25, 1902, is now a member of the freshman class of the Mc Arthur High School; Olive Kathleen, born Dec. 27, 1906, is now in the fourth grade of public schools.  Mr. Bail is a member of the Christian Church, while his wife belongs to the Latter Day Saints.  Fraternally he is affiliated with the Blue Lodge of Masons at Wilkesville, Ohio, and with the Improved Order of Red Men at Radeliff.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 1109

HERBERT BECKLEY.   When Mr. Beckley was a boy about sixteen years of age he volunteered his youthful services to the defense of the Union in the great Civil war.  He did his part as a gallant soldier in that struggle, and it will be with satisfaction that he regards this participation, and his family and descendants will always honor his memory for his military career as well as for his quiet and industrious life as a farmer and citizen.  He is one of the best known men of Elk Township in Vinton County.
     He was born at Albany, Athens County, Ohio, July 4, 1846, a son of Walter Beckley, who was also a native of Ohio, and was born about 100 years ago.  His parents were New England people who came early to Ohio, and Grandfather Beckley died when about seventy and his widow married for her second husband Samuel Blake.  Walter Beckley grew up as a carpenter and mechanic, and married for his first wife Hannah Connor.  She was born in Ohio and was probably also of New England stock.  After marriage Walter Beckley and wife established their home in Albany, Athens County, and there he followed his trade for a number of years.  His first wife died in 1852, when quite young. He afterwards married a second time, and as the conditions of the home were not pleasant to the first children they were set adrift and had to depend upon their own exertions to earn a livelihood.  Walter Beckley died at the age of sixty-three in Knox Township, Vinton County.  By his second marriage he had one son and four daughters.
     The four children by the first marriage were: Wallace, who is now seventy-three years of age, served four years in the Fourth Regiment of Infantry during the Civil war, and is now living in Meigs County, Ohio, having two sons living, Walter and Albert, and two daughters deceased.  Samuel spent about two years in the Civil war in the Seventy-third Ohio Regiment, and owing to weak eyesight was discharged, then returned to Ohio and after his marriage located in Vinton County on a farm, where he died in the Raccoon Creek neighborhood when past middle age, leaving a widow who with several of their children is still living; Herbert, who is the third of the family; and Edwin, who died at his home on Raccoon Creek in Vinton County when in the prime of life, and his widow and only daughter now live in Athens, Ohio.
     When Herbert Beckley was a very small boy he left home and started to make his own way in the world.  He was not yet fifteen years old when he enlisted at Albany, Athens County, in 1861, in the seventy-fifth regiment in Company E, under Captain Foster and Colonel Harrison.  He remained with that regiment for more than four years, all the time; as a private.  Though only a boy in years he had all the courage and fortitude of the mature soldier, and endured without a murmur the many hardships and privations which are a part of the soldier's life.  He fought at the second engagement at Bull Run, at Chancellorsville, and in the great Battle of Gettysburg was taken prisoner and spent some time in the notorious Libby Prison.  After forty-five days there he was exchanged and then rejoined his regiment.  He was in various other campaigns, and fought at Fort Wagner and at Gainesville.  At Gainesville he and his comrades were surrounded by the enemy, but they cut their way through and though being pursued for many miles finally escaped.  Altogether Mr. Beckley was present in twenty-two battles and skirmishes and there are few of the old veterans still living who can tell from personal experience more of the real history of the war.  He was discharged at Jacksonville, Florida, in April, 1865, soon after Lee's surrender and was mustered out at Columbus, Ohio.
     With this record as a soldier and when still under twenty years of age, he returned to his native town and county, and not long afterwards he married Margaret Hamrick.  She was born in Zanesville, Ohio, about 1850, and grew up for the most part in Vinton County.  She was still a child when she lost her mother and she grew up partly among strangers and had very limited advantages.  She was a woman of fine natural endowments and possessed a keen intelligence.  She died at her home in Elk Township nineteen years ago when still in the prime of life.  There are two sons by this marriage.  John L. Beckley is a well known merchant of McArther and Athens and resides in McArther, Vinton County.  Samuel F. Beckley was for a number of years a teacher and is now probate judge for Vinton County, and is married and has two children named John B. and Mary E.
     After the death of his first wife Mr. Beckley married Miss Ella A. Salts, who was born in Elk Township Oct. 2, 1872, a daughter of George and Mary J. (McKibben) Salts.  Her father was born in Ohio and her grandfather, Edward Salts, was one of the very early settlers of this state.  Her mother was born in Pennsylvania of Irish stock, but was married in Vinton County, Ohio.  Mr. and Mrs. Salts started out as farmers, and he is still living in Vinton County, and was seventy years of age on Oct. 30, 1915.  His wife died in 1878 at the age of thirty.  Mr. Salts was afterwards twice married.
     Mr. and Mrs. Beckley are members of the Methodist Church at McArthur.  He is one of the prominent republicans in Vinton County, and has given a great deal of public spirited service largely in offices to which little or no remuneration is attached.  For some years he served as township trustee, and for four years was a director of the county infirmary.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 1090

JOHN L. BECKLEY.   The popular and representative citizen whose names introduces this review is one of the resourceful, alert and progressive men to whom success comes as a natural prerogative, and he is one to whom is satisfactory in business activities none but the highest possible standard.  The verity of the foregoing statement is demonstrated effectively in the appointments, service and metropolitan facilities of his fine clothing and furnishing-goods establishment in the thriving little City of McArthur, the judicial center and metropolis of Vinton County, and in this special field of business enterprise he stands as one of the most progressive and prominent representatives in the Hanging Rock Iron Region, to which this publication is given.  The clothing store and haberdashery of Mr. Beckley is eligibly situated on Main Street, McArthur, and occupies a room 37 by 92 feet in dimensions.  The establishment is virtually divided into two well arranged general departments - one for men's clothing and furnishing goods and the other for men's and boys' shoes, boys' clothing, hats, etc.  Few towns of the same comparative population as McArthur can show an establishment of the kind that is so complete in scope and selection of stock in all lines or that is maintained at a standard so clearly of metropolitan order.
     The mercantile establishment of Mr. Beckley may consistently be designated as one of the pioneer business houses of McArthur, since it dates its inception back to the year 1866. when it was founded by the late A. H. Dowd, who continued in the ownership of the business until the same was purchased by Mr. Beckley, in 1904. Mr. Beckley became a clerk in the Dowd establishment in 1893, and he thus continued his effective services until 1899, when he was admitted to partnership in the business.  He continued as co-partner of Mr. Dowd until 1904, when he became sole proprietor.  He has shown the best of judgment and marked progressiveness in the development and upbuilding of the extensive business which his establishment now -controls, and holds precedence as one of the leading business men and most enterprising and publicspirited citizens of the fine little city that is the judicial center of Vinton County.  He is also the senior member of the firm of J. L. Beckley & Son, which conducts a similar business at Athens, Athens County, Ohio, and of the latter store his son Harry C., junior member of the firm, has the active management, the lines handled in the Athens store being the same as in the McArthur establishment, save that the former has no shoe department.  The establishment in the county seat of Athens County was opened by the firm in 1913 and the business there has become one of most successful order.  Prior to identifying himself with the mercantile business Mr. Beckley had been for ten years a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of Vinton County, and he is specially well known throughout the county, where it may consistently be said that his circle of friends is co-extensive with that of his acquaintances.
     Mr. Beckley was born in Columbia Township, Meigs County, Ohio, and the date of his nativity was Oct. 3, 1867.  He continued his studies in the schools of his native county until he had completed the curriculum of the high school, and after his graduation he engaged in teaching in the district schools, his association with the pedagogic profession having been initiated when he was sixteen years of age and having continued ten years, as previously stated.  He then, at the age of twenty-six years, in 1884, became associated with the mercantile business in McArthur, where he continued his services in a clerical capacity until he became a partner of Mr. Dowd, as previously noted.  His advancement has been the result of his own ability, fidelity and well ordered endeavors, and he fully merits the unqualified esteem in which he is held.
     A scion of a family that was founded in New England in the colonial period of our national history, Mr. Beckley is a grandson of Walter Beckley, who was born and reared in the State of Connecticut, whence lie came to Ohio when a young man.  He established his residence in Athens County, where his marriage was solemnized, and he passed the remainder of his long and useful life near Albany, that county, where he achieved due success in his vocation as a carpenter and general mechanic of more than ordinary skill.  Both he and his wife were well advanced in years at the time of their death and their names merit enduring place on the roll of the sterling pioneers of Athens County.
     Herbert Beekley, father of him whose name initiates this article, was born at the old homestead near Albany, Athens County, on the 4th of July, 1846, and in that county he was reared and educated under the conditions and influences of what may be termed the middle pioneer era.  For many years he has continued an industrious and effective representative of the basic industry of agriculture, and upon coming to Vinton County he first engaged in farming in Knox Township, whence. in 1884, he removed to Elk Township, where he still resides on his well improved and valuable farm and where he commands the unqualified esteem of all who know him and have appreciation of his sterling character and worthy achievement.  He is aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of the republican party and is a zealous member of the United Brethren Church, as was also his wife, whose death occurred on the 6th of August.
     In Athens County occurred the marriage of Herbert Beekley to Miss Margaret Hamrick. who was born in 1847, at Zanesville, Ohio, where she was reared and educated and whence, after the death of her mother, she removed to Athens County with her father.  She was a devoted wife and mother and ever held the affectionate regard of all who came within the compass of her gentle and gracious influence, her death having occurred in 1896, as previously stated.  Of the two surviving children John L., of this review, is the elder.  Samuel V. received excellent educational advantages and was formerly one of the representative teachers in the schools of Vinton County.  On the 1st of January, 1918, he assumed the office of judge of the Probate Court of Vinton County, to which position he was elected for the regular term of four years and in which he is giving a most able administration.  Judge Beckley wedded Miss Clara Timms, and they have one son and one daughter.
     John L. Beckley has not hedged himself in with merely personal interests, but has proved a loyal and public-spirited citizen and has given his influence and co-operation in the furtherance of measures projected for the general good of the community.  His political allegiance is given to the republican party and his wife holds membership in the Methodist Church at McArthur, Ohio.  In Vinton County, Ohio, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Beckley to Miss Flora M. Metcalfe, who was born near the Village of Carpenter, that county, on the 9th of February, 1870, and who is a daughter of Asa and Rhoda (Skelley) Metcalfe.  The father of Mrs. Beckley died when she was but three weeks old and her mother later became the wife of Hamilton Van Bibber, both being now deceased.  Mr. and Mrs. Beckley have five children, whom the following brief record is given: Harry C., who is his father's partner in the mercantile business at Athens, as junior member of the firm of J. L. Beckley & Son, was graduated in the McArthur High School and in the business or commercial department of Ohio University, at Athens, and later he pursued a higher course of study in the University of New York.  Ethel, who was graduated in Ohio University, at Athens, still resides in that attractive little city, where she has the supervision of the home of her brother, Harry C. Everett resides with his brother and sister at Athens, where he is a student in Ohio University, having previously attended the well known military academy at Staunton, Virginia.  Earl and Paul remain at the parental home and are attending the public schools of McArthur, the former being a student in the high school and the latter having celebrated his seventh birthday anniversary in 1915.
     Mr. Beckley is affiliated with the McArthur blue lodge and chapter of the Masonic fraternity and has passed various official chairs in each.  He has twice served as chancellor of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias, and holds membership also in the lodge of the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks at Logan, Hocking County.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 1275

WILLIAM T. BONE.   One of the responsible and substantial citizens of Jackson Township in Vinton County is William T. Bone, who is rounding out a career of well bestowed effort as a farmer citizen, and who has gained by his efforts and earlier self denial a comfortable home for himself, his wife and growing children.
     Practically all his life has been spent in Jackson Township, where he was born Oct. 16, 1861.  He received his education in the local schools, and having been trained from early youth as a farmer, he took up that vocation on reaching manhood and has been steadily realizing some of his better ambitions and ideals.  His father was William Bone, Jr., and his grandfather, William Bone, Sr.   The latter was born in Pennsylvania of Pennsylvania parents but of German ancestry.  The older stock spelled their name in the German form Bohn.  Grandfather William Bone was married in Pennsylvania to an Irish girl, Miss Ida McGuire.  From there they came to Ohio and were pioneers in Jackson Township of Vinton County.  They settled in the woods, cleared out a space among the trees and built themselves a log cabin with a puncheon floor, mud and stick chimney, and greased paper to let in the light of day.  In this humble home they made their start and gradually surrounded themselves with those comforts and facilities which kept pace with progress in this section of the state.  They were hard working, thrifty, honest, and stood high in the esteem of their neighbors.  Grandfather William Bone survived his first wife, and married a second time finally died at the age of sixty-five.  By the first marriage there were a number of children, briefly noted as follows:  Joseph, who died unmarried in the State of Missouri; Elizabeth, who is now eighty-seven years of age and lives in the State of Colorado, the widow of a Mr. Benning; John, who is eight-five years of age, went as a young man out to Australia during the gold excitement on that continent, and still lives there having never married; Willliam, Jr., mentioned below; Henry, who was accidentally killed in a runaway, leaving a wife and children; Julia Ann, widow of Aaron Starkey, lives with her family in Hocking County, Ohio, and is seventy-five years of age; Samuel, who married a Miss Jordan, and at his death left a large family; Lucinda, who first married Landy Mars, and is now the wife of John Vining, living in Ralls County, Missouri, she being seventy years of age.
     William Bone, Jr., was born in Jackson Township of Vinton County in August, 1832.  He grew up to the career of a farmer and eventually succeeded to the ownership of a part of his father's estate.  Still later he went to live on one of the farms belonging to his wife's father in Hocking County, and now at the age of eighty-three he is comfortably situated and has an attractive home in Benton Township of that county.  In politics he is a republican, his father before him having been an active whig.  William Bone, Jr., was a soldier during the last year of the Civil war, and served with Gen. "Pap" Thomas in the great Battle of Franklin, Tennessee.  He was married in Hocking County to Rachel Burns, who was born in a log cabin in Benton Township and died about 1870 at the age of thirty-two.  She was of Scotch and English stock, and her parents, both natives of the United States, spent most of their lives as pioneer settlers in Hocking County.  William Bone, Jr., and wife were the parents of the following children: Lydia Ann, who died at tlie age of three years; William T.; Ida Carney, wife of a farmer in Crawford County, Ohio, and the mother of a daughter named Maud; Florida, wife of Frank Conrad, who is an engineer living at Lancaster, Ohio, and their children are named Jennie, Hazel and Lula.
     After reaching manhood William T. Bone married Miss Dora J. Smith.  She was born in Jackson Township of Vinton County, Mar. 4, 1869.  She died Sept. 27, 1904, after they had lived together happily for a number of years.  She was a devoted wife and mother and she left a large group of friends to mourn her loss.  She was a sister of Henry C. Smith, a well known citizen of Vinton County and other details of the Smith family will be found on other pages.  Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bone.  Mabel F., born Dec. 4, 1890, died in 1903.  Fannie C., born Dec. 28, 1892, received her education in the public schools and is now the wife of Austin Ringer, a miller at Bloomsville in Hocking County.  Florence, who was born Apr. 4, 1896, died Apr. 10, 1905.
     After his marriage, Mr. Bone went with his wife to a farm of forty-five acres in Jackson Township and occupied that place for a number of years.  In 1903 he came to his present farm of seventy-two acres, known as the J. B. Randall farm.  It occupies a most picturesque site, standing on a high elevation, and affording a fine view over the rugged country surrounding.  Mr. Bone's is one of the many families of Vinton County that use natural gas both for heating and lighting the home.  He resides in a comfortable house which was built in 1858 and is still in a good state of repair.  He is an active member of the Locust Grove Methodist Church, and his wife is also a member of the same society.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 1300