Welcome to
Jasper County, Iowa
Historical and Genealogical Data Exchange
|
|
|
| Henry Byal One
of the leading citizens and representative farmers of Clear Creek Township,
Jasper County, is Henry Byal, who has spent nearly a half-century here, during
which time he has taken part in the development of the locality and has become
well established. His has been an eminently active and useful life, but the
limited space at the disposal of the biographer forbids more than a casual
mention of the leading events in his career, which will suffice to show what
earnest endeavor and honesty of purpose rightly applied and persistently
followed will lead to unqualified success. Mr.
Byal was born in Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio, September 16, 1860; he is the
son of William and Margaret (Johnson) Byal, both natives of Ohio, where they
grew up, were educated and married and there spent their early lives.
They came to Jasper County, Iowa, in 1863, here established a good home
and here the mother died on December 12, 1909; the father died December 18,
1911, in California, where he was staying with his son, and is buried at the
Union Chapel Cemetery in Clear Creek Township.
They were the parents of
three sons and two daughters, namely: Milton,
who resides in California; Henry, of this sketch; Carrie died when nineteen
years of age; Maggie died at the age of twenty-two; W. J. lives in Clear Creek
Township, this County. The older of
these children were born in Ohio and the younger in Iowa. Henry
Byal was three years of age when his parents brought him to Jasper County, Iowa,
and he has been a continuous resident here since.
He grew up on the home farm, where he worked when a boy, and attended the
public schools in the wintertime. When
a young man he turned his attention to farming and has continued to till the
soil to the present day, now owning one hundred and thirteen acres in Clear
Creek Township and eighty acres in Independence Township, and also one hundred
and sixty acres in the vicinity of Plainview, Texas.
He has kept his land under good improvements and cultivation, and has
carried on general farming and stock raising in a successful manner.
He has a pleasant home. Mr.
Byal was married on October 29, 1901, to Mattie Rippey, who was born in
Independence Township, Jasper County, Iowa, December 3, 1869, the daughter of W.
F. Rippey and wife, a complete sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work. To
the subject and wife seven children have been born, six of whom are living, all
still members of the home circle; they are: Margaret, born June 26, 1902;
Marjorie, born July 24, 1903; Madge, born December 18, 1904; a son died on the
day of birth, January 27, 1906; William Denver, born April 25, 1907; Henry
Stanley, born August 15, 1909; Roger, born March 21, 1911. Politically,
Mr. Byal is a Republican, and in religious matters his wife belongs to the
Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a
member of Unity Lodge No. 520, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Baxter and
of the chapter at Colfax; also the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Mingo,
and he has held all the chairs in the latter. Past and Present of Jasper County
Iowa, Gen. James B. Weaver, Editor-In-Chief, B.F. Bowden & Company,
Indianapolis, IN, 1912, page 1113. |
|
|
