Biography: James Francis Beals
James Francis Beals was born in June of 1846. His parents had come west from Lehigh County in 1840 and resided in Venango County for a time, but by 1850 were living in Clarion County. It is presumed that James F. was born in the border area of these two counties. He was the youngest of eight children, the oldest being his only sister. His mother could not read or write, and it is doubtful whether his father could. James F. attended the neighborhood school, helped on the farm, and became familiar with the various other pursuits of his older brothers such as carpentry and butchering.
He was about nineteen years old when the Civil War ended. Three of his older brothers, Jacob, Hiram, and William, had served in the war.
His older brothers and his sister married, and bought farms in the area of Salem township, Clarion County just southeast of Mariasville. The oldest son, Samuel, is believed to have inherited the 540 acre homestead in Beaver township.
About 1870 -1871 James F. married Adeline Kribbs. They had a daughter, Bernice, and then a son Charles who was born in August of 1874. Sometime before their son was nine years old, Adda Kribbs died.
James F. remarried by 1882. His second wife was Olive Samantha Bower, who had been raised as a foster daughter by Jacob Beals, an older brother of James F..Beals. Olive's father, David Bower, had died shortly after the war ended, but with large debts, and her mother had given the children to be raised by others. Jacob Beals died in 1877 and left Olive an inheritance of $2,000. From this she was to receive an annual income of $120, the residue to be granted when she was twenty-one. Olive would have received this bequest in 1883, the year after she and James Francis married. She gave the money to him, possibly to help with purchasing a farm or to finance oil and gas well drilling on the property.
The James F. Beals farm was about five miles farther north of those of his brothers Hiram and William, and sister Ann. It was just west of the Venango County line, in Richland township. (Just east of his property, in Salem township, Clarion county, was the farm of David M. Beels, no relationship known; see biography of Jacob Beals). The high point of the county is the hill on the Beels farm
As with many farms in western Pennsylvania, the farm had a limestone bank which was quarried for their use, a coal bank, gas and oil wells. Grain crops, and hay for a few animals, a garden, a potato patch, and an apple orchard were the seasonal work. The house was lit with gas lights, from their gas well. There was a well at the house and another in the barn, and a good spring on the property.
In March of 1883 their first child was born, a daughter named Arminta, and called Minta. In 1884 a second daughter, Florence, was born. Then after a period of five years, a son, James Elgie Beals, was born in 1889.
James Francis' parents were elderly by then. They lived for a time with their son Levi Beals' family, and then with their daughter Ann Biery's family. Jacob Beals, the father, died in 1890, at age 83 years.
Five years later James F. and Olive were expecting another baby, but both the mother and infant daughter died at childbirth. They were buried together at Salem Lutheran cemetery. That year the children's ages ranged from about 23years, to 6 years. Bernice would have been able to care for the younger children if she were still at home. Minta and Florence were 12 years and 11 years, old enough to help out. The three younger children may also have spent time with their aunts and uncles, all of whom lived nearby, while James F. managed the farm work.
In 1904, against the advice of his then 15 year old son Elgie, James Francis married for a third time, to his neighbor, the recently widowed Elizabeth (Lizzy)Rhoades Ashbaugh. She had had three children, but only one son Vern Ashbaugh survived to adulthood. She was the only grandmother that the grandchildren of James F. Beals ever knew.
In July of 1910, when he was 64 years old, James F. purchased a small piece of property, about 8 acres, which the family referred to as "the lot". He and Lizzy moved to the lot to live, and from that time on they rented the larger 118 acre farm to others, starting with their son Elgie. The rent was to be one third of the crops, enough hay and straw for a horse and cow, and the reserved rights to the oil and gas wells.
In October of that year, Elgie married Winnifred May Kline. They rented the farm from Elgie's father, the first lease being for five years, from April 1911 to April 1916. Their first two children were born on this farm., Loy in 1912, and Ella in 1917.
On the occasion of the 80th birthday of James F. Beals, in 1926, a family reunion party was held and the assembled crowd numbered over fifty people. Among those present were his remaining siblings, his third wife Elizabeth "Lizzy" Rhoades Ashbaugh, his children and grandchildren, and various friends.
As James F. grew older, Lizzy would often call for Elgie to come and help with his father, who suffered from some degree of dementia. James F. had always worn a long beard that covered his upper chest. He would go out to the pump every morning and vigorously wash his beard. When he went to the hospital for some problem, the nurses didn't do the vigorous beard washing that he was used to. He developed a skin irritation or rash, and so the beard was shaved off. As a result, he caught pneumonia, and died in May of 1930. He was within one month of 84 years old.
He had written his will six years earlier, dividing his property equally among his five children, with the exception that the three children of Olive Bower were to receive the roughly $2000 that she had given him from her inheritance. James F. Beals was buried next to Olive at Salem Lutheran cemetery.
Lizzy began proceedings to contest the will, wishing to receive the same amount that she would receive had James F. died intestate. However, she also died shortly thereafter, on 5 August 1930.
