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This article is a history of the William R. Beaty family which was written by Martha
Merriman, the daughter of Irene Beaty Merriman and Will's granddaughter. It is
probable that Irene contributed to the story which was written in 1951.
COGITATIONS OF AN OLD CUPOLA
CLYDE BEATY ISN'T THE ONLY BEATY WHO HAS SEEN ACTION UNDER A BIG TOP
Proudly have I watched over the Beaty's as they have come and gone for about 50
years. There has never been a dull moment, I can assure you. The years have been filled
with smiles as well as sighs.
I wasn't around when young Mr. Will came home from the Civil War, but I've
heard him tell many times about how he fibbed a little about his age and then spent 4
years with the Union Army. My house had only 4 rooms when he brought his young bride,
Miss Olive Olina Woodward home -- 2 rooms downstairs and 2 rooms upstairs. But as the
children came along one by one the rooms were added and last oBut as the children came
along one by one the rooms were added and last of all they put me high up here to watch
over all.
Nine children have come and gone, and let me tell you they have kept things buzzing
down there. Mr. Will and Miss Olive had 6 children (little Miss Hattie lived only 8
months). Then Miss Olive got awful sick and went away. Grandma Beaty came to stay until
Mr. Will brought Miss Laura home one day to live. Aunt Laura, she was too, because she
and Miss Olive were sisters. She brought Cora with her, and so now there were six.
Before long 2 boys were down there too, and life was really great.
Mr. Will was a fine man. He loved his family and wanted them to have the best there
was. He was a very religious man and the family went to church regularly. As the
holidays have come and gone I've heard him say, "I'm not going to get you
anything for Christmas," or "No, you can't have any eggs for Easter,"
but on Christmas Eve I would see him bringing home the biggest dolls the store had left,
or at Easter time he would come trudging along with a big basket of eggs over his arm.
Memorial Day was one of his favorite holidays. Proudly he would don his uniform and
march proudly through the streets with his company to the cemetery. The children had to
take part, too, dressed in their Sunday-best and carrying flowers to decorate the graves
of the soldiers.
Gerald was the one I liked to watch at Christmas time. He always had what he wanted
for Christmas picked out and had all the members of the family informed as to what it was.
Yet he was always afraid he might not get it so he would beg and beg to be told. Finally
in desperation, they would tell him, "Yes, Gerald, you will get it," and then he
would roll on the floor and cry, "I didn't want you to tell me. I didn't
want to know for sure."
From my perch up here, I have watched many trains come and go. On my right were the
trains and then one day they started running a new kind of train to the left of me. They
called "an interurban" and it looked rather silly at first with no engine
pulling it. Mr. Will was always very much interested in the trains. He and Clark always
went to meet every train that went through. Of course the interurban fascinated him. He
and Miss Laura and Rene rode the first one to Bluffton.
Mr. Will could never understand where all the money went. Rene often had to go to the
mill across the street to get money to go to the little store just down the street.
"What did you do with the nickel I gave you yesterday?" he would always ask.
Meal times were jolly times. Everyone has his or her place at the table. Rene sat on
one side of Mr. Will and Miss Laura on the other. Gerald sat on the other side of Miss
Laura. The youngsters close-by often felt a snap on the head by Mr. Will if they
weren't behaving just as they should.
Mr. Will wasn't too strict about the children finishing their schooling. When
they tired of school and wanted to quit he would talk to them about it and try to get them
to go back. Cletus and Bird finished high school and Bird, after taking a short course
for teachers at a normal school, taught for a short time.
Where there are children, there are always pets and the Beatys had them ranging from
white mice to dogs to horses (at one time there were four horses in the barn). I could
always tell when Frank was on his way home. I could hear him whistling far over the
8-mile and he always went straight to the horse barn. Harry always had his horses
trained much better than those new-fangled automobiles that I see down there now.
Although there were many dogs over the years, I remember one little black an'
white one in particular. Cletus got him at Montpelier from Cora. He liked to sleep as
much as Gerald did. Many times Mr. Will would try o get Gerald up in the morning. He
always told the older ones that if they could run all night they could getup in the
morning for their breakfast, but this didn't work with Gerald. Then he would go up
with the dog, "Go on, Mac, get Gerald up," and the dog would dig at the covers.
When Mr. Will would go downstairs, the dog would crawl under the covers and go to sleep
too.
Since the Beatys had only two girls, I've seen only two weddings, but they were
nice ones, I can tell you. When the boys were married, everyone gathered round for a
big family dinner.
Summer always brought big events. Often Mr. Will took the ones still at home for a big
fishing trip. More often were the excursions to and from East Liverpool, Ohio. You see,
Mr. Will was born in Holmes County, Ohio, and came with his family to Indiana when a very
young lad. So, many of his uncles, aunts and cousins were still "back east."
One summer the folks from East Liverpool would journey by train to Ossian and the next
summer the Ossian folks would go to "Liverpool." These exchange visits were
carried on regardless of how young the children were. On a later visit from the folks out
"East," I heard Bryon Beaty, one of the cousins, say to Rene, "Oh,
you're the one who bawled all the time when they had you at "Liverpool."
Miss Laura has made a mighty fine mother to these Beatys. I wonder that her heart
didn't fail her when she came that day and found 5 children ranging from 4 years to 14
years old waiting to be mothered. I'll bet she never thought she would have to chase
one of them through the lumber yard to catch her to comb her hair. This was such a job
that they did it only on Saturdays.
Her own two boys have kept me in stitches most of the time. On cold winter nights
Cletus would come in from a visit with one of his girl friends. Gerald has been in bed
and has his side nice and warm. So what does Cletus do but say, "Move over,
Gerald". So, what does Gerald do but move over to the cold side and give Cletus the
warm side.
Grandchildren have been coming right along lately. Not ong ago Bird was here with Karl
and Mildred. It was almost time for the train to come to go home and Mildred couldn't
find her handkerchief. And she wouldn't budge without it. They looked everywhere
and finally they appealed to Karl. "Karl, have you seen Mildred's
handkerchief?' "Oh yes," grinned little Karl, "I dot tit in my
poddit."
I'm afraid your Mr. Cletus doesn't want to have a family. I heard Miss Rene
tell Miss Laura the other day that Cletus came to see her baby, Martha. And when he
saw her, he said, "Boy, I wouldn't want one of those red-faced things -- bawling
all the time."
Well, today they took old Mr. Will away, and I'm afraid things are winding up here
for the Beatys. I've enjoyed all my years with them, and wish them much success in
the future. I'm sure they will always be as they have always been in the past -- a
good loyal American family.
Note: William Richardson Beaty died May 18, 1915. The house is locate on Lafevre Street
in West Ossian across from the lumber yard, that was the Beaty and Doan Co., Inc. from the
1870's until shortly before he died. The house used to have a three story cupola,
however the upper burned off when the fire occured in 1912, so the cupola is now two
stories high.