GOODRICH, William A. (1869-1942)

GOODRICH

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 7/23/2024 at 21:34:41

William Allene Beaver
(January 22, 1869 – May 19, 1942)

W. A. Beaver
(Obituary, prepared by Rev. W. F. Swan and read at the last rites Thursday, May 21, at 2 p.m.)
The springs of William Beaver’s life are in the south. His grandfather was the owner of a large southern plantation in Virginia, and a slave owner. But even before the Civil War he had offered his slaves their freedom, but – and to his high credit – they preferred to remain with him. As in the case of many of the families of the south, the war divided the Beaver family so that brother fought against brother. When the fighting was over, William Franklin Beaver, the father of Will, came west and settled in the eastern side of Iowa.
Born January 1869
William Allene Beaver, the second child of William Franklin Beaver and Allene Craft Beaver, was born January 22, 1869, in Postville, Ia. The Beavers moved to Storm Lake, and from there to Ida, in 1876, shortly before the railroad came. On this trek, Will headed the caravan driving the cattle. He was about seven years of age when the Beavers made Ida Grove their home town. Here Will went to school until he was 12, when he thought he was old enough to become an apprentice to his father, who was a blacksmith by trade. The business, “W. F. Beaver & Son,” continued for nearly 30 years; and when his father died, Will carried on alone.
Married in “91
May 13, 1891, Will married a girl he met in school, Maud Shade, and a year ago they enjoyed a happy day with neighbors and friends celebrating the 50th anniversary of the event. Mr. Beaver was a master craftsman of the old school. He fashioned many of his own tools. At horseshoeing he was so expert the circuses on the road in earlier days waited to have their horses and ponies shed by Will when they stopped in exhibits in Ida Grove. His plowshares and cultivators seemed to be fitted to the soil. The same careful skill was brought to bear on a child’s toy wagon as went into his work on the heavier implements of the farm. The essential spirit of Mr. Beaver’s life as well said in the second stanza of Sam Walter Foss’ poem, “The House by the Side of the Road.”
Friends Were Legion
Around his shop, Will had a neighborhood of friends. In his last need these friendly neighbors – won by his native southern friendliness – came to his side to give aid as they could. Children were his fiends; he repaired their playthings. He visited in the midst of sparks from the anvil and the turning of wheels. The shop was his laboratory; to his daytime friends, the smoke-be-grimed shop was his reception room. The two places he loved best were his home and the shop. Will’s personality hed the warmth and magnanimity of the old-time southern chivalry. This kindliness and consideration was always present in his attitude toward his comrades of the way. There was always the cheery greeting, the characteristic wave of the have, of recognition or goodbye. He was generous, forgiving in his attitude toward men; he was sympathetic because he, too, had come up a hard way, and was acquainted with struggle and hard work. His innate optimism is expressed in a farewell word he often gave to his friends: “Happy landing!”
Creeds No Barrier
He was broad in his human sympathies. Creeds offered no barriers to his friendships. In these times when the children of Israel are under such wide and unjust persecution, Will counted one of these as among his best friends. Will lived in Ida Grove. He did not just eat and hand his hat there. He gave of himself to the community, supported its activities, gave to it as much or more then he received. He was a charter member of the local volunteer company of fireman, of which he served 12 years as chief. He was a member of the Masonic Fraternity and of Eastern Star. But above all, he was a good citizen and “a friend of man.”
Short Illness
Last Saturday afternoon (May 16) Mr. Beaver became seriously ill. He went to see his doctor and then home. Sunday and Monday he rested and was under a doctor’s care, but on Tuesday morning (May 19) he felt so much improved that he insisted on going to the shop to work. A few minutes later in the old, familiar place amid the tools of his labor, in the place where he had fashioned his dreams, the Master Workman had called His apprentice to rest. There was little unfinished business; only a child’s red wagon and three single-trees from a neighboring farm. Mr. Beaver is survived by his widow, a daughter and son-n-law, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley J. Mead, and two grandchildren; Charlotte Lee and Bill J. Mead; a sister, Mrs. Belle Kerr of Omaha; and two nieces Mrs. C. L. Marsh and Doris Blackman, both of Ida Grove. A son, Victor William, preceded him in death 15 years ago. Pallbearers were six closely associated friends; Ed Pilcher, Richard Varner, Ray Yousling, Albert McKay, Russell Hultgren and Earl Liming. Relatives and friends crowded Moore’s funeral home to capacity and overflowed outside, where a loudspeaker was installed. Source – Ida County Pioneer Record, Ida Grove, Thurs., May 28, 1942, p.7