Byal, Henry

BYAL, JOHNSON, RIPPEY

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/27/2009 at 12:38:08

Byal, Henry

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 B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 1113.