John A. Beatty
John A. Beatty, head of the firm of J. A. Beatty & Son, dealers in furniture at Xenia, and who also has for years been engaged as a traveling salesman for a Michigan furniture house, was born in this county and has lived here practically all his life. He was born on a farm in Bath township on January 19, 1862, son of John and Delilah (Jones) Beatty, the former of whom was born in Ireland and the latter in the state of Pennsylvania, whose last days were spent in this county, they having established their home in Bath township after their marriage.
John Beatty was born in County Tyrone and remained in his native Ireland until he was twenty-two years of age, when he came to this country and was for a time located in the state of New York, coming thence to Ohio and settling in this county, where he became engaged in farming. He presently bought a farm of eighty-three acres in Bath township and after his marriage established his home there, he and his wife spending the rest of their lives on that place. She died in 1875, at the age of forty-one years, and he survived her until October 22, 1888, he being seventy-five years of age at the time of his death. They were members of the Presbyterian church and their children were reared in that faith. There were eight of these children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fourth in order of birth, the others being Catherine, who is still living on the home place in Bath township; Wilham Henry, who also continues to live there, farming the place; James, deceased; Charles Edward, who is a farmer in Bath township; Margaret Ann, who is still living on the home place; Frank E., the present owner of the old Kellogg strawberry farm in the vicinity of Three Rivers, Michigan, where he is engaged in the cultivation of strawberries, and Martha Ellen, who is living on the old home place in Bath township.
John A. Beatty grew up on the home farm, receiving his schooling in the neighborhood schools, and when thirteen years of age began to work on his own account, being thus engaged working at farm labor until he was twenty-two years of age, when he became employed in the grocery store of L. M. Bull at Xenia. Two years later he married and became employed in the furniture store of R. D. Adair, continuing thus engaged until 1893, in which year he moved to Urbana, this state, and there became engaged in the furniture business on his own account, a member of the firm of Arnold & Beatty. Two years later he sold his interest in that store and returned to Xenia and for two years thereafter was engaged in the hardware store of J. C. Conwell, later resuming his old position in the Adair store. A year later Mr. Beatty resigned that position to accept a position as a traveling representative of the Burkhardt Furniture Company of Dayton, a position he occupied until 1902, when he transferred his connection to the Cheboygan Couch Company and has ever since been connected with that concern. In the meantime, in September, 1915, Mr. Beatty opened a furniture store at Xenia, in association with his younger son, Ernest D. Beatty, under the firm name of J. A. Beatty & Son, his son taking the part of active manager of the store.
On March 23, 1886, John A. Beatty was united in marriage to Carrie Lantz and to that union three children have been born, namely: Clark Adair, Ernest David and Mary Lucile, the latter of whom was a graduate from the Xenia high school in 1915 and is now studying in Christ Hospital at Cincinnati to equip herself for the profession of a trained nurse. Clark Adair Beatty, who makes his home at Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, married Vivien Lamb and has two children, Jane Reed and Mona Ruth. For six years he served as a member of Company I, Ohio National Guard, and during the Mexican border trouble in 1916 went with that command to the border and was thus engaged in active service for nine months. For the past year and more he has been engaged as a traveling salesman for the Cheboygan Couch Company, the concern with which his father has for years been connected in a similar capacity. For two years after leaving school Ernest David Beatty was engaged with the Dayton branch of the Sample Shoe Company and then accepted a position with the Burkhardt Furniture Company, for which concern he traveled for three years, at the end of which time, in 1915, he became associated with his father in business at Xenia, junior member of the firm of J. A. Beatty & Son, furniture dealers. He married Oma Early and makes his home at Xenia. Both the Beatty brothers are members of the local camp of the Sons of Veterans, this affiliation being based upon the service of their grandfather, James L. Lantz. The Beattys are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918