BEALS. BEALS. 49 credit, for the southern market. His ven- ture was successful, and the fact of his being a young, inexperienced man, with- out capital, .shows the confidence reposed in his integrity. Upon his return to Weymouth he began in a small way the manufacture of boots and shoes, and soon connected with this industry a small store of general merchan- dise. Later on he built a factory at Tou- cey's Corners, and continued as manufac- turer and merchant till 1S49, when he connected himself with others in a jobbing boot and shoe trade in New Orleans. Some two years later he returned to Wey- mouth, built a large factory, and carried on an extensive business, catering princi- pally to the southern trade. When the war of the rebellion destroyed his trade, he gave up manufacturing. In 1S50 Mr. Beals met with misfortune in his business affairs. He at the time obtained a full and free discharge from all liabilities, but he never considered an equitable adjust- ment finally made until in 1S85, when, again becoming prosperous, he of his own free will repaid, with interest, the amount left in his hands as working capital by those to whom he was some thirty-five years ago indebted. It is a striking evi- dence of the changes which occur in busi- ness affairs, that among the forty firms to whom he desired to send his check, only one man was found living aud doing busi- ness who was in active business at the time of his embarrassment in 1850. Mr. Beals Served as selectman in Wey- mouth 1855 and '56 ; has been a director at different times in two national banks, and has been for several years president of the North Weymouth Improvement Asso- ciation. In 1859 he was a member of the State Legislature, and assisted in the re- vision of the laws of the Commonwealth which were published as "The General Statutes of the Commonwealth of Massa- chusetts." In 1862 he was appointed internal revenue assessor for the second district of Massachusetts, and was after- wards appointed to travel as special agent for the treasury department to instruct internal revenue officers in the discharge of their duties ; serving in these two offices over five years. In 1S88 he presented North Weymouth with a beautiful public park. In 1878 he made a tour through Europe, and while on the trip contributed a series of letters to the " Weymouth Gazette." He is now senior member of the boot and shoe house of Beals, Torrey & Co. of Milwaukee and Boston, and is a director in the National Mortgage and Debenture Co. of Boston ; and he also acts under his sixth commission as justice of the peace, having been first appointed in 1850. Mr. Beals was married July 27, 1837, to Betsey, daughter of Ancil and Eliza Bur- rell of Weymouth. Of this union were five children : Augustus, Elizabeth, Frank, James and Mary S. The first four are now living. BEALS, John Murray, was born in Stoughton, Norfolk county, March 24, 1S47. His family removed to Braintree JOHN M. BEALS. when he was one year old. He was edu- cated in the public schools of Braintree. At the time of the outbreak of the war of the rebellion, although he was too young to enlist, yet, filled with the spirit of pat- riotism, he accompanied company C, 4th regiment, as drummer boy, from Braintree to Boston. At the age of sixteen he entered the wholesale boot and shoe store of Holbrook, Hobart & Porter, in Boston, and afterwards was with Nelson Emmons & Co., with whom he remained until the great fire in that city. Soon after he formed a co-partner- ship with J. Anson Guild, of Brooklyn, and since that time has been engaged in the leather business, with offices in Boston.
