Ferdinand Beyland
From the Biographical Cyclopedia of the Commonwealth of
Kentucky, published by the John M Gresman Company, Chicago-Philadelphia 1896
THEODORE FERDINAND BEYLAND, a prominent citizen and business man of Bellevue, was born in Gardelegen, Baden Württemberg, Germany, 1 October 1847. His father and mother D G and Caroline (Meyer) Beyland, were natives of Württemberg, Germany, who came to America in 1850 and located in Cincinnati; and in 1856 went to Kansas and settled within about fifty miles of Kansas City, Missouri, in a part of the state which was then considered the western border of civilization. The inhabitants were principally Indians and as Mr. Beyland was a coppersmith, in which capacity he found little to do in the new country, and being unused to the life and work of the agriculturist, he remained there only about nine months and returned to Cincinnati and finally took up his residence in Newport.
Mr. Beyland was an industrious man and a good citizen. He and his wife were members of the Lutheran Church. He died in Newport in 1867 in the fifty-fourth year of his age. His estimable companion survived him until 1882, continuing her residence in Newport and died at the age of sixty-six years.
After returning from Kansas, Ferdinand now about ten years of age, joined a theatrical company and traveled through nearly every state in the Union, gaining a knowledge of the country and of human nature which, together with a good primary education, has been of great advantage to him in business. This was supplemented by three years' experience in the army. At the beginning of the war, he enlisted as a drummer boy and served in the armies of Generals Buell, Rosecrans and Sherman; participated in the famous battles of Shiloh, Stone River, Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge and was in the Atlanta campaign and was honorably discharged from the service at Fort Adams, Rhode Island in 1864, when he was not yet eighteen years of age.
By this time he knew something about his adopted country, but he felt that his education was not complete and he became a sailor on the Gulf and lived on the water during 1866. During the following year he traveled in Texas in a business capacity, and saw all that was to be seen of life in that state. He then became a commercial traveler for the George D Winchell Manufacturing Co of Cincinnati, covering the whole country from the lakes to the Gulf and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains. This occupied his attention for ten years, when he concluded to settle down and put his education to practice use; and in 1878, he became a citizen of Bellevue.
He at once interested himself in development of that flourishing little city. He organized two of the most reliable building and loan associations; was president of one of them for a time and is, and has been, secretary of the Home Savings and Loan Association since its organization, April 4, 1889. In 1883 he was elected president of the City Council and served two years, having served as a member for a term of two years previous to that and was City Treasurer of Bellevue in 1894.
In January 1894 he became a partner of C W Nagel in the real estate business, in which they have met with gratifying success. He has accumulated considerable valuable property in his own name in Bellevue and vicinity. Mr. Beyland was married in 1874 to Clara Melissa Smith, daughter of M V Smith of Newport and they have an interesting family, consisting of two sons and four daughters: Walter, Agnes, Clifford, Alice, Dorothy and Beatrice.
Mr. Beyland is a member of the Granville Moody Post, G A R and was the founder of the Bellevue Lodge of Knights of Honor in 1878. He is a Republican and a leader in local politics.
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Children of Theodore Ferdinand Beyland and Clara Melissa Smith
1. Walter Elmore Beyland b-16 Jan 1875 in
Newport; d-21 July 1951 in Orlando Florida; br-Maple Hill Cemetery in Helena
Ark.
2. Agnes C Beyland b-26 Mar 1879 in Newport; d-15 July 1970 in Knoxville Tenn.
br-Knoxville; m-Alvin J Lotz
3. Theodore Clifford Beyland b-1 July 1879 in Newport; d-1 Aug 1954 in Florida;
br-Greenwood Cemetery in Orlando
4. Alyce Beyland b-2 Dec 1883 in Newport; d-22 Aug 1864 in Savannah Georgia; br-Bonaventure
Cemetery; m-Lueders
5. Dorothy G Beyland b-6 July 1888 in Newport; d-22 Dec 1877 in Fannin Georgia;
m-Strauss
6. Beatrice Beyland b-15 Aug 1891 in Bellevue; d-23 Nov 1945 in Dayton Ky. br-Evergreen;
m-Joseph G Hermann
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Theodore Ferdinand Beyland died 11 Feb 1912 in
Roan Co. Tenn. and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
Clara Melissa Smith was born 12 Sep 1854 in Cincinnati and died 18 Dec 1952 in
Apopka, Orange Co Florida; br-Evergreen