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Subject: [IA-CIVIL-WAR] CR Gazette, 9-12-1928, E. J. C. Bealer, 22nd Iowa Inf. - 2
Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2004 20:12:01 EST

Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette
and Republican
Cedar Rapids, Linn Co., Iowa
Wed., Sept. 12, 1928

-- continued, part 2 --

Opens Cedar Valley Quarry.
"In 1884 he opened up the Cedar Valley quarry. It was perhaps the best
stone quarry ever developed in Iowa--certainly it was the best equipped. Mr.
Bealer never hesitated to junk a labor saving device or any equipment of any
kind if something better appeared on the market. The Cedar Valley quarry became
a regular community, with houses for workmen, stores which provided what they
needed to eat and to wear, and a post office, and it became one of the most
important shipping points on the old B., C. R. and N. railroad. Mr. Bealer
built railroad and other bridges all over the line of this railroad and on the
Rock Island, and in various other places.
"He has been an officer and director of not a few local enterprises. For
a long time he was the leading spirit of the Cedar Rapids Canning company. He
built store and office buildings and private residences for investment.
Sometimes he had interests outside the state, but for the most part he
concentrated his activities and his interests in this city.
"The young man who thinks there is not 'social justice' in the world
unless he can get an easy job at a salary that will enable him to live in at least
comparative luxury, the moment he is out of school, and who hasn't as yet
really learned to do well anything the world wants or needs to be done--might
learn something which would give him a more correct perspective of life if he
would ponder on how Mr. Bealer spent his youth and young manhood and what he later
achieved.
"Mr. Bealer was married to Mrs. Mary C. Erb, October 26, 1867. Three
children were born to this union--Orpha D. (Mrs. John M. Grimm), Millard Y., and
Jesse Gale. Millard is a resident of Tipton and Gale lives in the south.

In the Legislature.
"One might think after reading thus far, that a man as busy as Mr. Bealer
evidently was, could find little or no time for public affairs, but he found a
lot of time for public affairs. From the time he reached his majority he was
an interested, active, effective citizen of the United States. He was a
patriot by nature; his service in the Civil war made it a passion with him. He
never missed an election; he never failed to make his influence felt before the
election was held, and he rendered public service of the highest order.
"For three sessions of the general assembly he represented Linn county in
the legislature. He was chairman of an important committee on railroads and
there stands to his credit a bill known as House File No. 155 which passed both
house and senate without a dissenting vote, which bill provided for the
erection of monuments and tablets in the Vicksburg National Military park to mark
the positions occupied by Iowa brigades, regiments and batteries, and to
commemorate the valor and services of Iowa soldiers in the campaign and siege of
Vicksburg.
"Mr. Bealer took an intense interest in everything that pertained to the
Grand Army of the Republic. He served as commander of the local post. Later
he was state commander, and he served on important committees of the national
organization. Mr. Bealer's devotion to the Grand Army of the Republic was
appreciated. Not long ago he was honored by having named after him a fortress of
the Daughters of the Grand Army of the Republic, the name being 'The E. J. C.
Bealer Fortress.' "

Of Dynamic Personality.
"In 1898 he was elected a school director of the Independent district of
Cedar Rapids, and became chairman of the finance and building committee. He
gave six years of active and intelligent effort in this time of endeavor and
during this time he superintended the building and remodeling of more than half
the school houses in the city.
"He was a member of the building committee of Mercy hospital and, as
mentioned above, was one of the commissioners for the erection of the Memorial
coliseum and city hall.
"Mr. Bealer had a dynamic personality. He went at everything he attempted
with all his might. At eighty years of age he walked along the street at a
pace that would cause most men of half his years to be out of breath if they
attempted to keep up with him.
"Doubtless he knew what the modern term 'buck passing' meant, but he never
practiced it. He knew no such thing as fear, either on the field of battle
or in business, or as a public servant. Oftentimes cowardice seems to overtake
even brave men like a blight, when they enter politics, but not E. J. C.
Bealer. Everybody knew where he stood on every question all the time. He did not
even take refuge in silence--he spoke right out. He was one of the most
loyal friends we ever knew. No friend in need ever had to send for him--he came
and he stayed until the end.

Faithful to Friends.
"We rather think that if Mr. Bealer could tell us what he would rather
have remembered concerning him above all else, he would say his service to his
country and his fidelity to his family, his comrades and his friends.
"We can think of nothing more appropriate with which to close this sketch
and this tribute than these lines from a patriotic poem by James Montgomery.
We think it expresses in beautiful cadence two of the dominating ideals and
purposes of his life--love of country and love of home.

"There is a land of every land the pride,
Beloved by Heaven o'er all the world beside.
Where brighter suns dispense serener light,
And milder moons imparadise the night;
A land of beauty, virtue, valor, truth,
Time-tutored age and love-exalted youth.

"Man through all ages of revolving time
Unchanging man, in every varying clime,
Deems his own land of every land the pride,
Beloved by Heaven o'er all the world beside;
His home the spot of earth supremely blessed,
A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest."


[Elmer J. C. Bealer, a native of Switzerland, enlisted at 18 while living in
Iowa City, on June 14, 1862. He received promotions to Eighth Corporal on May
1, 1864. On Oct. 19, 1864, he was wounded at Cedar Creek, VA. Jan. 1, 1865
he was promoted to Sixth Corporal; and to Fifth Corporal on Jan. 25, 1865. He
mustered out July 25, 1865, at Savannah, GA.

Source: "Roster and Records of Iowa Troops in the Rebellion, Vol. 3."
Civil War and Iowa: Greyhounds and Hawkeyes. CD-ROM. Creston, IA: O. J.
Fargo, 2000.]


Sue Trout Reisdorph

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