Beals, Edward Preble - Erie County

EDWARD PREBLE BEALS, who died on the 9th of April, 1903, was a pioneer of the iron manufacturing and hardware business in Buffalo and one of its most representative citizens. Mr. Beals was connected with a wide sphere of useful activities outside of business lines. He was a citizen of sterling patriotism, deeply mindful of civic obligations, earnest in the furtherance of municipal progress and a zealous supporter of religion and charity.

The Beals family originally came from the County of Devon, England. In the seventeenth century members of the race emigrated to the American Colonies, settling in Boston, Massachusetts.

The great-grandfather of Edward Preble Beals was Dr. Lazarus Beals, who was born in Cohasset, Mass., in 1725. He was the father of Samuel Beals, who in 1778 married Rebecca Wilkerson, of Newton, Mass.

Mr. Porter is a prominent member of the Buffalo Historical Society and belongs to many other organizations.

February 3, 1877, Mr. Porter married Alice Adele Taylor, daughter of Virgil Corydon Taylor and Harriett C. (Dunlap). Mrs. Porter is of an ancient family of English and Puritan lineage, being descended from Richard Taylor, who came from England to Massachusetts Colony in 1648. The children of the marriage are Peter A. Porter Jr. born November 16, 1877; Cabell Breckenridge Porter, born April 8, 1881, and Preston Buell Porter, born March 13, 1891.

SOURCE:  Memorial and Family History of Erie County New York; Volume I