Blair County PA Archives Biographies.....Beyer, William M. March 5, 1854 - ????
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Judy Banja http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00004.html#0000757 January 13, 2025, 6:50 am

Source: Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Blair Co, PA: Philadelphia, 1892.
Author: Samuel T. Wiley

WILLIAM M. BEYER, 
now a resident of Altoona, and a member of the Blair county bar, is the
youngest son of Aaron and Lydia (Ramey) Beyer, and was born in Antis
township, Blair county, March 5, 1854.  His paternal great-grandparents came
from Germany and settled near Frederick Town, Maryland, where their son, Rev.
David Beyer (grandfather) was born September 7, 1763.  Rev. David Beyer was
left at an early age, by the death of his parents, to do for himself.  He
learned the trade of miller, and so well understood milling that his flour,
when sold in Baltimore, always brought the highest price.  He located in
Tyrone township about 1797, and built a brick house and saw and gristmill. 
In 1833 he sold this property and removed to Antis township, where he
purchased land and erected the old Beyer flouring mill.  He united with the
Methodist Episcopal church in 1809, was afterward licensed as a minister, and
preached for many years without pay or recompense.  He died December 1, 1841,
and left nearly one hundred descendants.  He married Sarah Crumm, of
Maryland, and reared a family of thirteen children, of whom Abraham, David,
Aaron, and John remained in this State, while three daughters married and
settled near Akron, Ohio, and the remainder of the sons and daughters settled
in other States.  Aaron Beyer (father), the youngest son, was born August 23,
1811, and died in 1887, aged seventy-six years.  He learned the trade of
miller, which he followed at Union Furnace and for Henry Spang and his father
until 1833, when he removed to Tuckahoe valley, in Antis township, where he
built and operated the present Beyer mill, and was also engaged in
merchandising.  He was always a stanch supporter of the Republican Party.  He
was a member, trustee, and class leader of the Methodist Episcopal church for
half a century.  His life was devoted to useful work, and the moral and
religious improvement of his community.  On January 12, 1831, he married
Lydia Ramey, a daughter of Frederick and Martha (Keller) Ramey, and who was
born March 4, 1811.  To their union was born thirteen children:  Francis D.,
who is a leading lumber manufacturer of Tyrone; Elizabeth J.; Martha A.; Rev.
James S., who served three years in the Union army, and since then has been
engaged in the Christian ministry; Catherine B.; Angeline; Emeline; Mary A.;
Sanford D., who enlisted in Co. B, 110th Pennsylvania infantry, and was
killed March 25, 1865, in front of Petersburg; A.W.; Sarah B.; Lydia R.; and
William M.
      William M. Beyer was reared in Antis township, and received his early
education at the public schools, afterward graduating at Allegheny College,
Meadville, Pennsylvania, with the degree of A.M.  He read law with Hon.
Samuel Steel Blair, of Hollidaysburg, was admitted to the bar in 1881, and
since then has been engaged in the practice of his profession in the city of
Altoona.  Mr. Beyer has dealt largely in real estate for several years, and
at the present time is actively engaged in that line of business.  He is a
republican, but takes no active part in politics, and gives his time to his
profession and the real estate business.
      On July 24, 1884, Mr. Beyer was united in marriage with Effie V. Mong,
of Meadville, Crawford county.  Their union has been blessed with one child,
a daughter, named Bernice L.
      The Beyer family was prominently identified with the pioneer interests
and the early development of the northwestern part of Blair county, while
many of its descendents have been among the representative citizens and
business men of that section from the pioneer days down to the present time,
and it devotion and loyalty to the Union has been attested by the number of
its sons who served in the Federal armies during the late great civil war, in
which five of them gave their lives as sacrifices that their country might
live as an undivided nation.  

Additional Comments:
Originally submitted 2001. Transcribed by Tina Erb

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