Israel Beal was born thirty-five miles west of Richmond, Virginia, April 10, 1849. His parents, Oliver and Elvira (Myes) Beal, were both natives of Virginia. His father died during the war, and his mother is still living, at a good old age, having reared a family of eleven children, nine of whom are still living.
The subject of this sketch came to California via the Panama route in 1865, and worked for a mining company in Kern County for three years. He then went to Nevada and Arizona and mined, and then came back to California and worked for M. H. Crafts two years, and afterward rented land for two years. In 1877 he bought twenty acres in Lugonia; next he purchased seventeen and one-half adjoining this, and then ten acres in Redlands. The Redlands property has since been traded for twenty acres adjoining the original purchase. Mr. Beal has built a good house, improved his land and is one of the leading horticulturists in his neighborhood.
In December, 1870, he was married to Miss Martha Embers, a native of California, and has had seven children: Oliver, Anna, who died in childhood; Newton, Harry, Clarence, who died in infancy; Charles A. and Morris. Mr. and Mrs. Beal are both members of the Congregational Church. Mr. Beal is an industrious man and a good citizen. He has made a good home and reared a respectable family, and although be was born a slave and the color of his skin is dark, no man in Redlands is more worthy of respect than Israel Beal.