Eli Beery was born June 6, 1838, in Fairfield County, Ohio. He became a carpenter and after his marriage lived several years in Michigan then returned and bought 112 acres north of his father's farm on the Fairfield-Hocking county line. He sold the farm in 1894 and moved to Columbus, Ohio. During the Civil War, he dodged the draft because of religious beliefs (he was apparently a member of the Church of the Brethern). He couldn't afford the $300 bounty that would have allowed him to avoid service. Thanks to his uncle, "Squire Abe" Beery, he accompanied a young woman by train from Columbus, Ohio, to Wisconsin. He earned enough working there to return to Ohio with the $300 bounty. Shortly after that he went back to Wisconsin and married the girl, Dorothea Hellrich, on Dec. 28, 1865 in Fond du Lac, Wis. He apparently then moved to Michigan. Eli died Jan. 21, 1926 in Columbus, Ohio.