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Below is a family biography included in Book of Biographies: Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens, Cortland County, New York published by Biographical Publishing Company in 1898.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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WILLIAM L. BEAN. It is safe to say that in the whole of Cortland County there is no one who has succeeded to such a degree, or who has evinced so much enterprise and forceful energy in pursuits of an agricultural nature for one of his years as the subject of this sketch, whose reputation as a first-class dairyman, as an experienced fruit-grower, and as a skilled grower of crops herd of choice cattle and have abundance of milk the year around.

Mr. Bean married Mary L. Russell of McGrawville, and this union has been blessed with four children: Nina A.; Nellie E.; Merton R.; and Allen R. Our subject in his political views is a Republican, and as such has held a number of the minor offices of the town. He is a prominent member of the Grange, and is also connected with the McGrawville lodge of the I. O. O. F. Among his fellow-townsmen he is well regarded, and has won the respect of all sober-minded citizens as a man of integrity, of action, and of zeal for the right. He believes thoroughly in a better condition for the farming communities of the land than has been seen and experienced in the past, and believes still farther that it rests with the agricultural class itself to attain higher levels in society, where the farmer will be regarded as the equal of anyone, whether professional man, merchant, or artisan.

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This family biography is one of numerous biographies included in Book of Biographies: Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens, Cortland County, New York published in 1898. 

View additional Cortland County, New York family biographies here: Cortland County, New York Biographies

View a map of 1897 Cortland County, New York here: Cortland County, New York Map

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