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John Simpson Beckley, though born and reared in a Northern State, enlisted in the Confederate army in Missouri and followed the varying fortunes of the Southern cause to the surrender. Early in the strife he was painfully wounded in a cavalry charge; and before the close of hostilities he had received three severe wounds, the effects of which were with him during the rest of his life. He served as a member of John Stimmon's company, in Price's army, and was first wounded in the Lone Jack engagement. Recovering from that, he took part in the battle of Elkhorn, receiving another wound, Then in the battle of Helena he was again wounded. He was a brave and gallant soldier and did not know the meaning of fear.

In 1868 Mr. Beckley removed from Missouri to Paris, Tex., and there made his home among the people for whom he had fought and bled, devoting his tireless energies to the reclamation of the fair land of his adoption. He was an admirer of fine stock and took a pride in introducing and breeding again those splendid horses for which the South has been noted. He was a man without guile, candid of speech, and with a high standard of right. He died in Paris on July 16, 1915, at the age of seventy-nine years.