Dear Jan, I just came across your post about the picture in the book, "A Walk through the Past-Wright County, Iowa". I've been helping a friend of mine research her grandfather, Edward Beer, and her great-grandfather, Anton Beer. We're wondering if that is her Edward Beer in your picture. He lived in Troy, Iowa at the time and he would have been about the age of a high school graduate in 1898-99. Anton Beer was born in about 1845 in Austria, emigrated to the U.S. (Baltimore) in 1868, and settled in Wright county, Iowa. He lived in Troy and Eagle Grove for the most part. Edward Beer was born in Troy in about 1884. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you send me that picture? Thank you, Linda ps do you have any knowledge of the Beer family?