Asa Beall, a son of Thomas Beall (1795-1864), the wealthiest man of his day in Cumberland, Maryland, and his wife —— Dunn, of Frankfort, Virginia, was born in 1824 and died at his residence in Frostburg, Maryland, March 8, 1863. He began writing at least as early as 1851, when "The Trail Blazers of the Wilderness" was published in the Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper, May 21. On March 31, 1852, "The Woodmen" was begun as a serial in the same paper, and "The Conspiracy; or, The Reward of Virtue" was begun in the June 15, 1853, issue. Beall bought a half interest in The Cumberland Telegraph on the 28th of April, 1853, and subsequently bought the entire paper. He remained its editor and proprietor until March 17, 1858, when it was united with the Civilian and came under the management of Evans and Maupin. In 1859 Beall served in the Maryland State Legislature. He was married to Sabina Sides and had ten children.

Beadle reprinted after Beall's death, one story written by him.

REFERENCES: John Thomas Scharf, History of Western Maryland, Philadelphia, 1882, II, 1374, 1410, 1486; J. W. Thomas and T. I. C. Williams, History of Allegany Co., Maryland, I, 1923, 138; Baltimore Sun, March 2, 1863, 2, col. 1; F. M. M. Beall, Colonial Families of the United States (The running head of this book is Genealogy of the Beall Families in America), privately printed, n.p. (1929), 91.

Irwin's American Novels. No. 20
Starr's American Novels. No. 4
Pocket Novels. No. 214