Thanks Ed, it's amazing what searching the archives will reveal.
Looks like "Elias B" Beasley has popped up on some T206s and T3s as well. Do you still have yours?
Here was a post by Craig (T3s) telling the story:
"As another example, several months ago I was lucky enough to have a beautiful T3 Turkey Red find (search older posts). A few of the cards have writing on the back. A handful note "Reid Pleasant Drug" across the top. My assumption is that was a local drug store - several ways the cards could be attached to the store.
Best of all, one of the cards carries the signature of "Elias Beasley". Mr. Beasley was the original collector as a very young man. I purchased the cards from Mr. Beasley's grandson. During our negotiations for the cards, we talked a fair amount about the family and the story about how the cards were kept, owned, etc. I was very interested and wanted to find a way to preserve the collection (before some headed out to all corners of the earth) and document the provenance."
Craig - if you're reading, do you remember if these T209-1s were part of the lot that you purchased from his grandson?