Margaret Louise Beyl

🕯️ A quiet strength wrapped in gingham and grace.

Early Life

In the pre-dawn hush of January 3, 1913, Margaret Louise Beyl entered the world at 2:40 a.m. in Columbus, Indiana. Her parents, Edward Beyl and Edna M. Applegate, were beginning their journey as a young couple—he a 25-year-old wood assembler, she a 19-year-old housewife from Crothersville, Indiana.

They made their home at 542 Jackson Street, and Margaret was their first child, beginning a growing legacy.

Margaret’s birth announcement provides the maiden name and birthplace for her mother, Edna. Her mother was Edna Applegate from Crothersville, Indiana

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Childhood in the Roaring Twenties

By 1920, the Beyl family had traded the quiet of Columbus for the bustle of Indianapolis. At just 6 years old, Margaret was already the eldest sibling to Mildred and Charles, living under the roof of 848 Prospect Street. Their father, now a foreman at a bakery, likely brought home the scent of fresh bread each evening—a detail that feels almost like a memory.

The Working Years

According to the 1930 Census, Margaret was holding her own as a Saleslady at a dry goods store at age 17. She and her growing family were settled at 1329 East Street in Center Township. Her father—now listed as a “Dispenser” for a bakery company—continued providing, while Margaret entered adulthood with early ambition.

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Marriage and Motherhood

Sometime in the 1930s, Margaret married James Collins, a firefighter who would later serve at an oil refinery. By 1940, they had built a home at 1523 John Street in Whiting City, Indiana. Their days were filled with the laughter and cries of two small children—Alice and James. Life wasn’t extravagant, but it was honest and full. James’s job brought in $1,820 annually—modest, but enough to keep their family fed, warm, and steady.

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Later Years and Legacy

Though Margaret’s path took her across several cities, her heart seemed anchored in family. Her later years were quieter, as a widow living at 3721 E. Vermont Street in Indianapolis. She passed away on June 23, 1985, at Methodist Hospital at the age of 72.

Her health had been declining—renal insufficiency, a hernia, diabetes, and heart failure—but what finally took her was a cerebrovascular accident. Her son, Joseph, was listed as the informant, a final detail that suggests she was still surrounded by family, even at the end.

Margaret now rests at Washington Park East Cemetery, her name etched into stone beside the ones she loved.

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A Life Remembered

Margaret’s obituary gave us one last glimpse into her life—a woman defined not just by the decades she witnessed but also by the children she raised, the work she did, and the quiet resilience that wove through each stage of her life.

That’s all for now, I’ll check back regularly and update this page as I find additional information.

💬 Have a memory of Margaret to share?
We’d love to hear it! Please visit Margaret’s Introduction page to leave a story, comment, or reflection. That’s the best place to help keep her legacy alive and personal.

Happy researching!

~Kris

🕯️ Revisited by Bones
Originally published March 18, 2017
Updated with fresh records, softer light, and a little more heart.

Margaret Louise Beyl was more than a name on a birth certificate or a line in a census. She was the first light in a young family, the big sister in a bustling home, and later, a mother, a wife, a woman who kept going no matter the shape of the day.

I revisited Margaret’s life with a gentler lens this time around—adding new records, yes, but also piecing together the quiet details that shaped who she was: the early mornings in Columbus, the scent of bakery yeast clinging to her father’s coat, the steady hum of a family growing up in Indianapolis.

She never made headlines. But she mattered.

And now, with this update, she’s remembered a little more clearly.

Welcome back, Margaret.

—Bones