But, it wasn’t because it matched her decor.

Rampey-Johnson saw a Facebook Marketplace ad for a trunk with lettering on the side indicating it had belonged to O.W. Beaty of Warren, Pa.

“What caught my attention was the owner’s name so well done,” she said. “I wanted to know more about him.”

“When I found his family had been heavily involved in their community I thought perhaps someone would like to have it,” Rampey-Johnson said. “I couldn’t find any descendants so the Historical Society was next on my list.”

Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry A photo and biographical information provided by Warren County Historical Society provide some of the history that goes with the Beaty Trunk.

“She asked if we were interested,” Managing Director Michelle Gray said. “Of course, yes. It’s certainly a historically valuable Warren County artifact.”

“As soon as I knew it had found a home I bought it,” Rampey-Johnson said. She purchased the trunk and had it shipped to the historical society at her expense.

“She was willing to go over and above and have it sent home to Warren County,” Gray said.

“My family have always been active in researching the history of our various lines, and long since been part of the warm society of fellow family historians who freely share anything we find on ours or others families,” Rampey-Johnson said. “I would want someone to do the same for me, as I have so few mementos of my own, and it is a real thrill to do so for someone else.”

The seller had acquired the trunk at a garage sale.

Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry The sticker inside the lid of the Beaty Trunk gives information about the company that manufactured the trunk.

“It’s not surprising to have found a trunk from so far away,” Rampey-Johnson said. “This part of Texas has been a destination for tourists, students, adventurers, the military, and invalids for a very long time. Some of my own people ended up here and in the surrounding towns in the early 1800’s, having started in Virginia, on to Missouri and then down through Texas.”

She has even developed a tale for how the trunk ended up in Texas separated from its owner.

“It would be my guess that the young man was here looking for an higher education and found her,” Rampey-Johnson said. “He sold or gave away his trunk when he no longer needed it.”

For now, the trunk is in the historical society’s front parlor, but it is hoped that it will become a focal point of a Beaty exhibit “with other incoming artifacts from the notable family.”

According to information provided by the historical society, Orris W. Beaty was born near Warren in 1845 to David and Abigail (Mead) Beaty.

He worked with his father in the oil and lumber industries and moved to Warren in 1880. The family came to own hundreds of acres of land in the county.

In 1889 he became vice-president of Warren Savings Bank.

There are several local streets and landmarks named after Beatys.

“In the early 1920s, Warren High School became overpopulated, and the Superintendent of Schools wished to build a junior high school,” Gray said. “In 1928, after two unsuccessful attempts to gain approval from Warren’s citizens for a new school, the four remaining heirs of the Beaty family presented a deed for the property located on the north and south side of Third Avenue between the Conewango Creek and Conewango Avenue to the Board of Education to build Beaty Junior High School.”

“The Beaty family property extended along the Conewango Creek from Buchanan Street almost to Russell,” she said.

The sticker inside the lid of the trunk bears details of the company that made the trunk.

The area with the company name is damaged, but the address – 1009 Sixth Ave., New York – is clear as is some of the advertising – “Trunks and cases made to order. Repairs neatly done.”