John was the Manning postmaster in 1904.
His first name and rank came from a 1954 write-up about Jake Lage retiring from 50 years as a mail carrier. John was the postmaster when Jake became a mailman in 1904.

Company A. 95th Ohio Infantry

His pension was $17 per month
Enlistment August 1, 1862 as a Private
Muster in August 18, 1862 in Ohio, Company A, 95th Infantry
Rank increased Corporal August 9, 1862
2nd Lieutenant October 4, 1861
1st Lieutenant December 10, 1862
Captain September 22, 1863
Muster out June 2, 1864

McPherson Post 33 - 1st term joined September 1, 1886
Discharged from membership November 11, 1865

John Gould Beal: born March 11, 1836 in Turner, Maine
Parents: Welcome Benton & Octavia (Gould) Beal
Siblings: Octavia Thompson, Ruth Lord, Irena Chadbourne, Thirza Henderson, Aphia Bailey, Susan Merrill, Welcome, Charles
Married: Sophia Ann Cobern April 4, 1857 in Winnebago, Illinois
Children of John & Sophia: Albert, Ida May Shoemaker, Frank C., Frank Carlton, Ella Amelia Cole, and John Beal
By 1880 they were living in Columbus, Ohio
By 1900 they were living in Manning, Iowa

Ida married Richard Shoemaker August 1, 1888 in Templeton, Iowa

Captain John Gould Beal died May 21, 1921 and is buried in Visalia Public Cemetery, California in an unmarked grave.

If anyone has more information, especially miltary, and/or pictures of John Beal, please let me know ASAP...
Thanks,
Dave Kusel

Objects to Smoking in the P.O.
Captain John. G. Beal, postmaster at Manning, was in the city yesterday. Mr. Beal Came here to confer with United States Commissioner George F. Wright with reference to a rule which Mr. Beal is seeking to enforce in conducting the post office at Manning. Mr. Beal is a Veteran of the Civil War. On account of a certain catarrhal trouble contracted through his service, tobacco smoke is intolerable to him, bringing on nausea. He has sought to enforce the "no smoking" rule in his post office, but a number of his patrons refuse to obey the mandate of the postmaster, and several encounters have resulted. Mr. Beal now proposes to confer with federal officers in the matter to see if he cannot enforce the rule.
Owing to the absence of Commissioner Wright from the city, Postmaster Beal was unable to present the complaint to him and now proposes to file a written statement of his difficulty with the post office department at Washington.
Captain Beal recently succeeded a Democratic postmaster who had conducted a cigar store in connection with the post office and it is said that the patrons have as yet been unable to break the habit of smoking in the office lobby while waiting for their mail. Captain Beal lately refused to write a postal money order for a patron who declined to quit smoking in the office and a war of words followed. The case was taken to a justice court on complaint of the postmaster, who accused the smoker of profanity, but the charge was not sustained.
Carroll Herald, July 23, 1902

Postmasters who object to smoking should study this dispatch from Sioux City: "Cut plug and "'natural leaf"' have the endorsement of the post office department. Anybody who wants to smoke them in any post office is at liberty to do so, and if the postmaster objects he is liable to official decapitation. Captain John. G. Beal, postmaster at Manning, Iowa, had asthma, and was driven almost frantic by the clouds of smoke that farmer constituents were wont to produce when they met in the post office to visit. He put up a "no smoking" card, and the patrons of the office circulated a petition demanding his removal. He has been removed, and G.W. Laffler appointed to the office, which is worth $1,500 per annum. Captain Beal has gone to Washington to protest, and word comes back that he has failed to make his case good. The department doesn't propose to be finicky about the quality of tobacco its constituents use."
The Bismarck Tribune Bismarck, North Dakota May 4, 1905