Beryl Franklin Carroll (March 15, 1860 – December 16, 1939) was the 20th governor of Iowa from 1909 to 1913. He was the first native-born governor of Iowa.
Carroll was born in Davis County, Iowa, the second youngest of 13 to Willis and Christena Carroll.[1][2] He graduated from the Missouri State Normal School in 1884, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Education.[1][2] He would spend the next 5 years teaching, first as a principal in Jamesport, Missouri then as superintendent in Rich Hill, Missouri.[1]
On June 15, 1886, he married his fellow Truman State student Jennie Dodson.[1] They had a son, Paul, born in 1889, and daughter, Jean, born in 1900.[1]
On January 1, 1891, he bought half of the Davis County Republican, co-owning it with A. H. Fortune, the postmaster of Bloomfield at the time.[1][2] In 1893, he bought out the full interest of the newspaper.[1]
He was a member of the Iowa Senate (1896–1900), Postmaster of Bloomfield, Iowa (1898–1903), and Iowa State Auditor (1903–1909).[1][2] He was elected Governor in 1908 and reelected in 1910.[1][2]
During his tenure, Carroll established the State Board of Education, helped in getting firefighters and police officers a pension plan and advocating for miners.[2]
On November 30, 1910, Governor Carroll was hailed as a hero for entering a burning building in Des Moines and retrieving a trunk containing valuable property.[3]
After leaving office, Carroll worked in the life insurance business in Des Moines.[2] He died in Bloomfield, and was buried at the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Bloomfield.[2][4]
His nephew, Herbert Carroll, was also an Senator from Iowa's 3rd Senate district from 1931 to 1933.[1]
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