Category: Family History

Avoid These Rookie Mistakes in Genealogy: Enhance Your Search and Enjoy the Journey

I have been absorbed in genealogy/family history for a significant period, and I can attest that we all start as beginners. Even when revisiting older branches of my family tree, I still encounter what I call ‘rookie mistakes.’ It’s a journey we all embark on.

Here, I’ve outlined crucial mistakes that, if avoided, can significantly enhance your genealogy search, making it a more fruitful and enjoyable experience.

  • Pay attention to the wealth of information that your living relatives can provide. I regret not asking more questions of my grandparents, great-grandparents, great-aunts, and great-uncles. With the right encouragement, most family members are eager to share their memories, which can be invaluable for future generations.
  • Here’s a big one! Attaching other people’s trees to yours! If another person’s tree has an error, such as the wrong generation, attaching it to yours can add people who aren’t related.
  • Many families have stories and traditions passed down through generations. These family legends can be a goldmine for genealogy research, but it’s crucial to approach them with an open mind. Tales of famous ancestors, war heroes, surname changes, and the family’s nationality likely have factual origins. Your task is to sift through these stories, as ancestors may have added embellishments over time.
  • Many people are eager to explore their cultural roots and trace their family history back to their country of origin. However, it’s usually challenging to start researching genealogy in a foreign country without doing some preliminary research first. You need to know when they decided to move, where they originally came from, even their city or town.
  • When searching for ancestors, it’s important to consider variations in names and spellings. People often misspelled the names of our ancestors in official records for various reasons, and individuals may have used different names at different times. Researching surname origins and using genealogy databases can help in finding variations. (See my blog about Surnames.)
  • Avoid advertisements promising “a family history of enter surname here in America.” Many of these are for mass-produced coats of arms and surname books that do not provide specific family histories. Additionally, be careful when purchasing family crests and coats of arms from commercial sources, as these items are often not tied to particular surnames or families. Your best bet is to look for official clan groups. For instance, a couple in my family are Clan Logan Society International (https://www.clanlogansociety.org/) and Clan MacBean (https://clanmacbean.org/)
  • Genealogy is about much more than just adding names to your database. Instead of focusing on how many ancestors you’ve traced or how many names you have in your family tree, take the time to truly get to know your ancestors. What did they look like? Where did they live? Which historical events influenced their lives? Your ancestors had their own hopes and dreams, just like you do. While they might not have found their lives particularly exciting, you will usually find something interesting.
  • Just because a family genealogy or a record transcription has been written down or published does not necessarily mean it is correct. Vital information may be missing, transcription errors may occur, or invalid assumptions may be made in books containing transcriptions (cemetery, census, will, courthouse, etc.).
  • When using the Internet for genealogy research, approach online data with skepticism. If possible, verify and corroborate every detail yourself. Visit the source or retrace the researcher’s steps to ensure accuracy.
  • I’ve often looked back on an ancestor in my family tree only to find I needed a source for the information. A rookie mistake! There have been occasions when others have asked me about the information and where I found it, and embarrassingly, I’ve had to tell them, “I don’t know.” It’s essential to keep track of your genealogy sources to avoid redoing your research. Document and cite each source, and make copies if possible.
  • When searching for information, use more than one or two resources. Different kinds exist, online and in print, each with strengths and weaknesses. Be sure to research each source thoroughly before adding something to your tree. (See my blog Maximizing Your Genealogy Research with Google: Proven Strategies for Effective Online Searches)
  • Family historians should remember to research their ancestors’ siblings. Doing so gives you a fuller understanding of your ancestors’ families. It’s unlikely that you descend from a long line of “only children,” so keeping your family history in context is necessary. (See my blog on Collateral Ancestors)

Genealogy is a deeply personal and enriching journey, marked by the excitement of discovery and the patience required to unravel complex family histories. By learning from the common pitfalls I’ve outlined, you can enhance your research process, making it more rewarding and accurate. Remember to engage with living relatives, approach family legends with a balanced perspective, and meticulously document your sources. Embrace the nuances of name variations and be cautious with information from online sources and other people’s trees. Ultimately, genealogy is not just about filling in names on a chart but about understanding the lives and stories of those who came before us. Every piece of information you uncover, every tale you validate, brings you closer to your ancestors, transforming your family tree into a vibrant tapestry of history and heritage.

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Essential Tips for Correctly Recording Names in Genealogy:

A Beginner’s Guide

Have you ever looked at other family trees online? I have, and they are pretty interesting. You can certainly tell the beginners from someone who has been doing it a long time. I am not judging, not harshly, anyway, because I was a beginner, too.

If people use the trees only for aesthetic value, they can insert their ancestors’ names in the way they like. However, if you are using an online service and expecting hints or assistance from DNA matches, it’s essential to input names and dates correctly.

Here are the rules for correctly recording names in genealogy.

USE WOMEN’S MAIDEN NAMES. Always enter a woman’s maiden name if you have it (her surname at birth) in parentheses on a written/typed chart or a database’s last name field. When you do not know a female’s maiden name, insert her first and middle name on the chart, followed by empty parentheses (). For example, to record Sara Elizabeth, whose maiden name is unknown and who is married to John ROWAN, write “Sara Elizabeth ()” or “Sara Elizabeth () ROWAN.” When using a database such as Ancestry, MyHeritage, or Family Search, use the maiden name in the last name field. If you do not know the maiden name, leave it blank.

UNKNOWN NAMES. Do not put “LNU,” (Last Name Unknown), “UNK,” (Unknown), “MNU,” (Middle or Maiden Name Unknown) as these databases do not pick those up as you mean them. UNK is an absolute last name in Dutch. LNU is Vietnamese (Lưu) from the Chinese surname 劉 in central and southern Vietnam. It is the Chinese variant of Lu or Liu. When it comes to names you do not know, you accept that you do not know it and leave the field blank or use () on a typed or written chart.

NAMES IN SEARCH ENGINES.

🌱Ancestry: For better search results, provide more information for the search engine to match against. For example, specifying a middle name like “Lemuel” can help narrow down results when searching for someone with a common name like “John Smith.” There are fewer John Lemuel Smiths globally than John Smiths. Ancestry automatically considers common nicknames, abbreviations, and alternate spellings. An example of their tips is that a search for “Bill Smith” could also return results for “William Smith,” “Wm Smith,” “Bill Smyth,” or “B. Smith.” An exact name match is the most relevant, followed by common misspellings, nicknames, and other variations. Remember that names can be misspelled or mistranscribed in original records or indexes, so looking for alternate spellings may lead to the right match despite the name appearing incorrect.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👧🔎Family Search: They state, “The more of a surname you type as a search term, the smaller the results list will be. Since many surnames have spelling variations, you may want to broaden your search. To do this, you can type only part of the surname. (Or truncating your search.) For example, if you type “Newcombe” as your search term, the computer will find only that spelling of the name. However, if you type “Newcom” as your search term, the computer will find any surname that begins with those letters, including Newcom, Newcomb, Newcome, Newcombe, and so forth.”

👤👥My Heritage: When typing in the name in their fields, advanced options appear and allows you to specify whether you want an exact match, whether to include spelling variations, matching initials, and so on.

🚨The critical takeaway is to take a few minutes at the beginning of your search and learn how the particular database search functions. Most sites have a tips section.

RECORD NAMES IN THEIR NATURAL ORDER.—first, middle, last (surname/maiden name). Using full names whenever possible makes lineage easier to trace. If a middle name is unknown, you may use an initial if you have one. Write names just as they appear on a birth certificate or spoken aloud upon introduction; no commas are necessary.

LAST NAMES. In the computer world, typing in all capital letters is considered yelling. Most genealogists choose to print surnames in all capital letters. Capitalizing the last name is a matter of preference rather than correctness. However, capitalized last names make it easier to read and distinguish surnames from first and middle names on family trees and in publications.

NICKNAMES AND ALTERNATE NAMES. Most databases have a separate field for nicknames or “also known as” names. You should not put them in the main name fields. If using written or typed charts, include them in quotes after the first given name. If the nickname is customary (i.e., Dan for Daniel), it is unnecessary to record it because only more unique nicknames need to be written (i.e., Esther “Hettie” HAWK.) If a person is known by multiple names, perhaps due to adoption or a non-marital name change, include all alternate names in parentheses after the surname on charts or a written tree. Clarify this with an “a.k.a.”, also known as, before the full alternate name, so that anyone reading your chart understands that the following is an alternate name. An example is Johann Leopold SCHWITTKOWSKI (a.k.a. John Paul HENNIG). Record it even when parts of the name are the same.

ALTERNATE SPELLINGS. When researching your ancestor’s surname, consider alternate spellings, particularly if the spelling has changed throughout time. There are several reasons why a last name might have been altered, such as illiteracy. It was common for ancestors who could not read or write to spell their last name phonetically, based on how it sounds, and this often led to slight variations between generations. When documenting surname usage, start with the earliest known usage, followed by all later known variations. For example, as in my family tree, you would write John LOGEN/LOGGAN/LOGAN or Johann SCHWITTKOWSKI/ HENNIG.

MAKE NOTES. Most databases have a place where you can insert notes. When recording names in your family tree, write notes or use the notes field. Specify unusual or confusing details for clarity. For instance, if a female ancestor’s maiden name is the same as her husband’s surname, briefly note why you have entered the same last name twice for her. Explaining prevents others from assuming it’s a mistake and helps them understand its reasoning.

Adhering to these straightforward guidelines ensures that your genealogical data is sufficiently clear for others to comprehend.

💁‍♀️EXTRA TIP: Are you finding the best search results for locating your ancestors? Did you know that misspellings and transcription errors limit your search? Unsure about the spelling of your ancestor’s names in records?

It’s time to try a wildcard search!

One of the best search secrets is using wildcard characters like “*” or “?” to substitute for letters you don’t know or are unsure of. When you use these characters in a search, it instructs the search engine (such as Google or Ancestry) to consider any letter in that position as a match.

Before using the genealogy wildcard search, remember that “*” replaces zero to multiple characters, while “?” replaces just one character. Read the search tips section for the database you use for their wildcard characters.

Read my tips and tricks on Maximizing Your Genealogy Research with Google: Proven Strategies for Effective Online Searches for your family history research.

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Maximizing Your Genealogy Research with Google: Proven Strategies for Effective Online Searches

Google is a valuable tool for genealogy research, providing access to various resources and information. Here are some tips for using Google for genealogy:

Specify Your Search

Identify what you want to find. Formulate your question to Google just as you would to a research librarian or archivist.

Use Search Operators

  • Use quotation marks to find exact matches. (You don’t need to put around the whole sentence. For instance, Where is the “National Dairy” in “Butte”)
  • The word “AND” includes multiple words or phrases.  How do you tell the search engine that you want to find Web sites that contain references to Keyword A and Keyword B? (Coal and Mines)
  • The word “OR” combines searches. It is beneficial for finding synonyms or related concepts. Using “OR” allows you to conduct multiple similar searches simultaneously, saving time.
  • Placing a tilde character (~) immediately in front of the keyword. asks Google to find pages with the word or words similar to it. The resulting pages for ~genealogy may include genealogy, family tree, roots, ancestry, heritage, vital records, or other words.
  • Use the minus sign (-) to eliminate keywords. The minus sign is just a hyphen in front of a term you want to have excluded from the search results. For example, if you were looking for a salsa recipe, you might search for salsa and discover multiple definitions. There’s the dance. There’s the music. Don’t forget the food. By using -dancing or -music, we can focus solely on salsa recipes: salsa -dance -music. Or, if you do not want onions, add -onions.
  • Don’t use “stop words.” Google often ignores small, commonly occurring words, such as ‘the,’ ‘at,’ and ‘of,’ and refers to them as stop words. When we search The Great Wall of China, we get about 471,000,000 results. By searching Great Wall China, we get about 815,000,000 results. And if we use the parenthesis around “The Great Wall of China,” we only get about 5,570,000 results.  
  • Use 3-5 keywords for the most relevant results in a search query. Using too many keywords will limit your results.

Google Alerts

Google Alerts enables you to set up multiple keyword searches to track specific information for free. It allows you to monitor any keyword or phrase you like without manually entering it.

Use Google Maps

Select a location and then use the “find businesses” tab to identify points of interest like churches, cemeteries, and historical societies. You can also see the surrounding areas.

Use Google Earth

Discover your ancestors’ hometowns, see how they look today, and locate nearby buildings, schools, and churches. You can also utilize Google Earth Pro to generate personalized maps of your ancestors’ surroundings. Click and drag the image to take a virtual walk down the street where your ancestors once lived.

Use Google Images

Google Image Search will display photos with a brief title and website address when searching for ancestors’ names, surnames, or places they lived, including nicknames or abbreviations. It provides exact matches and visually similar images based on your uploads and critical phrases. Clicking on a result will bring up a pop-up with more details about the image, potential copyright status, and a gallery of related photos.

You may also want to try Google’s Reverse Image search. This technique uses a photo rather than text to search Google.  

To perform a reverse image search on Google, follow these steps:

1. Go to Google.com and click the “Images” link in the upper right corner.

2. Click on the camera icon in the search box.

3. You can drag and drop a photo from your computer onto the Google Search page or click “Upload” to select an image from your computer or mobile device.

4. Review the search results page for the related images and information.

Use Google Photos

You can create, edit, and add maps and text to your photo albums, containing up to 20,000 photos or videos. You can organize your albums by family, surname, individual, or event and label them with relevant information.

Google Books (One of my favorites!)

You may already know that Google Books will keyword search within billions of pages of text in published books worldwide. Some of these books are even available to read on the site. Searching Google Books can lead you to facts, stories, new sources for your research, and even images. I’ve found many ancestors this way.

Google News Archive

Google News Archive is no longer actively digitizing and indexing newspapers. However, it can still help you find online content for specific newspapers. You can access an alphabetical listing of newspapers and enter keyword searches in the search box on the webpage for all the newspapers listed there.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar is the go-to resource for accessing scholarly articles, theses, dissertations, and other academic sources. It specializes in searching for high-level academic content. You can find specialized content on Google Scholar, such as biographies of little-known ministers or histories of small towns.

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Genealogy Rabbit Holes

Have you heard of rabbit holes in genealogy? They are more common than anything else in genealogy. Imagine you’re researching Aunt Betty and discover that her famous strawberry pie recipe is now made in several bakeries nationwide. To understand how Betty achieved this success, you delve deeper into her family history.

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You find that her uncle was a chef at a popular restaurant in New York, so you start exploring his family background. It turns out that their family owned a farm and grew all their food. Betty’s uncle’s mother taught all the boys how to cook using the produce from their garden.

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That’s a rabbit hole. We neglected poor Aunt Betty while we went on our adventure, similar to Alice in Wonderland.

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Stop getting distracted by unexpected genealogical discoveries. Have a plan.  

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Before beginning your research, write out your research question or statement. Writing it out will help guide you and keep you on task.

Break your primary research question down into more minor, individual research questions. Be specific in the question.

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Analyze what you already have. Start with what you know: Work from the known to the unknown.

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Remember to take notes: Write down key findings and questions as you go or after you have finished. You might forget what you’ve learned if you haven’t anything down.

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Use a separate notebook: Keep a notebook for your research facts, and always record the source. Recording the source will make it easier to add more details later. If you are going astray, write down what you found and then return to your main question.

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Set a timer: Keep track of how much time you’re spending on your research.

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I don’t avoid rabbit holes, but it is much easier for me to get back on track when I do if I have a plan in writing to fall back on.

Unveiling Family Secrets: The Transformation from Schwittkowski to Hennig

In 2017, I experienced a significant breakthrough in my genealogical research. For years, my cousins and I struggled to find information about my great-grandmother’s family, the Hennigs. It wasn’t until I found a record in FamilySearch that everything started to fall into place.

Sometime between 1910 and 1911, the entire family changed their surname to Hennig, which was my great-great grandfather’s mother’s maiden name. The reason for this change is listed in his son’s naturalization papers, and an excerpt is provided below.

“While said name would indicate that the undersigned is Polish, that, in fact, he is German; that by reason of the name, those with whom the undersigned associates are given to understand that he is of Polish extraction, when in fact he is a German …”

Johann Leopold Schwittkowski became John Paul Hennig.

Johann insisted that he was German because he was born in Danzig (Gdansk), which was under German rule at the time. However, his parents were Polish, and Schwitkowski, his last name, is Polish. The “owski” in his last name felt too Polish for him.

After discovering the Schwittkowski name, I uncovered a flood of new ancestors. Don’t give up! The answer is out there. Contact me if you need assistance.

You can read more about this in-depth at Schwittkowski.

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Loganalogy Pioneer Pack

The Search for a Father’s Past: Family Secrets

In April, a client contacted me seeking assistance with his family history, particularly regarding his father. This gentleman, in his 80s, had limited information about his father, who passed away when the client was just a teenager.

The client was aware of his father’s life from the time of his marriage to his mother onwards but had no details about his father’s earlier life. He only knew that his father hailed
from Michigan and had briefly stayed in Canada to visit his brother, with little additional information.

I had been stuck for a while but then
stumbled upon newspaper articles detailing minor run-ins with the police. Initially, I thought it was a case of mistaken identity with someone else sharing the same name.

Then, I found his birth record.

It turned out that he was actually born in Canada, not Michigan, which enabled me to locate him in the Canadian census records for 1891, 1902, and 1911. Although he visited his brother in Michigan in 1919, he returned to Canada in 1921.

Port Huron, Michigan, and the border town where he lived in Canada

Further research helped me discover a previous marriage. This was in 1924. Another surprise for my client. The Canadian marriage records from that period were remarkably detailed, even including their street address.
This small town immediately caught my attention, as it matched the address in the census records and was the same neighborhood mentioned in the newspaper article I previously referenced.

In 1921, he was charged in a pedestrian accident, followed by a car theft less than a year later. Subsequently, I lost track of him.
My next step was to investigate the first wife, but I hit a dead end, as they both mysteriously disappeared.

Around four weeks later, I stumbled upon a 1926 newspaper article from a Canadian newspaper that revealed this client’s father’s full name. The article mentioned his arrest in
Tampa, Florida, on suspicion of fraud, and mentioned that he had a wife and child residing in Chicago, Illinois.


Not his actual records.

While processing this information, I wanted to ensure I was completely certain before approaching my client. I also needed more details. Upon revisiting research on the wife, I discovered her mother was from Chicago and her father from England.

Interestingly, the 1931 Canadian census indicated her father was widowed. Turning back to the US Census records, I found the
wife living in Chicago with her mother and stepfather, which raised some questions.

Further investigation revealed that both Canadian and US census records indicated the wife’s mother was from New Jersey, hinting at a connection. Digging deeper into the wife’s mother’s background, I stumbled
upon her parents’ 1921 Canadian census, where they were listed with two boarders.

Funnily enough, one of the boarders’ names caught my attention – the man her mother was married to in Chicago!

Are you following along so far? But wait, there’s more.

The census records indicated that the wife had two children living with her. It appeared that when he married in 1924, he had a daughter nine months later.

His son was born in Tampa in 1927, fifteen months after their daughter. I surmised from the dates that his wife was about three months pregnant when her husband was arrested in Tampa for the fraud.

In April 1930, his first wife resided in Chicago with her mother and stepfather. Although her marital status is listed as married, her husband is not recorded in the census.

Five years later, in 1935, his first wife and their children had remained in Chicago, residing with her “partner” and his mother. Her marital status is
still listed as married. At the same time, her husband was serving a new prison term in Florida, this time on the opposite coast, for a
period of ten months due to breaking and entering.

He married my client’s mother in 1937, and they had two sons together, staying in the area of his last arrest. Interestingly, in the 1940 US census, his first wife is still listed as married. Sometime following that, but before
1950, she tied the knot with her new partner.

Sadly, by the time I made my discoveries, all three of my client’s siblings had died. His mother died seventeen years before him
hiring me.

This wasn’t the result we anticipated while uncovering the lost years of his father. Family isn’t just about the intriguing tales; it encompasses their complete narrative with all its highs, lows, and imperfections.

I hope reading this encourages you to explore beyond the obvious. Look into all those related families, friends, in-laws, etc.–cluster and collateral research.

  • Cluster research examines the “clusters” of individuals who lived in your ancestor’s community. This strategy places special emphasis on the friends, peers, neighbors, coworkers, and other community members who were part of your ancestor’s everyday life.
  •  Collateral research investigates your non-direct-line ancestors. Though you may not share much DNA with your great-great-grand-uncle, records of him can lead you to records of your ancestor.

Definitions are available thanks to https://familytreemagazine.com/research/cluster-collateral-research/.

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William Bean- Trans-Appalachian Pioneer; Longhunter (Logan Family)

There is much information on the World Wide Web regarding my ancestor, William Bean.  His is a fascinating story of pioneering strength.  He was the husband of Lydia Russell; I mentioned her in my blog, Native American Heritage.  You can read of her capture by the Cherokee and her freedom by Nanyehi (Cherokee: “One who goes about”), known in English as Nancy Ward.  It is rumored that Lydia’s nephew, Lewis (Louis) Russell, son of George, married (or had relations with) a Cherokee, which produced descendants.  But I digress…

William was born on 09 Dec 1721 in St. Stephens Parish, Northumberland, Virginia, and was baptized there.

Will Bean Baptismal Record_LI

He married Lydia Russell in 1744.  Before leaving Virginia, William was a captain in the Virginia Militia and a Revolutionary War Veteran.  Before settling in Tennessee, he settled in Pittsylvania (Danville) County, Virginia.

They were the first “white” settlers in Tennessee.   Some say the first “European-American settlers.”  William was of Scottish descent, and Lydia was of English descent.

William was a longhunter.  He was also friends with fellow longhunter Daniel Boone.

Daniel Boone
Longhunter with dead deer

Daniel Boone                             Longhunter with a dead deer

Longhunters were explorers and hunters in the 1760s who went on expeditions for about six months into the wilderness of the American frontier.  As was William Bean and his friend, Daniel Boone.  They may have met by being agents for Richard Henderson, a land speculator who later played an essential role in the early settlement of Tennessee.

1769, Bean moved his family (5 to 8 children) from Virginia to Tennessee.  There, they cleared land and built a cabin close to the junction of Boone’s Creek (just above the mouth of the creek) and the Watauga River, near what is today Johnson City, Tennessee.  Bean camped here with Boone and was familiar with the country.   He liked the secluded part of the land where he built his cabin.  It was hidden from the river by high rock formations and thick overgrowth.  The creek provided plenty of water from the springs.  The cabin was concealed from Indians who might pass by on the river, and the mouth of the creek was marked by a large waterfall, which kept boats from entering the creek.  The spot around Bean’s cabin became known as the Watauga settlement.

William and Lydia were now the first permanent white settlers in Tennessee.  Their son, Russell, was the first white child born in Tennessee.  Most of William’s siblings, as did Lydia’s brothers, George and John Russell, joined him.  You can read more about this area, the Beans, the Russells, and the settlement at The Overmountain Men by Pat Aldermen.

https://amzn.to/2Yf9KK6

Bean Cabin_Artist's ConceptionWoman Settlers

William is said to have been “a man of parts,” a substantial landowner in Pittsylvania County. Members of the Bean family were prominent in civil and military affairs in the Watauga Valley for many years. The colony was outside of any governmental control, so they founded the Watauga Association.  William served in the Revolutionary War from 1776 to 1780 as a Captain in the Watauga Riflemen. At the Battle of Kings Mountain, it is rumored that Captain Bean and his men scattered a band of Tories and hanged nine.

Source: Notable Southern Families, Volume 2

William Bean was one of the first patentees of the land leased from the Indians by Charles Robertson as trustee for the settlers and later secured by treaty. His name is found to the petition for annexation to North Carolina, which is in the archives at Raleigh, and was received by messenger August 22, 1776.

At the end of the Revolutionary War, William Bean was granted 3000 acres of land for his outstanding service. He decided on a piece of land in what is now Grainger County Tennessee.

William Bean was also a businessman; he built Bean Station at a significant crossroads. William built the Bean Tavern, outside of the fort, the largest tavern between Washington D. C. and New Orleans. Travelers coming from all over stopped there on their excursions. It was a bustling crossroads for the surrounding settlements in East Tennessee.

Interesting Note: Abraham Lincoln’s mother was a waitress at the Bean Station Tavern.  And Davey Crockett traveled there as well.

This is a beautiful video of the history of Bean Station.  It is only 7:49 minutes long but packed with information!  I highly recommend viewing it.

To read more, visit Grainger TN History


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Source: Notable Southern Families, Volume 2

https://amzn.to/2Yjoyat 

Like Daniel Boone, his old friend and companion, Captain Bean “did not like to be crowded”. He had helped blaze the Boone trail and watched emigrants settle upon the Watauga and Holston until they numbered perhaps a thousand people, then he began to look around for a home with more latitude, and where game was more plentiful. It is a family tradition that he selected the site of Bean station because of the gap in the mountain, and because of the sulphur springs, and salt licks, which latter attracted deer and other game.

Captain Bean erected Bean Station about the year 1778. Since he had grandchildren at this date, he could no longer be considered a young man, but as this is the year of his activities against the Tories it will be seen that he was still very active in frontier military affairs. The fort is said to have been strongly built and well defended, when occasion necessitated, by the few families who settled in its proximity.

The number of years that pioneer families lived in fear and suffered the atrocities from the Indians is shown by the massacre of Jane Bean, a daughter of Captain William Bean, twenty-one years after the family had moved to Bean Station.

Jane Bean had gone to a nearby spring for the purpose of doing a washing when Indians hidden in a cedar thicket jumped out, killed and scalped her. The grave may yet be seen in the rear of a barn near the public road, and is marked with a rough stone bearing the inscription, “Jane Bean, Nov. 12, 1799,” now on the place of Mr. Ethelbert Williams, once part of the estate of the Cobbs at Tate.

The only remaining daughter of Captain Bean of whom we have record is Sarah, who became the wife of John Bowen, brother of the brave Lieutenant Reece Bowen, whose death is so graphically described by Mr. Draper in “Kings Mountain and It’s Heroes”.

https://amzn.to/2Ty3fi8

There are many interesting traditions extant in this branch of the family of the early days at Bean Station.

The story goes that “on the day preceding the marriage of Sarah Bean, when all plans had been made for the celebration, John Bowen was called away to assist in quelling an Indian uprising, and the wedding had to be postponed”. Two weeks later, however, the wedding took place and after the culmination of the ceremony the groom took his bride to his cabin five miles distant from the station.

The honeymoon was spent in continuous trepidation and fear of the Indians, who at this particular time either through real or imaginary grievances against encroachments and broken faith of the settlers, were stealing into every settlement, massacring and plundering.

In the early morning Sarah Bowen would take her pail, and while her husband stood guard in the doorway with his gun, hasten to the spring for water.

One night Sarah and John Bowen were awakened by a stealthy and suggestive tapping outside the door. They arose, armed themselves with hatchet and gun and awaited the moment of attack.

Moments and hours passed and nothing more alarming transpired than the same suggestive Tap! Tap! Tap!

With dawn, the mystery of the delayed attack was solved. While dipping candles on the doorstep, Mrs. Bowen had spilled some of the tallow, which had attracted a gander one of several that Mrs. William Bean had brought her daughter the same day that she might collect feathers for a new feather tick!

When Indian danger threatened and Mr. Bowen was off on duty, one of Sarah Bean’s brothers would hasten for her, forcing her to jump astride the horse behind him, a feat shocking to the modesty, but necessary in the emergency, and dash away with her to the protection of the fort.

From David Crockett: The Lion of the West
By Michael Wallis

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One of Crockett’s good friends was old Major Russell’s son, George, the namesake of his uncle Captain George Russell, who followed his brother-in-law, William Bean, to Tennessee in 1770 and was promptly killed by Indians while on a hunting trip near his home at German Creek.

Lydia (Ancestor #: A132561), William (Ancestor #: A008045), and Bean Station are listed in the DAR Genealogical Research Database.

William died four months after he made his will on 06 Jan 1782.

William Bean's Will

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His descendants are many and all over the country.  Descendants lived in Tennessee, Virginia, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, Louisiana, and elsewhere.

As always, please do let me know if you see any discrepancies or errors.  Thanks for reading!

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A Video Through Time: Ruby Louise Chapman Wescott

My MeMa, my great-grandmother, Ruby Louise Chapman Wescott through the years.

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Martha “Mattie” Lee Chapman

Martha “Mattie” Lee Chapman was born on this day in 1888. She was my great-grandmother’s sister, so my great-grandaunt.

She married Charles Hobdy Forbes at the age of 21 in Norfolk, VA. Her last year of schooling was when she was a freshman in high school. She was a housewife, a mother of two, and a member of First Baptist Church in Norfolk. Her husband was a barber and owned his own shop by 1930.

She had a fractured hip, which the coroner put as the main reason for her death, but generalized arteriosclerosis “contributed” to her death three weeks later. Her daughter died a year before her death.

There were many references to Mattie from my great-grandmother, so I presumed them to be very close.

Stay tuned for more blogs regarding the Chapman family coming soon.

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