John Beals

https://wc.rootsweb.com/trees/191497/I02132/john-beals/individual ==not-so-brief biography==
Circa 1743: Frederick, VA Online-Quak Corner-Colorful Fams states that on this date John purchased 165 acres of land for six pounds from his bro-in-law, John Mills. He remained there at least eleven years befor selling the same tract on Middle Creek on 5 Nov 1754, for five shillings to a fellow Friend, Benjamin Thornburgh. He sold at a considerable loss, but it may be that the rumors of the Indian war that did begin in 1755 impelled him to move farther south and join his brothers and sister in North Carolina.

During the American Revolution, New Garden Meeting House became a hospital for any injured person. On the meeting rounds, in the meeting house and in homes of Friends who lived nearby, many hundreds of wounded and dying men were cared for. These casualties came from early skirmishes on March 15, 17-- on the mtg house grounds itself, as well as from the main battle which occurred in the afternoon near Guilford Court House. (The battle was in later years known as the Guilford County Court House Battle.)

Earlier, the British general, Cornwallis, authorized his men to use the New Garden church benches on which to butcher animals. Apparently, the benches were taken outside of this activity.

New Garden Mtg was established as a Monthly Meeting in 1754, although Friends had lived in the area since the later 1740's. These including the following names from our family: Beals, Thornbrough, Hunt, Beeson/Beason, and Stanley. New Garden soon became the center of Friends' activities in NC.

John and Margaret apparently spent their last years in the home of their daughter Hannah (Beals Hockett Cloud. John apparently distributed his property among his children before his death, since he left no will or estate settlement. Just before his death, however, John had a remarkable experience, a record of which is preserved at Guilford College, Greensboro, NC.

THE NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE OF JOHN BEALS

John Beals gave this remarkable account to a Friend shortly before his death in 1796:

Recovering from a fit of sickness, a weak John Beals desired that his family retire for the evening sooner than was usual. The door to his room suddenly opened and a person, clothed in white raiment, drew to his bedside and bade him arise and follow him. They went out of the room together and ascended up through the air. John was brought to Heaven by his Guide and was placed before the Great Being who was seated on a bright throne of glory. The Divine Being looked upon him and asked how he came to be there. He replied that a person in white raiment had come to him and brought him to this glorious place. The Divine Being told the Guide to take John and show him the glory of the Saints. What John saw caused his heart to be overcome with joy and he desired to emain there forever. He was informed that he must go back again to the world and remain for two and a half days. If he spent his time in faithfulness, he should return and have his inheritance among the Saints forever.

John then asked the Guide to take him where he might have a fragrant smell. He was taken to a place where a door opened and released the most delightful odor he had ever experienced. He was soon filled with the odor and then was bought back by his Guide to his chamber and the bed where he lay. The fragrant smell remained in his nostrils for many days. He recovered very quickly from his sickness and believed that what he had seen would soon be fulfilled. All above from MAH

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Date and place of birth have also been (erroneously?) reported to be July 11, 1715 in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

Date and place of death have also been (erroneously?) reported to be April 23, 1794 at New Garden, Guilford County, North Carolina, United States.

links

• http://freepages.family.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mygermanfamilies/Bea...

content to clean up

   buried at New Garden, N.C.

John III married Margaret Hunt at Hopewell, Virginia, and moved to the

   Shenandoah Valley of Virginia near the town of Winchester, wher an early Quaker

   settlement was founded. About 1754 John III and family moved to the rich

   Piedmont plateau of North Carolina. Without moving, John III lived successively

   in Rowan, Orange, and Guilford Counties, all within a period of fifteen years.

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John Beals was born the seventeenth day of the second month 1717 (17 February 1717) in Chester County, Pennsylvania. recorded at New Garden Monthly Meeting.

John Beals married Margaret Hunt on 13 November 1738 in Pennsylvania. On the 27th day, 5th month, 1758 (27 May 1758), at New Garden Monthly Meeting in Rowan County (now Guilford), North Carolina, John and Margaret were received on certificate from Hopewell Monthly Meeting, Frederick County, Virginia. It is probable that their children came with them.

John died on 17 April 1796 in Guilford County, North Carolina, at age 79.

Children of John Beals and Margaret Hunt

• Ruth Beals b. a 1740
• Lydia Beals b. a 1742
• Hannah Beals b. a 1745, d. 4 Feb 1804

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• John Beals, III
• Birth: 1717 Chester County, Pennsylvania, USA
• Death: Apr. 17, 1796 Guilford County, North Carolina, USA
• John Beals was born the 17th of 2d mo 1717 (Old Style) in Chester County, PA, the son of John and Sarah (Bowater) Beals. He married about 1738 to Margaret Hunt, almost certainly under the care of Hopewell Monthly Meeting in Frederick County, Virginia. Some secondary sources give a marriage date of 13 May, but this can not be proven using primary sources. Friends meeting records would not have used a "pagan" date of a named month, but would have used a numbered month. In 1758 the records for the Hopewell Meeting burned in a house fire, so there are no contemporary records of their marriage. In 1758 John and Margaret were received at New Garden Friends Meeting from Hopewell, although they had probably moved south earlier. John and his wife's deaths are recorded in the records of Centre Friends Meeting in Guilford County with the notation that they are buried at New Garden. Their graves are unmarked after the manner of early Friends.
• Family links:
• Parents:
• John Beals (1685 - 1745)
• Sarah C Bowater Underwood (1688 - 1765)
• Spouse:
• Margaret Hunt Beals (1721 - 1796)*
• Children:
  • William Beals (1740 - 1814)*
  • Lydia Beals Hiatt Hadley (1740 - 1801)*
  • Hannah Beals Hockett (1741 - 1804)*
  • John Beals (1744 - 1809)*
  • Rachel Beals Dicks (1749 - 1827)*
• Siblings:
• Sarah Bowater Beals Mills (1713 - 1800)*
• John Beals (1717 - 1796)
• Thomas Beals (1719 - 1801)*
• Phebe Bowater Beals Sumner (1720 - 1805)*
• Prudence Beals Williams (1723 - 1815)*
• Note: Grave is unmarked.
• Burial: New Garden Friends Cemetery, Greensboro, Guilford County, North Carolina, USA
• Find A Grave Memorial# 101553389
• From: http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=101553389 _____________________