William Bean

William Bean married Susan Temperance Troupe, daughter of John Troupe. All of their children were born in Morgan County, Alabama:

John Wesley Bean, born November 15, 1816, married Matilda Jeanette Hodges;

Garland William Bean, born 1832, married Sarah "Sally" Brown;

Benjamin Franklin Bean, born September 1, 1820, married Mary Ann Garner;

Temperance Bean married Willis Orr;

Nancy Sue Bean married _____Garner;

Mary Ann Bean, never married

William's Will was dated January, 1843 and proven in court on June 5, 1884. All of his children are named in the will, as well as his wife, Susan, to whom he leaves certain property.

From the book, A Written and Pictorial History of Florette School, compiled in part by Grace Bowling Fowler, the following is reported about the Bean family. It was written by John Slone Bean:

William Bean, who was the youngest son of Alexander Bean and Christianna Cassey Bean, was born in Edgefield County, South Carolina, and settled and lived in Morgan County very early. He married Susan Temperance Troupe. William died in 1843. His will was dated Jan 1843. His wife Susan, and their six children are named in his will. He left a sizable estate.

John Wesley Bean, the third generation in America and the oldest son of William, was born 15 Nov 1816, and died 11 Dec 1872. He married Matilda Jeanette Hodges on 29 Sep 1846, and had six children. Three of the children died before they were a year old. The three who lived to be grown were, (1) John Franklin, who married Charlie Parlee Ellis, (2) Willis Aaron, who married Mary Catherine Blevins, and (3) Mary Augusta, who married Henry Self. They lived in a two-story log house that was about a hundred yards north of Highway 67, in the Florette community. The farm had frontage on Six Mile Road and went north to include Bean Mountain, where the water tank for the Morgan County Water Department is located. The log house stood until the late 1950s or early 1960s.

Willis Aaron Bean was the fourth generation in America. He and his wife, Mary Catherine, raised their family in the log house on the Bean homeplace until a new home was built on Six Mile Road in the 1890s. There were nine children born to this union. Willis Aaron died in 1901 and Mary in 1902 [of typhoid fever], leaving seven children ranging in age from fourteen to eighteen. Grandma Bean (Matilda Jeanette Hodges), the matriarch of the family, raised the children on the homeplace after the death of their parents.

The children of Willis Aaron Bean were, (1) John Wesley, who married Lucile Waldsmith, (2) Asa Hodges, who married Myrtle May Peck, (3) Lula Nancy, unmarried, (4) Benjamin Franklin, who married Mary Wyons Slone, (5) Ollie Augasta, who married William Simeon Watkins, (6) Dialtha Lelia and (7) Myrtle Jeannette, both unmarried.

From the New Decatur Advertiser as quoted in Morgan County Tidbits, Volume II, page 9:

Aaron Bean of Stringer, died of typhoid fever on the 30th of January [1901]. A good man is gone. He leaves a wife and seven children, a mother, a brother, a sister and a lot of friends to mourn their loss.

• ****************** 'beane' meaning fair. It is supposed to have been used by the Highlanders to designate a man of fair complexion. In the course of centuries the family settled in Yorkshire, England, and most , if not all of the present family, came to America, settled in Edgefield, SC., 1812.
  • ********* Married at age 18. Died Morgan County AL.