Bean family fractured (Civil War era)

Differing politics combined with fundamental trouble in Jesse and Eliza Bean's relationship resulted in a lasting split between the Bean and Matheys in-laws. After Eliza's death, Jesse moved south. remarried, had many more children, and later joined the CSA. His son David, oldest child by his first wife, fought for the Union Army, as did three of Jesse's younger brothers.

This project gathers a host of geni.com urls in one place so that I can keep track of various themes with hopes of eventually completing a cohesive and accurate historical novel. {MMvB} begun May 2021.

In addition to what is included in this project, there are many pages of research that go into considerable depth on many topics. I hope to eventually place these with the Historical Society of Montgomery County in Norristown PA. If a book is ever completed, that work will stand in its own right. The working title is Ring's Branch.

A reconciliation, of sorts, took place many years after the Civil War. This was spear-headed by two of the remaining Bean brothers : Jesse (of the CSA) and Edwin (of the Union Cavalry). These two men exchanged letters. A few, from the 1890's, are attached to their Geni profiles.

When Jesse's nephew Theodore Lane Bean married, Jesse and his second wife Nancy Jane seem to have attended the nuptials, held in Norristown in October 1903. It was as if this prodigal son had returned to bosom of the Bean family.

Major Players

~• at the close of the 19th century

1. Jesse Weber Bean (CSA) (1817-1905) {4-years at war} and his two wives Elizabeth "Eliza" Matheys of Jeffersonville, PA and Nancy Jane Bean of Tazewell and Jeffersonville VA
   1. Jesse & Eliza had three children together; Jesse & Nancy Jane had ten.
   2. It is significant to note that the Matheys and Bean in-laws were next door neighbors in the 1830s, before they were married. Jesse and Eliza seem to have been at school together in Jeffersonville, West Norriton Township on the outskirts of Norristown, Pennsylvania.
      1. to see a location of their property view: https://ancestortracks.com/PhiSur_Norriton(Mont)_1857.jpg This 1857 map does not have either the BEAN or MATHEY names on it but is has successor owners of the very same land. KENNEDY & OWENS (sic)

3 Bean brothers and one son fought in the War

1. Sgt. William Bean (USA) (1822-1907) 2+ years at war
2. Sgt. Edwin Adams Bean (USA) (1831-1906) 2+ years at war
3. Col. Theodore Weber Bean (USA) (1833-1891) 2+ years at war
4. Jesse's son David Matheys Bean (USA) (1847-1884) went to war at age 16; reenlisted in the military after the war. Died tragically in Yuma, in his thirties. His relatives back home never learned of his death.
5. Jesse's son Howell Evans Bean (1848-1938) was too young to have fought. He was orphaned at age four. After hismother died and his father deserted him, he was raised by his mother's maiden sisters. He lost touch with his only sibling David right after the War.

Others Figures in story

• Elizabeth "Eliza" Matheys' family, most prominently

1. her father PA State Senator and Captain of the Montgomery County Mounted Troop John Matheys
2. Eliza's mother Amy Matheys (Zell)
3. Eliza's eldest sister Hannah Matheys - maiden milliner and foster mother to her sons David Matheys Bean Howell Evans Bean (after Eliza died)
4. Eliza's brothers who served in the Troop along with her husband Jesse. (William and David) {and, perhaps, John}

• Jesse Weber Bean's second (†† West Virginia family) (after death of Elizabeth)

1. Nancy Jane Bean (Reed) - (of native American extraction) of Virginia (now West Virginia) and the 8 children (of ten) who were still alive in 1903. All these born and raised in VA/WV

• Jesse's chance meeting with an old friend and distant relative post Battle of Snicker's Gap (July 1964)

1. Henry Anderson Price (USA) 100-day man
2. Dr. John Martin (USA) (1st Montgomery troop)

• Howell Bean's three children (with two wives) : Albert , Mary, and James Robbins Bean

Historical Figures (do not hyper link to this project)

1. Vice President John Breckenridge (led Jesse in the Shenandoah (aka "Valley") campaign 1864), one of his heroes
2. Jubal Early,commanding Confederate General of the Valley Campaign
3. Colonel John Singleton Mosby, Sr. (CSA) (indirectly) > Col. Theodore Weber Bean, (USA) was the provost marshall at the hanging of two of his men, summer 1864 Front Royal
4. Devil Anse Hatfield (perhaps) cameo appearance of Logan's Wildcats, Civil War soldier (see: https://loganwv.us/genealogical-society/ )
5. Thomas Jefferson
6. Marquis de Lafayette (parade of 1824
7. U.S. President James Buchanan
8. Thaddeus Lowe, balloonist, inventor
9. Capt. John "Black Jack" Pershing ( Pershing was Jesse's nephew's classmate at West Point : see Major William Heebner Bean ~• Even though Pershing was from Ohio, his Pershing ancestors were from Pennsylvania. John had a not too distant cousin, Cyrus Pershing, who ran unsuccessfully for Gov. against a good friend Maj. William Bean's father, Gov. Hartranft. This connection would not have been lost on the two cadets Bean and Pershing, when they were at West Point together. In addition both Col. T W. Bean's wife and the Hartranfts were of Schwenkfelder backgrounds.
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_W._Pennypacker & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_M._Brown_(Pennsylvania_politician) governor of Pa when Jesse came North. Railroad investor and Pennypacker disciple.

Bean, Weber, & Matheys ancestor political figures and other men in uniform

1. Capt. and State Sen. John Matheys, Elizabeth's father (1st Montgomery troop)
2. WIlliam Zell Matheys, Elizabeth's brother (1st Montgomery troop)
3. John Matheys, Elizabeth's brother (1st Montgomery troop)
4. David Zell Matheys, Elizabeth's brother (1st Montgomery troop)
5. Major William Heebner Bean
6. Nathaniel C. Cash, (CSA) This is Robert Lee Bean's father-in-law, Robert being the last of Jesse Weber Bean's sons.
7. Hon. William Bean, PA House (1st Montgomery troop & State Fencibles) ; War of 1812. Jesse's father
8. Mary Weber, Jesse's mother

general comment

Please do message me prior to adding profiles to this side of the page. You can, however, add profiles, at right, to associate others with this project.

Bean family historians (all deceased) from whose work I have consulted

• Col. Theodore Weber Bean, (USA) (as above)
  • His daughter, Mary Louise Jones
  • His son, Theodore Lane Bean
    • TLB's daughter Mary Rogers (Bean)
• (Edwin Adam Bean's son) = Wilmer Milton Hood Bean
• (Jesse's and Eliza's son) = Howell Evans Bean
  • {both Wilmer and Howell through donations and work with the Hist. Soc. of Montg. Co. (PA)}
• and, of course, me = Michael M. van Beuren, 2nd great grandson of Col. Theodore Weber Bean
• on ancestry dot com > Linda Bean LaForce (formerly) of Baltimore, Maryland, USAAge: 50-59 (in 2021) is a 53 year old from McDowell County, West Virginia. (She wrote: "I have been doing genealogy since 1981- but nothing new found for years.All of my families are in McDowell CoWVA. My husbands families are from Russell and Scott Cos VA." she died in NV in 2019 but has a relative "foxyleocat" on ancestry

RESOURCES

• newspapers dot com; e.g.
  • https://www.newspapers.com/search/#query=%22100+Day+Men%22
• History of Montgomery County by Col. Theodore Weber Bean with help from his daughter, Mary Louise Jones (Bean)
• Historical Society of Montgomery County, PA ; see https://hsmcpa.org/
• Mary Louise Jones
• Private papers of Mary Rogers (Bean)
• hear-say recalled by (self) from maternal grandmother, Elizabeth "Libby" Lee Wildman (Bean)
• at least 5 Beans were members of the the Historical Society of Montgomery County. These include the founder, Col. Theodore Weber Bean and descendants and Howell Even Bean, Col. Bean's nephew (Jesse's son)
• for extensive commentary on the families of Jesse's second wife, Nancy Jane Bean (Reed), see the profile and discussions attached to Thomas Bailey Christian . TBC is Nancy's maternal grandfather.
• Buck's History of Montgomery County: https://archive.org/details/cu31924028854424/page/n87/mode/1up?view...
• lumber business c. 1900 i on the Dry Fork of the Tug https://www.nwhs.org/eTAF/NWHS.eTAF.2016_02.web.pdf

a study of the Bean Family and race issues is pertinent to the family's split in the Civil war: (USA) Theodore, Edwin, William vs (CSA) Jesse. (It is more complicated than one might think: Events in PA include the Columbia PA race riots of 1834. (see clippings under documents)