Ring's Branch • an historical novel • a private list of characters

Herewith: The character's in a forthcoming historical novel tentatively called Ring's Branch"
~• author: Murray Wilde ;)

STATEMENT BY AUTHOR

Most remember that Abraham Lincoln spoke the words "Four score and seven years ago, our forefathers..." at Gettysburg. As this novel opens, it's been about two score years since that War has ended. The Bean's of Pennsylvania & West Virginia are still dealing with an assortment shattered relationships.

This is a story about an attempt of reconciliation and healing, when the remaining Bean brothers have agreed to meet again at a large family wedding ceremony.

The actual lives of these individuals inspired the writing.

The seminal moment for me during research was reading the guest list for the wedding. This list and letters written by Jesse Weber Bean served as a springboard for years of research about the Bean family, family, and friends. A veil of mystery about ties, motivations, triumphs and failures eventually began to be lifted. Here is a resulting tale of how it may have been and how a measure of joy and reconciliation rises out of the ashes of sorrow and conflict.

central figures

and how they are related to the protagonist, Jesse Weber Bean

• JESSE
  • Sgt. Jesse Weber Bean (CSA) (1817-1905), Pennsylvanian by birth; Confederate Muntions Qtr. Master
  • note: his 1st wife ELIZA died before Jesse moved South
• Jesse's wife: NANCY JANE
  • Nancy Jane Bean (1832-1911). These two are introduced in Chapter 1; Nancy is of NA heritage
    • her son Robert Lee Bean and his son Forrest
• DAVID
  • Pvt. David Matheys Bean, (USA) (1847-1884), a son of Jesse & Eliza, Civil War vet., later a soldier out West.
• HOWELL
  • Howell Evans Bean (1848-1938), the second son of Jesse & Eliza, of Philadelphia County, too young to have gone to War with his brother.
    • Laura, his wife and son Robbie
• EDWIN
  • Edwin A. Bean (USA) (1831-1906), Jesse's younger brother, Union Cavalry Qtr. Master vet.
    • his wife Bessie and his son Wilmer
• MAJOR WILLIAM aka Will
  • Major William Heebner Bean (1861-1904), Jesse's nephew through his dead brother Col T.W. Bean (USA), career officer 2nd US Cav.
• MARY LOUISE
  • Mary Louise Jones (1863-1957), Jesse's niece of Conshohocken, PA; a Quaker; dau. of Col T.W. Bean (USA),
    • her husband Conrad "Con" and two children Dorie and Rachel
• COL. THEODORE WEBER BEAN, Jesse's deceased younger brother and the groom's father
  • Col. Theodore Weber Bean, (USA)
  • HANNAH Col. Bean's wife
    • Hannah Bean

The Wedding Couple of 1903

the story is set mainly in and around Norristown, Pennsylvania, in October, in the days surrounding their wedding

• LANE
  • Theodore Lane Bean (1878-1943), The groom. Jesse's nephew through Jesse's deceased younger brother Col T.W. Bean (USA), Jesse would still have to had faced Col. Bean's widow Hannah Bean
• SARAH
  • Sarah Albertson Bean (1879-1908) The bride, daughter of the Penna. Railroad exec. P. Frank Hunter

Major William's Classmates at West Point

there were 76 grad's in the Class of 86.. Only three are mentioned in the novel. For the rest, see: project

• Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing (1860-1948)
• 2nd Lieut. Seward Mott (1861-1887) (not by name in the text. It was he who was killed by Apaches
• Lieut. Colville Mott Pettit (1865-1890) (died in Nebraska, just south of Wounded Knee

By-Standers

• William McClellan Ritter Huge influence on the late 19th century lumber business in McDowell County, Jesse's home.
  • ~• of the Wurtemberg, BW, Germany Ritters
• Anna Louisa Ritter (Bean) Jesse's sister, recently deceased
  • ~• of the Wurtemberg, BW, Germany Ritters
    • ~• her son was at the wedding: Rev. Horace Greeley Ritter
• Rev. Henry Anderson Price A Montgomery Co. (USA) soldier who Jesse knew from his birthplace and who was captured by the VA 36th in July 1844 (see letter)
• Capt. Bennett Fulmer Jesse's friend from his youth in Norriton
• Hiram Watson Sibley bought timber rights in 1890. See Jesse's timeline
• John W. Baldwin consolidated lands for a coal company, including a hill that Jesse gave to his children.
• Alexander Davenport Beavers a middleman speculator who bought up land and then sold to the 'big fish'
• Thaddeus Lowe (Chief Aeronaut of the Union Army Balloon Corps) & Mount Lowe in Southern California
  • basically the same age as another (leeser) Norristown inventor: Col. Theodore Weber Bean, (USA)

reach out to:

• who wrote about the Know Nothings https://www.lboissoneault.com/
  • https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/immigrants-conspiracies-and-...
    • Lorraine wrote (2017) : " the (Whig) party splintered and then disintegrated over the politics of slavery": My interest in this side light: Jesse's mindset on the issue of slavery.

Notes

Betsey Branch (aka Rings Branch) goes under the RR tracks at: Betsy Branch Rd Raysal, WV 24879 = 37.400696, -81.785744 (Betsey Branch Road) ( see googlemaps ) where it joins the Dry Fork of the Tug River.
~• No need to be very specific about house locations: the Reed/Bean clan owned an expanse of land the would be about 1 3/4 by 1 3/4 miles square (!)