Difference between revisions of "Biography: Jacob Beals"

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JACOB BEALS - A CHRONOLOGY

JACOB BEALS' EARLY LIFE IN EASTERN PA

Jacob Beals was born in Pennsylvania in 1806, reportedly "a native of Berks County, of German descent". The same source says that his wife, Elizabeth Bry, was born in Lehigh County, and various deeds show her family owned land in Upper Milford and Lower Macungie Townships there. Elizabeth Brey and Jacob Beals were married in about 1828, probably in Lehigh County. Their first three children, Flora Ann (b.1829), Samuel (b.1831), and Benjamin (b.1833), all reported being born in Lehigh County

The birth of the children of Jacob Beals in Lehigh County in the 1830's is important to note. Some researchers have erroneously proposed that Jacob was a son of the German immigrant David Beels, and arrived as a child in Clarion County in 1806. See David Beels Research notes.

The birthplace for the next two sons, Jacob (b.1836) and William (b.1839) is not yet known. Hiram Beals was born in 1840, in Venango County, and by 1841 the family had settled in Clarion County.

LIFE IN CLARION COUNTY

Clarion County had just been formed in 1839, the northern part of the county being taken from the pre-existing Venango County. Jacob Beals' family settled in the border area of these two counties. A year after Hiram was born in Venango County the family settled on a homestead in Beaver township, Clarion County. In later life the parents resided with children living in Venango County.

They settled in 1841 in what was then Beaver township. One source suggests that the old Beaver cemetery is located on the Beals homestead. Levi was born in August of 1845, and James F. in 1846. Over time, the sons of Jacob purchased farms nearby, on the border of what is now Salem and Richland townships, Clarion County. Oldest son Samuel inherited his father's farm of 540 acres. Jacob's youngest son, James F. Beals, eventually owned a farm farther north and across the county line in Richland Township, Venango County. It lay immediately adjacent to and west of the homestead of the immigrant David Beels in Salem Township, Clarion County.

At the time of the 1850 census, the family resided in Beaver Township. Jacob and Elizabeth were in their early forties, and the youngest of their eight children would be about five years old. The oldest child and only daughter, Flora, was 21 and still at home. The older boys Sam, Ben, Jacob, William and Hiram, ages 10 – 19 years, were attending school and the older three were farming as well. It is noted that the mother, and possibly the father, could not read or write. Next to the Beals live Michael and Maria Brae, Elizabeth Beals' parents. They are 76 and 78 years old, and with them lives Elizabeth's 56 year old but mentally deficient sister Hatty. Their presence here reinforces the expectation that these two families may have migrated from Lehigh County together.

Two residences away lives the family of John Marsh, including daughter Catharine C., age 20. In 1852, two days before Christmas, Samuel Beals, who was then 22, married Catharine Charlotte Marsh. Over the years between 1853 and 1870 they would have seven children. Jacob married a woman named Clara. They may have had one son who died in 1860 at 5 days old, and a daughter Mary A. Beals who died at 4 years old in 1865.

THE CIVIL WAR

When the Civil War began in 1861, Jacob and Elizabeth had been married for thirty-three years. Their older children were getting married and starting families. Flora, age 32, was married to Nathan Biery. Sam was 31, married and with children. Benjamin had married Sarah Shirey. All of the seven Beals sons were of an age to be eligible for military service. As the northern side in the conflict had a far greater pool of men to draw from, a lower percentage were called to serve. In the Beals family, the three brothers who fought in the Civil War were the older three of those either still single, or in Jacob's case, without children.

On the 28th of August, 1862, son Jacob was enrolled as a private and served three years, for the duration of the war. On the same day, Hiram enlisted in Company G, 155th P.V.I., also to serve for three years. William Beals also served briefly. He was drafted on March 15, 1865, three months before the war would end and the boys would begin coming home. On June 2, 1865 Jacob Beals mustered out of war service with his company. William was mustered out on July first.

While all three sons survived the war and returned home, the family was not without sorrow in those years. On March 22, 1861, Benjamin's wife, Sarah, died and was buried at Beaver cemetery. In 1862 Benjamin married again, to Elizabeth Shirey, a sister of his first wife. In 1863 this wife died also, and was buried with her sister at Beaver cemetery. Three years later, in 1865, Benjamin married for a third time, to Mary M. Himes, and two children from this marriage survived to adulthood: Edwin J. Beals and Mary E. Beals.

THE LATER YEARS

In 1865 Ben was 32, Jacob 29, William 26, Hiram 25, Levi 20, and James F. eighteen.. With the war over, the younger sons resumed their lives. They married, raised children, and bought farms. They augmented their incomes by practiced other trades on the side, like butchering, carpentry, oil drilling, and huckstering (the sale of farm produce in town or door to door). Jacob and Clara took in a foster daughter, Olive Bower. [Olive's father died in 1864 when she was two years old; she would grow up to marry Jacob's youngest brother, James F. Beals].

In 1866 Hiram Beals married Sarah Eddinger, who, like the Beals family, came from Lehigh County. Sarah had a brother Andrew who was a member of the 155th P.V.I. during the war. William married Susan Kline, thought to be a daughter of Reuben Kline.

By 1870 Jacob and Elizabeth, in their early sixties, resided in Richland Twp., Clarion County. Two children remained at home, Levi, aged 2, and James F. aged twenty-two. Levi worked at carpentry and James F. hired out as a farm laborer.

In February of 1872 Levi married Sarah Kribbs. At about the same time, James F. married Adaline Kribbs. They had two children, a daughter Bernice, and a son Charles born in about 1874.

By January of 1877, son Jacob must have been ill and realized he hadn't long to live. He wrote out his will, providing for his wife and leaving a large bequest to his foster daughter Olive Bower, in the form of an annual stipend until she reached the age of twenty-one, at which time she would receive the remainder. Three months later, on Mar.9, he died. He was buried at Emanuel Lutheran Cemetery, and as stipulated in his will, a large marble gravestone was erected. [Jacob's stone is in the second row and a bit to the left of the small front row stone that reads "infant son of J & C Beals died May (21) 1860 Aged 5 days"]

On June 3 1880 Catharine Marsh, wife of Samuel Beals, died and was buried at Emanuel Lutheran cemetery. A son of Sam and Catherine who presumably died as a child, Isaac Beals, is buried there also.

By 1880 Jacob, age 75, and Elizabeth, 72, were living in Richland Township with the help of a young 14 year old servant girl. They apparently lived adjacent to son, Levi F. Beals, 34, and his family, including 4 children. Family tradition has it that after marrying, Levi and Sara A. "Sade" Kribbs moved in with Levi's parents. Sade then asked that the Beals house be remodeled to face south rather than west, with a small addition built for parents Jacob and Elizabeth.

On Jan. 18, 1881 Samuel Beals, now 50 years old, remarried, this time to Lizzie Leavy. They had 3 children in the years1881-1884.

Ada Krebbs Beals, wife of James F. Beals died, and by 1882 he remarried. He chose for his second wife the foster daughter of his brother Jacob, Olive Bower. In 1883 she attained the age of twenty-one and received her inheritance. It is apparent from the will of James F. Beals that she gave this money to him. Olive and James F. soon had two daughters, Arminta (Mint) born in March 1883, and Florence born in July of 1884. Five years later a son, James Elgie Beals, was born.on 24 April, 1889.

Care of the aging parents was proving beyond the skills or temperament of Sade Kribbs, wife of Levi Beals. Jacob and Elizabeth were transferred to the care of their daughter Ann. Ann and Nathan Biery bought a house in Buttertown, near the farm of Levi Beals, so that they could take in Ann's parents to live with them. [The Biery house in Buttertown eventually belonged to Fred Beals, son of Levi.]

Jacob did not long survive the move. With grandson Elgie just 18 months old, Jacob Beals died, in October of 1890. He was 83 years old. Instead of being buried at the Emanuel Lutheran cemetery with his son Jacob and others of the family, Jacob was laid to rest at Salem Lutheran cemetery. Elizabeth lived on for another nine years, attaining the age of 90 years. She died in January of 1899, and was buried beside Jacob at Salem Lutheran cemetery.

Note - The abandoned Salem Lutheran cemetery in 1991 was quite overgrown. Stones were broken and fallen, and graves sunken. By 2006 the cemetery had been cleared of overgrowth. White wooden crosses marked gravesties that lacked stone markers. A small marker noted the original Emanuel Lutheran Church location. One obituary published in the Seneca Kicker for Samuel Beals, son of Jacob, mistakenly says that Samuel was buried at the Beaver Cemetery, "which lies on the Beals homestead". Samuel was actually buried in the Knox cemetery. As to the Beaver cemetery being part of the Beals homestead, it does lie adjacent to a Beels farm, (according to Charles Walls of Emlenton PA). See the Jacob Beals page for a link to the Beels family research. E.W.W.

This biography was compiled by Elizabeth Wilson Williams from family knowledge and tradition, and from the information in the Jacob Beals sources.