Daniel Beels

NOT A DIRECT ANCESTOR Daniel Beels is not in my direct ancestry. He is of the Beels family of Salem Twp., Clarion County, relationship unknown to our direct line Beals family. His farm, on the county border, lay adjacent to that of James Francis Beals of Richland Twp., Venango Co. PA

	Date	Location	Notes	Sources
Birth	~1792	Berks Co. PA
Marriage	1819		To Elizabeth Bender/Painter
Death	21 Feb 1878	Salem Twp., Clarion Co. PA
Burial

Ancestry chart segment

 Generation 3           Generation 4      Generation 5        Generation 6
 
                                                          +-- David Beels
                                                          |   (~1765-????)
                                      +-- Daniel Beels --+
                                      |   (~1792-1878)    |
                    +-- David Beels --+                   +-- [unknown]
                    |   (1827-1908)   |                            
John Howard Beels --+                 +-- Elizabeth Painter/Bender 
(1856-1935)         |                     (1797-1869)
                    +-- [unknown]
                        (possibly Laura Jane Rossman)

Children

(children with Elizabeth Painter/Bender)

Name	Gender	Date of Birth	Birthplace	Spouse	Notes	Sources
Mary Beels	F	~1820 -~1890's	expect Clarion Co. PA	Peter Exline
Jane Beels	F	~1825	expect Clarion Co. PA	Unknown Campbell	see 1880 census
David Beels	M	~1827 - 1908	expect Clarion Co. PA	Margaret Unknown
Elizabeth Beels	F	~1829 - 1880's	expect Clarion Co. PA	Unknown Coulter

Photos

Gravestone of Daniel Beels, Nickleville Presbyterian Cemetery, Richland Twp., Clarion Co. PA

Gravestone of David & Margaret Beels, Nickleville Presbyterian Cemetery.

Sources

Ref. Num.	Description	Image of original
1	1850 United States Federal Census Richland Twp, Clarion Co, PA, page 24. Census dated 5 Aug 1850. Lines 35-39: Daniel Beals, age 50 farmer, $1300 real property; Elizabeth, 53, wife; David, 23, son, farmer, in school; Elizabeth, 21, dau., in school; John Bender, 77, no occupation. All b. PA.
2	1860 United States Federal Census Salem Twp, Clarion Co, PA, page 21. Census dated July 4, 1860 Lines 20, 21: Daniel Beals, 60, farmer, $2000 real, 300 personal property; Elizabeth, 64. Both b. PA Age for Daniel inconsistent with other data indicating birth in 1791 (but consistent with 1850 census).
3	1870 United States Federal Census, Salem Twp, Clarion Co, PA, page 18.Census dated 19 Aug 1870. Lines 31-34: David Beals, age 43, farmer, $5000 real, $1000 personal property; Margret, 40, keeping house; J. H. 13, in school; Daniel, 79, father, retired farmer. All b. PA.
4	Beels Tax Assessment for Daniel and David Beels, 1842 - 1880, Clarion Co. PA	(Click here for tax record)
5	History of Clarion County, 1887,by A.J. Davis, p. 608 "Mr. David Beels settled on the farm now called the Herman Snyder place, in 1806. Mr. Beels was a German who smuggled his way on to a ship coming to America, and was not discovered for several days. When the ship arrived at Baltimore the captain sold him for his passage; after serving out his time, he took up a home in Penn's Valley, where he was married. In 1806 he and his family, for they now had two children, emigrated to these parts on a wagon. The family stopped at Sligo, while Mr. Beels sought a location. Finding a fine lay of land, and finding no deed or article to cover it, he soon landed his family upon it, and began improving it. He afterwards was forced to abandon it. He then commenced improving the northwestern corner of the tract now comprising Salem township."
6	Clarion News, May 5, 1994 Beels genealogy and history in article about the barn fire on the Beels homestead.
7	Correspondence of Sally Painter Prior, ggg-granddau. of Johannes Bender whose daughter Elizabeth Painter (Bender in German) married Daniel Beels).
8	Donna Beels Best interview, June 2007 by E. W. Williams. Information included the location of the Herman(Harmon) Snyder farm on which David Beels first settled, and of the Beels Hill farm; location of graves at Nickleville Presbyterian.
9	Gravestone, Nickleville Presbyterian Cemetery, transcribed 23 June 2008 by Elizabeth Wilson Williams. Elizabeth wife of Daniel Beels born Jan 17, 1797, died March 29, 1869. Daniel Beels died Feb 21, 1878, aged 86 years. David Beels 1827-1908, Margaret his wife 1830 - (uningraved). Note: This David Beels is the grandson of the immigrant David Beels, whose grave has not been located.
10	History of Venango County, Pennsylvania, Vol. 1, 1890, Brown Runk & Co.,Chicago, p. 585. Richland church was organized in 1823 and included the Presbyterian element that organized Academia Presbyterian church in 1856 (Nickleville Presbyterian). Members in 1856 included Elizabeth Beels and Mary Beels.
11	1880 United States Federal Census, District 81, Salem Twp, Clarion Co, PA, page 7 Lines 5-8: David Beels, age 53, farmer; Margret, 50, wife, keeping house; John H., 23, (grd?) son, farm labor; Jane, 48, sister, housework. All b. PA (and all parents). Note: David Beels, head of household, is the son of Daniel Beels (this page).

Conjecture

• It may be significant that a Daniel Biehl died in Lehigh County & is buried in the Fogelsville Union Cemetery. He was born in 1808, so is of the same generation as our Jacob Beals (b.1806). One could imagine this Daniel, (who possibly lived out his life, and certainly died, in Lehigh County), as possibly having an immigrant father also named Daniel. This older, conjectural Daniel would have been of the generation of the immigrant David Beels, and could have been his brother. If an older Daniel immigrated first and settled in the Lehigh area, his (brother) David could have been trying to follow his lead with the Lehigh County area as his hoped-for destination. Daniel immigrated through the port of Baltimore, ( rather than Philadelphia which would make more sense if he were trying to reach Lehigh County), but we know he was a stow-away, and may have taken what opportunity made itself available as to port of entry. David's son, Daniel Beels, could concievably have been named for such a brother. We have no evidence that David Beels ever resided in Lehigh County. He could have visited there however, and finding land scarce by the early 1800's, proceeded on westward, to Center County, then to the Venango/Clarion counties border area.
  
  This leads to another possibility, that Daniel Biehl of Lehigh County (d. 1868) could have been the brother of our Jacob Beals, who is said to have been born in Berks Co., but presumably married in Lehigh County about 1828-29, resided there until between 1833and 1836, and then migrated to Clarion Co. by at least 1839. If this were the case, (that an older Daniel Biehl was the father of Jacob Beal and the brother of David Beel), then Jacob Beals (b. 1806) and Daniel Beels (b. 1792) were cousins, and their sons who owned neighboring farms (James Francis Beals and David Beels (b. 18270,) were 2nd cousins. By time period and coincidence of locations this is all possible, but at this point, all is HIGHLY conjectural.

See Tombstone Inscriptions, Fogelsville Union Cemetery, Lehigh Co., PA compiled by St. John's Church, at Lehigh County Historical Soc. Library, Allentown.

• Daniel Biehl, b. 19 Oct. 1808, d. 17 Aug. 1868
• Hannah Biehl nee Resch b. 11 Jan. 1809, d. 31 Mar. 1887.