Tag Archives: David Lewis

Beeson, Lewis

David and Ann (Beeson) Lewis, NC and SC

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Today’s post about the family and descendants of David Lewis and Ann Beeson of Guilford County, North Carolina and Pendleton District, South Carolina will be a bit like the Sturgell family post I did a couple of months ago as I am hoping some descendant out there finds my blog and can help contribute documentation to cement together these three generations.

My husband’s ancestor Joseph Hendricks married Mary Lewis, probably in Simpson County, Kentucky around 1813. Mary is said to be the daughter of Joab Lewis and Catherine Leonard. Joab was living in Simpson County in 1830 and was aged 60-69 at that time, if his age was recorded accurately. I’ve seen numerous places that give his date of birth as 23 December 1773, but have seen no source for that date. If the census if correct, then Joab was born no later than 1770.

Notice that a much younger man named James Hendricks is living next door to Joab in 1830. It is very possible that this James Hendricks is a brother or cousin of Joseph Hendricks, who married Joab’s daughter.

His reputed daughter Mary Hendricks died after the 1880 census, probably in McLean County, Kentucky, where she was living with her daughter’s family. The birthplace of her parents is given as South Carolina on that census.

There are few early records for Simpson County and no proof of the death date of Joab Lewis, except for the census indicating he was living at the time of the 1830 census.

I am assuming for the moment that Mary is the daughter of Joab and his (unproven) wife, Catherine Leonard, who, according to that same 1830 census, was born 1780-1789.

With that assumption, I have researched the family of David and Ann (Beeson) Lewis, at least as best I can from home. Yesterday, I shared the discrepancy between the abstract and the original of David Lewis’s will, which named twelve of his children. If he had others, as some state, then they died young without issue.

David Lewis married Ann Beeson, who came from a staunch Quaker family. Her parents were Benjamin Beeson and Elizabeth (reputed to be Hunter), who married on 14 June 1738 at the Hopewell Monthly Meeting in Frederick County, Virginia. Ann was likely born in Frederick County.

Her parents were likely not happy that she married out of the Friends community and a formal note of the marriage was made on 30 January 1768 in Quaker New River Meeting minutes and she was excluded from the group. David and Ann Lewis likely married either very late in 1767 or in January 1768.

I have seen exact dates of birth for all of the Lewis children, but have had no luck in determining from where those dates came. I do see a listing for Bible records for David and Ann Beeson in the DAR Library online index, but they aren’t digitally available online. This Bible record is likely the origin of all the birth dates.

I also have no marriage records for any of these children, although spouses are known for most. Many ladies have joined DAR under David Lewis, a soldier of the American Revolution, serving from Guilford County, North Carolina, and descendants of six of the Lewis children are or have been DAR members. For the moment, I will assume that the birth dates and spouses are correct.

His children, with first wife Ann Beeson, are:

NOTE: Isaiah and Priscilla were likely born in Rowan County, North Carolina and the other children in Guilford County, which was formed from Rowan in 1771.

The Lewis family was enumerated in Randolph County, North Carolina (formed in 1779 from parts of Rowan and Guilford Counties) in 1790 so their mass migration happened between 1790 and 1800, when they were enumerated in Pendleton District, South Carolina.

Isaiah, born 3 September 1769; died before 25 January 1837, Vigo County, IN; married Nancy Julian
Priscilla, born 4 September 1770; died after her father’s will was written; married Thomas Field
Jacob, born 14 March 1772; died between the 1830 and 1840 censuses, as “Alcy” is head of household in 1840 and a widow in 1850; married Ailsie Leonard
Joab, born 23 December 1773; died between the 1830 and 1840 censuses, probably in Simpson County, KY (a burned county); married Catherine Leonard
Neriah, born 25 June 1778; died 1843, Macoupin County, Illinois; married Mary Moss, daughter of Samuel Moss and Rachel Julian
Benjamin, born 26 May 1781; died after his father’s will was written; wife unknown
Elizabeth, born 21 September 1783; died after her father’s will was written;  married Micajah Alexander
Cozby, born 13 July 1785; died after her father’s will was written; married John Woodall
Tarleton, born 11 August 1787; died after his father’s will was written; no further information
Hannah, born 2 October 1789; died 22 July 1869, Johnson County, Missouri; married (1) Ezekial Harlan (2) Silas Perry. Silas died in 1844 and is buried in Madisonville, Monroe County, Tennessee.

David’s likely children with Penelope, who he may have married c1813:

David, born c1814, Anderson County, South Carolina; died after his father wrote his will in 1822
Rosannah, born c1816, Anderson County, South Carolina; died after her father wrote his will in 1822

No further information has been found about Penelope and no documents give any clue about her maiden name. A quick search of the 1850 census shows a Penelope, wife of Bennett Hyde, born about 1790, who is living in Pickens County, South Carolina. Some of David’s family lived in the same county. Perhaps this Penelope is David Lewis’s widow.

If anyone can share any more documentation on this family, I would love to hear from you. Because of the loss of records in Simpson County, Kentucky, I may never have more than preponderance of evidence that Mary Lewis who married Joseph Hendricks was the daughter of Joab and Catherine (Leonard) Lewis.

 

Beeson, Lewis, Methodology

Check the Original Documents, Part 2

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Here is another great example of both looking at a primary source document AND doing very simple historical research in order to correctly analyze a document.

David Lewis and Ann Beeson married on 30 January 1768 – or– on 30 March 1768 –or– on 30 June 1768 –or– 30 July 1768 –or – just maybe – on NONE of those dates.

I have seen all of those dates listed in various places online. However, most of them mention that the marriage date was noted in the New Garden Quakers Monthly Meeting in what was then Rowan County, North Carolina.

It was said that Ann Beeson married outside the Quaker faith, which was true, because David Lewis was not a Quaker.

I wanted to see proof that she was, indeed, mentioned in the minutes and determine which of those dates was her actual date of marriage.

A quick search turned up a digital image of the New Garden minutes and here is the page pertaining to Ann Beeson:

AnnBeesonGoneOutInMarriage30Jan1768
Minutes from 30 January 1768

Ann is mentioned at the very end:

AnnBeesonCrop2

The women Friends requests assistance of this
Meeting, in drawing a Testification against Ann Beeson who
is gone out in marriage. John Beals Jnr. is appointed, to
assist them.

Ann Beeson clearly married outside the Quaker faith, but when did she marry? It was before the date this meeting was held because it clearly says that she is already married – past tense is used.

Take a look at the opening statement:

AnnBeesonCrop3

At our Monthly Meeting held at New
Garden the 30th of the 1st mo. 1768. . . . .

The Quakers’ monthly meeting happened on the 30th of the first month of 1768 – NOT the Lewis-Beeson marriage. Where did the couple marry? Who knows. Probably not far from home, if not in one of their actual homes, and probably not long before the date of this meeting. However, they might have married even in late 1767. There is no way to tell. Therefore, the date of their marriage should be recorded as “before . . .”

Now, what about the discrepancies in the months – January, March, June, July???? I believe that people have misinterpreted the “J” month and misread the letters in the word somewhere along the line, coming up with January, June and July. As for March – someone else, I think, determined that the “30th day of the first month” was an old style date used before the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1752, maybe because the name of the actual month wasn’t written down.

The Swarthmore College Friends Historical Library had the answer to the question about which calendar style was being used:

QuakerCrop

According to this excerpt, Quakers adopted the Gregorian calendar at the same time as everyone else in the colonies. However, they objected to the names of the months from January through August because the names came from those of pagan gods. Therefore, for the first eight months of the year, they wrote “1st month,” “2nd month,” etc.

The final answer to all these reputed marriage dates given for David Lewis and Ann Beeson is that they married sometime before the New Garden Monthly Meeting held on 30 January 1768.

For those of you who copy and paste without doing any actual original research – this took me all of ten minutes to locate and analyze. PLEASE take the time to check genealogical information. Maybe then more of the thousands of online family trees might be a bit more accurate.