Bean Families of Mercer County, Illinois
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Bean Families
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Alternate Spellings - Beene, Beane, Behan (a very common name - there were 244 heads of families in America by the 1790 census and there are many marriages in most counties in Illinois)

Links - Fuller, Bishop, Hampton and Hampton Trial, Noble, Maine Families. There is an interesting Web Site about Bean Station (Tennessee)

Contacts - Sam Fuller has obtained information on the Bean Family while researching his Fuller family in Jay, Maine.

Darlene White is a descendant of George Washington Bean of Jay, Maine, and had information up on her Blaisdell/Bean Families. Note: 9/2003 Site has been moved and we cannot find a new URL.

Photos - Sam Fuller has photos of Bean Cemetery markers in Maine. There is a sketch of Drury's Landing near where the Beans lived on the Drury page.



We have one Bean listing in Mercer County in 1850 in New Boston Township. There is a Bartlett Bean, age 21, farmer, born North Carolina, apparently working for the William Smith family of Virginia. We find nothing more on Bartlett Bean anywhere.

We have rather sketchy information on the Bean Families in Rock Island County since that is not the area of our study. They lived in Drury Township in Rock Island County just north of the Mercer County line. We are including them here as there were some connections with Mercer County families. (We have by no means included all Rock Island County Bean families!)

There were two female Bean family members married to Mercer County residents and we will include their history here. The history of Sevilla Drew Bean who married Albion Fuller has been unearthed by Sam Fuller from The History of Jay, Maine from its settlement as Phips Canada compiled by Virginia Plaisted Moulton. The history of Clarissa Bean who married Edmund Noble 12/22/1881 in Mercer County is part of the history of the Rock Island County Beans.

Samuel & Charles Bean Families of Rock Island County

Samuel and Charles Bean are found next to each other in the 1850 Census in Rock Island County and one might thus assume that they are brothers. Samuel Bean Family: Samuel, age 37, born Maine (family to come). Charles Bean, age 30, born North Carolina, is next door and with him are Joseph and Dorcas Fuller and their two sons, Ezra, age 11, and Isaac, age 8. At present we do not know if Charles Bean was related to Joseph and Dorcas Fuller or if he was just providing hospitality to neighbors from his old home. The Fullers soon moved on to Mercer County. We also do not know if Charles's birthplace of North Carolina is correct. If it is, it might provide some clue as to the route the Bean Families took in arriving at Mercer County. There is a story of some of that migration on a web site under Links above.

Given that Charles Bean is 30 years old in the 1850 census and has no wife with him, we wonder if he might have been married before he came to Mercer County. We do know that on 7/13/1851 he married Frances Mariah Bishop in Rock Island County. We do not know if there is a connection between Frances and the Bishops of Bishop's Corners in Eliza Township (we will be putting up a Bishop page as some of their history is documented in the History of Mercer County, 1882). The oldest child of Charles and Frances Bishop Bean was Clarissa Bean, born 1852 and died 1918 in Mercer County, Illinois. She is buried in Eliza Cemetery. She married Edmund H. Noble, son of David and Sarah Pratt Noble on 12/22/1881 in Mercer County. We will continue her history on the Noble pages.

In 1859 Charles Bean was shot and killed on his own property in Drury Township in Rock Island County, apparently in front of his wife and children, so Clarissa probably witnessed the killing. The story of the shooting and the trial of Jasper Hampton for the shooting is told in newspaper articles of the time which have been transcribed on the Trial Page (links above).

Sevilla Drew Bean Fuller Family

There is an obituary of Sevilla Bean Fuller posted on the Mercer County Rootsweb Message Board (make sure Mercer Board is selected and type Sevilla Bean Fuller in the search box). The obituary indicates her parent was Sylvester Bean but Marna Wilson has since posted a message on the board "I received confirmation today from the City Clerk, Town of Jay, Franklin, Maine that Sevilla Bean was the daughter of James Bean and Eunice Taylor." The History of Jay, Maine, by Virginia Moulton, gives James & Eunice Taylor Bean with children: Dearborn, Warren, Sumner, Lewis, Eunice, Rosilla, Melinda, Susan, James Moody, Calista Naomi, Amanda Melvina, Sebastian Streeter, and Sevilla Drew Bean.

James Bean was born 17 March 1780 in Gilmanton, New Hampshire, and died 27 November 1862 in Franklin Township, Maine. He married Eunice Taylor 24 June 1802; this is reasonably consistent with Sevilla's birthdate of June 5, 1830 and being the youngest of 13 children. Sevilla's marriage to Albion Fuller about 30 November 1845 is found there. (The children of Albion and Sevilla Bean Fuller are given on the Fuller page linked above). James Bean of New Hampshire and Maine was the son of Joshua Bean born 2 May 1741 in Exeter, New Hampshire, and died 8 April 1814 in Readfield, Maine. He married his cousin Mary Bean, daughter of Sinkler Bean 27 November 1763. Their children were John, Reuben, James, and Jeremy.

Miscellaneous Bean Records in Mercer County

Jacob Bean purchased the S2SE Sec4 T15N4W, 80 acres, on 8/23/1854 (this was in Duncan Township next to Eliza Township) Jacob is not found in the 1860 census.

1860 Census Hamlet: Edward Bean, 16, laborer, born Indiana, working for a Willits family.

1860 Census New Boston: Isaac Bean, laborer, 24, born Maine, working for a Crapnell family.

1860 Census, Millersburg: James Bean, 28, laborer, born Ireland, working for a Kiddoo family.

1860 Census, North Henderson: Erastus Bean, laborer, 28, laborer, born Maine; Amelia, 27, born Nova Scotia; Ada P. 6/12, born Illinois.

1870 Census, North Henderson: Julius J. Bean, 13, farmer, born North Carolina, working for the William Church family; Jane Bean/Beene, 24, domestic, born Pa, working for the Thomas Jones family.





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