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1st Generation
WILLIAM NELSON BELYEA & MARGARET ELIZABETH VAN WART
of St. John, New Brunswick, Canada
Still Looking for His Father!--Read about it here
The oldest identified ancestor of our Belyea family is Capt. William Nelson Belyea (1828-1887) of St. John, Queens Co., New Brunswick. He was a Master Mariner, and, according to this 1976 letter from Harold Belyea to his sister Ruth (Belyea) Cutler, he was �an old sea captain on a 4-masted schooner that sailed the 7 seas over and over again out of St. John, New Brunswick. He hauled freight to foreign lands and picked up spices, tea, and coffee, etc. to bring back for cargo." He reportedly died at sea in 1887, but this story has not been corroborated.
He married 1864 in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada to Margaret Elizabeth VanWart. She was born in January in St. John, but sources giving her birth year vary: according to the 1900 census (MA, Middlesex, 5th WD, p.168, enumerated with a Decker family), she was born in 1840; per a death record in Hollis, NH, she was born in 1841, and per her gravestone, she was born in 1842. According to this announcement, she was the daughter of Jacob VanWart and Sarah McAlpine. Quoting Curtis Mainville at the website www.huestis.net, "they lived for a time in the home of her parents at the corner of St. David and Union Streets in Saint John. After the death of her mother in 1884, however, the Belyeas were compelled by court order to sell her parents' home, and move elsewhere. Faced with having to sell their beloved Saint John home, they instead decided to buy out her sibling's interest in the home. They continued to reside at 1 St. David Street well past Capt. Belyea's death..."
William Nelson Belyea died on 4 Dec. 1887 as shown in this petition from the guardian files. In about 1895, after William's death, the widow and children of William Nelson Belyea immigrated into the United States from whence their forebears departed some 110 years prior (see discussion below).
Margaret Elizabeth Belyea lived the remainder of her life with their daughter, Ida V. (Belyea) Erskine in Hillsboro Co., NH. Margaret Elizabeth died 8 Feb., 1923. Both she and Wm. Nelson are buried in Fernhill Cemetery, St. John, New Brunswick. Daughter Ida died in 1953. (Carolyn Lavinia Belyea was shown at right in the foregoing picture.)
JACOB VANWART and HANNAH BELYEA (1st wife) and SARAH "Sally" McALPINE
(2nd wife) of St. Johns, New Brunswick,
parents of Margaret Elizabeth (VanWart) Belyea
Jacob VanWart, born 28 Mar. 1803, in Wickham (Queens) New Brunswick, was the son of William VanWart and Elizabeth Heustis. He married 1st on 20 Mar. 1828 in Hampstead (Queens) New Brunswick to his cousin, Hannah Belyea, daughter of John and Nancy (Heustis) Belyea. Hannah died before 1840 and he married 2nd on 31 Oct. 1839 in Hampstead (Queens) New Brunswick to Sarah McAlpine. Jacob died 31 Oct. 1864 in St. John Co. The previous article states that his body was removed to Long Island (Queens) New Brunswick for burial. Sarah died 21 Dec. 1884 in Everett (Middlesex) MA. She is buried in Fernhill Cem., St. Johns, New Brunswick, Canada. You can see her gravestone on findagrave.com. This researcher does not know where Hannah was buried, but it seems likely she might also be buried on Long Island in Queens Co. with her husband.
2nd Generation
FRANK WILLIAM BELYEA AND CAROLYN "Carrie" LAVINIA BISHOP
from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to California
The son of William Nelson and Margaret Elizabeth (Van Wart) Belyea, Frank William Belyea was born 18 June 1870 or 1875. He immigrated to the US about 1895. Shortly after that, he married another Canadian immigrant, Carolyn Lavinia Bishop of Nova Scotia. They married on 8 Dec. 1896 in Providence, RI. Carrie, born 20 Jul 1879 in Kentville (Kings) Nova Scotia, Canada, was the daughter of John Edwin and Lavinia (West) Bishop. Read more about the John Bishop family here.
Frank worked for the Edison Company in Boston. They lived all around the area--in Dorcester, Somerville, and Medford. Their 2nd child, Frank, died as an infant about 1900. Then, about 1912, they came to California on the train--probably at the same time as her parents. Shortly after arriving they had to go back to Boston for some reason. Their daughter, Ruth, stayed in California. This time, they stayed in Boston until after 1920. Their youngest daughter, Edna, died during that time. After returning to California, they lived in the San Diego area until about 1938 when Frank and Carrie moved to Inglewood, CA.
Frank was naturalized in 1939; Carrie was naturalized in 1947 after he died. Frank died 6 Oct. 1940 in Inglewood, CA; Carrie died 12 Jan. 1952 in Los Angeles. They are both buried in Inglewood Park Cem., LA County, CA. Carrie left a note about her parents which was copied with her funeral card and sent to me by her son Emery.
3rd Generation
RUTH AMELIA BELYEA AND CHARLES RUSSELL CUTLER OF CA
Frank and Carrie's daughter, Ruth, married Charles Russell Cutler. (For this family, see the Cutler Family Story).
Going back up the line.....
HENDRICK BELYEA, grandson of Louis Boulyer, Huguenot/French Protestant
There can be little doubt that William Nelson Belyea's heritage goes back to Hendrick Belyea, who was a Loyalist/Tory of the American Revolution, although William�s father has not yet been determined. William Nelson�s wife, Margaret Elizabeth VanWart�s heritage also goes back to Loyalists of the Revolution.
After the war, the land of these Loyalist families was confiscated and they were forced to seek asylum elsewhere. In 1783, three fleets, spring, summer, and fall sailed from New York bringing 5000 Loyalists to the St. John River in New Brunswick (at that time it was the Province of Novia Scotia). This is where they lived and thrived until even today.
The original immigrant of the Belyea family to the colonies was Louis Boulyer. He was a Huguenot mariner from Saintonge, an old province in France. He came to New York about 1690. Hendrick Belyea was his grandson.
Check out the graves of some of these people on my virtual "Cutler Cemetery" with Cutlers, Belyeas, Bishops, Gardners, McMurtrys and others on www.findagrave.com
Click here to view an ancestor chart of this family
Click here to view a migration map of this and related families
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