Jonathan Bean and Abigail Gordon

Comment by John Wesley Gordon on December 8, 2010 at 9:18am

Who were Abigail's parents, James?

Comment by James Lucas on December 8, 2010 at 6:45pm

Hi John,

Here's the info I've been able to gather so far:

Parents of Abigail Gordon Bean:

Alexander Gordon Jr.
b. 1 Dec 1675 - Exeter, Rockingham County, New Hampshire
d. bef 25 Mar 1729

Sarah Sewell
b. 17 Sep 1676 - Exeter, Rockingham County, New Hampshire
aft 1733

Parents of Alexander Gordon Jr.:

Alexander Gordon Sr.
b. 1635 - Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland
d. 1697 - Exeter, Rockingham County, New Hampshire

Mary Lissen
b. 1644
d. ?

Parents of Sara Sewell:

Edward Sewell
b. abt 1640
d. 18 Feb 1683 or 84

Sarah Hale

Parents of Alexander Gordon Sr.:
Thomas Gordon
b. ? - Scotland

Margaret Milne
b. abt 1615 - Scotland

Comment by Chris Dunham on December 8, 2010 at 7:14pm

Note that an article in the Newburyport (Mass.) Herald of Sept. 27, 1799 places Jonathan's date of death ten years earlier, on the night of Sept. 5, 1799:

A very melancholy event took place in the town of Bethel, on Andrescoggen river, in the county of York, on the night of the 5th inst. A Mr Jonathan Bean of that place was found dead on the morning of the 6th, in his own house, hanging by his neck with a piece of a rope, which he had cut from the bed cord, with a knife which he left on a table near where he was hanging. His feet stood firm on the floor, and supported a great part of his body, which stood upright. A chair on which it was supposed he stood, when he fastened the rope to the string-pieces, which supported the chamber floor, was found lying against him a little above his knees, and the fore part of it was almost level with the floor of the house. He was alone in the house that night; his wife being gone to make a visit to one of her daughters, and no one went into the house till the next morning, when he was found dead. He had been for several years in a strange situation, and appeared to be deranged in his mind; and had not for some time been from home, and scarcely out of his house. He had frequently told his wife that he intended to make way with himself; but as he had frequently been left at home alone, till this fatal moment, none supposed him to be in earnest, and paid little attention to what he had said, relative to destroying his life; nor thought it necessary to watch him, to prevent the awful deed. For some time previous to this destruction, he had been more sociable than he had been for many years, and appeared quite rational in his mind. He was entered up the 81st year of his age. A coroners inquest was called upon the body, and the jurors's verdict was, "That he voluntarily and feloniously did kill and murder himself, by hanging himself with a rope, which he provided for that purpose."

Comment by James Lucas on December 11, 2010 at 9:10am

Thanks very much for this Chris! I had read that he may have committed suicide, but had not confirmation. Interesting about the date error, I wonder if the Bethel Historical Society made an error when the replaced the head stones back in the '70s. They are making an error placing the Revolutionary War flag next to Josiah's head stone. According to my great aunt's family records (a Bean), he was not a veteran. His father Jonathan was, as was his brother (Daniel, I think). So even historical societies can make mistakes! Here's a reference to the 1809 date, maybe this is where the error started:

"Jonathan Bean, the early settler, was born in the town of Brentwood or Kingston, New Hampshire. He moved from that town to Chester, where he lived a number of years. A little after seventeen hundred and sixty he moved to Standish, Maine, where he lived until his removal to Bethel. He died here in eighteen hundred and nine; it is said that he committed suicide. His sons, Josiah, Jonathan Junior, and Daniel, came to Bethel with him, and lived and died here. They were a hardy race of men, and descendants of John Bean, who early came from Scotland and settled in Exeter, New Hampshire."

History of Bethel (Formerly Sudbury Canada) Oxford County, Maine 1768-1890. William B. Lapham. Press of the Maine Farmer, Augusta, Maine 1891

Comment by James Lucas on December 11, 2010 at 10:15am

Hi Chris,

I've investigated a little further - he did indeed die in 1799. The author of History of Bethel made an error on page 65 - "eighteen hundred and nine" should read "eighteen hundred".

 

An excerpt from the same book, on page 478 reads:

Jonathan Bean, (see page 65) the ancestor of one branch of the Beans of this town, was born either in Kingston or Brentwood, New Hampshire, on territory once a part of Exeter, where his great-grandfather John Bean from Scotland, settled. Jonathan Bean lived some years in Chester, near his brother Benjamin, but soon after seventeen hundred and sixty, he moved to Standish, Maine. The christian name of his wife was Abigail, but her family name has not been ascertained. In the fall of the year seventeen hundred and eighty-one, he and his three sons came to Sudbury Canada. He died in the year eighteen hundred, and his widow in eighteen hundred and twenty-one at a great age. March 29, 1780, he sold his homestead in Standish, to Aaron Richardson of Newton.

 

Possibly when Bernie Bean (or someone else at the Bethel Historical Society) was doing research, she may have taken information from this book using page 65 and not 478?

 

Here's more evidence of Jonathan's "several years in a strange situation" that the newspaper article mentions:

History of Bethel p. 421
Jonathan Bean, who came from Standish to Bethel in seventeen hundred and eighty-one or eighty-two, was then quite advanced in years and had a large family of grown up children. He settled on the farm which David Marshall left when he fled to New Gloucester, and afterward known as the Sanborn farm. He became insane and did many queer and ridiculous things. On one occasion, he fancied he could cross the Androscoggin river in summer time on snow shoes. So binding the shoes to his feet, he stepped off the bank into deep water. Of course, he immediately sank, and had not assistance been near, he would have been drowned. He left a large posterity scattered through Bethel, Mason, about the Umbagog lake region and on the Androscoggin, while very many of his descendants went west.

Comment