Richard Beeson

This week, I thought I would highlight someone who is not a direct ancestor of my husband or I. Richard Beeson is a proven Patriot in the DAR database. He is my husband's 5th great-granduncle.

Richard Beeson was born 11 March 1747 in Frederick County, Virginia as the fifth of 12 children born to Benjamin Beeson, Sr and Elizabeth Hunter. He was born to a Quaker family, but when he married his wife, Abigail Dimmitt, around 1768, he was disowned from the Quaker church because she was not of the Quaker faith.

Like Jacob Lineberry, the DAR uses the "North Carolina Revolutionary War Army Accounts" volumes as the source of Richard's "patriotic service." The DAR states that Richard furnished supplies for the War. Since he was originally of Quaker faith, it makes sense that he wouldn't have actually fought for the cause since the Quakers were widely viewed as pacifists.

I don't know much about Richard. What I do know comes from Quaker Meeting Minutes and his will. I assume he was in some kind of trade profession, like farming, carpentry, or machinery, based on his service to the American Revolution, but I have no solid proof of that. Here's what I do know.

Richard and Abigail had (at least) the following children:

• Abner Beeson
• Richard Beeson
• James Beeson
• Abigail Beeson
• Littie Beeson
• Ann Beeson
• Thomer (or perhaps Thomas?) Beeson
• Rosanna Beeson
• Rheuhama Beeson
• Rachel Beeson

According to his will, he may have had a slave or indentured servant living with him at the time of his death because he refers to a "bound boy named James." (I don't recognize James' last name, but it could be something like Sprashit.)

Taken from Will of Richard Beeson, Sr

The Beesons are never shown in any census record has having any non-white members in the household, so I assume James was white. The Quakers were, in general, against the notions of slavery, but I am unsure their attitudes towards indentured servitude. I hope to track down this James' family to see what became of him at some point.

According to his will, he divided up 937 acres, a majority of it creekside, to his children; and that does not include the land that Richard actually lived on which was willed to his wife, Abigail. I grew up with my grandmother who lived on about six-and-a-half acres, and I thought that was a lot of land. Here, Richard Beeson had around 1,000 acres of land!

I hope to one day get my hands on the "North Carolina Revolutionary War Army Accounts" volumes to see if it contains any additional information about Richard's service to the American cause, but until then I still find myself with questions about him and his role in the Revolution.

As of this writing, Daughters have joined the DAR under Richard via the following children:

• Lornhama (whom I believe to be the Rheuhama noted in his will)
• Absolom (who is not listed in Richard's will, which means he could have died before the will was written.)

This leaves nine children unrepresented in the DAR database. I need to follow all of his children's lines out still to make sure they still continue today, but Richard's will notes a few grandchildren, so at least I have a few starting points to check.

Sources:

• New Garden Quarterly Meeting Minutes (accessed on Ancestry)
• Will of Richard Beeson (posted on Ancestry by jefre1)
• 1790 U.S. Federal Census (accessed on Ancestry)
• 1800 U.S. Federal Census (accessed on Ancestry)
• 1810 U.S. Federal Census (accessed on Ancestry)