Church Record Sunday : Beals Family, Westfield MM, Hamilton County, Indiana

Ancestry.com. U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data:Indiana Yearly Meeting Minutes. Earlham College Friends Collection & College Archives, Richmond, Indiana. 

My maternal 4th-great grandparents, John and Mary (Davis) Beals, were members of the Westfield Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends (Quakers) in Hamilton County, Indiana.  Quaker membership records and monthly meeting minutes are available at Ancestry.com.

The record card of the family states:

John Beals, born Ohio, 6th month, 26th day, 1827; son of Nathan and Elizabeth Beals; received upon request at Westfield Monthly Meeting, married Mary Davis.
Mary Beals, born Holly Springs, North Carolina, 9th month, 9th day, 1825; daughter of John and Mary Davis; birthright member of Holly North Carolina Monthly Meeting, married John Beals.
Mary A. Beals, born Westfield, Indiana, 3rd month, 27th day, 1859; daughter of John and Mary Beals; received upon request at Westfield Monthly Meeting, released by letter.
John F. Beals, born Westfield, Indiana, 9th month, 21st day, 1866; son of John and Mary Beals; received upon request at Westfield Monthly Meeting.
Nathan Thos. Beals, born Westfield, Indiana, 2nd month, 7th day, 1856; son of John and Mary Beals; received upon request of Westfield Monthly Meeting, married Elizabeth Powe.
Elizabeth Beals; born Whitelick, Indiana, 1856; daughter of Isaac and Hannah Powe, birthright member of Whitelick, Indiana Monthly Meeting, married Nathan T. Beals.
Pearley May Beals, born Westfield, Indiana, 1877;daughter of N.T. and E. Beals, birthright member of Westfield Monthly Meeting.
Maggie Beals, born Westfield,Indiana,  9th month, 1880; daughter of N.T. and E. Beals, birthright member of Westfield Monthly Meeting.
Ethel Beals, born Westfield, Indiana; daughter of N.T. and Elizabeth Beals.
Nellie Beals

Some slight differences discovered in this membership record.  John Beals birth date is recorded as the 26th day, while in the genealogy Chronology of the Beals Family, which he wrote, he gave his birth date as the 25th.  John was not a birthright member of the Friends church, although his father (Nathan C. Beals) had been one, but he had been disowned.  Mary (Davis) Beals birth date matches what I have in my database, her parents John and Mary (Barker) Davis had moved from North Carolina to Indiana.

Of the children of John and Mary (Davis) Beals listed in this membership, Mary, John F. and Nathan Thomas, I have just a couple of updates to my data.  The birth date for John F. is listed as the 21st, when I had it as the 9th in my database, without a source, so there is one correction to make.  Nathan Thomas was in my database being born on the 17th, without a source as well.  So there are two corrections/updates to make.

Elizabeth Poe who married Nathan Thomas Beals was a birthright member of the Society from Whitelick Monthly Meeting in Morgan County, Indiana.  Her parents were Isaac and Hannah (Mills) Poe.

The listings of the children of Nathan T. and Elizabeth (Poe) Beals is a bit confusing.  Pearley May Beals was my 2nd-great grandmother, Pearl May Beals, who married Charles Wilson Lambertson.  I only show three daughters in the family of Nathan T. and Elizabeth (Poe) Beals : Pearl May (1878), Nellie Myrtle (1880) and Ethel Mable (1885).  This record gives the birth date of Pearl as 1877, when I show it was May 11, 1878.  I show Nellie born August 30, 1880 and Ethel born November 27, 1885.  This church membership record gives no birth dates for either Nellie or Ethel, but adds a Maggie Beals, born September 1880.   Did they confuse Nellie's middle name as Maggie and have her birthdate off by a month, or could there have been another daughter, possibly a twin of Nellie?  Being born August 30th, it's not a stretch to think the date could be recorded as September, especially since the birth took place in Nebraska and the membership role was created after the fact.  More mysteries.

Not all of John and Mary (Davis) Beals' children are listed in this record.  Left out are Elizabeth (b. 1849), Emma (b. 1851) and Sarah (b. 1854).  I do not know if they were ever members of the Society of Friends.


Church Record Sunday is a daily blogging prompt used by many genealogy bloggers to help them post content on their sites.

To participate in Church Record Sunday, describe a specific church record or a set of church records held by a denomination and how they can assist genealogists.   This is an on-going series developed by Gena Philbert Ortega at Gena's Genealogy.

Surname Saturday : Bowater

The BOWATER surname is in my maternal line.  The origins of the surname are English, and the family was members of the Society of Friends (Quaker).

Stories and history :

Ahnentafel # 1857 : Sarah Bowater (1689-bef1787).  Sarah was born 6mo 17d  1689 in Chester County, Pennsylvania.  She married John Beals (1685-ca1745) on September 14, 1711 in Chester County, Pennsylvania.  John was born November 28, 1685 in Chester County, Pennsylvania.  John died circa 1745.  They raised 7 children.  Sarah died 10m 26d 1777 in Pennsylvania.

Ahnentafel # 3714 : Thomas Bowater (1655-aft1750).  Thomas was born February 10, 1655 in Bromsgrove, Worchester, England.  He married Sarah Edge (1657-1692) on 8mo 4d 1688 in Chester County, Pennsylvania.  Sarah was born in 1657.  She died 2mo 2d 1692 in Chester County, Pennsylvania.  They had at least 2 children.

Ahntentafel # 7248 : John Bowater (bef1630-1704).  John was baptised April 25, 1630 in Bromsgrove, Worcehster,England. He married circa 1649 to Ann _____ (c1628-1679).  Ann was born circa 1628 and died April 25, 1679 in Warwick England.  They were the parents of 2 children.  John married 9mo 12da 1685 Mary Maunder (unk-1704) at London & Middlesex Quarterly Meeting, England.  Mary died 12mo 10d 1704 at London & Middlesex Quarterly Meeting, England.  They were the parents of 2 children.  John died 11mo 16d 1704 at London & Middlesex Quarterly Meeting.

Surname Saturday – create a post in which you discuss a surname and mention its origins, its geographical location(s) and how it fits into your genealogy research. Surname Saturday is an ongoing series at GeneaBloggers.

Fellow Blogging Cousin Lost

Lost a cousin and fellow researcher this week.  Paula Metzner, who wrote Linnea's Legacy, passed away from cancer.  Paula and I had corresponded off and on over the past few years on our mutual Metzner line. She had done some groundbreaking research that appears to have located the line back into Germany.  Her obituary was in the Kalamazoo Gazette.

I never had the chance to meet her in person, but will miss sharing information.  Now I wish I had shared more and made plans to meet her in person.  She was my fourth cousin once removed.