Wiley Jackson Bean (abt. 1802 - 1855)

Born about Jun 1802 in Salem, Burke, North Carolina, USA

Ancestors

Husband of Julia Ann (Crew) Bean — married 27 Jul 1826 in Butts County, Georgia

Descendants

Died 12 Sep 1855 at about age 53 in Aliceville, Pickens, Alabama, USA

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Biography

Wiley Bean was involved in the westward expansion of the USA. See Westward Ho!.

Wiley Jackson Bean is the son of John Bean, born 1776, in Laurens County, South Carolina, and a grandson of William Bean, born in Scotland, who immigrated to America in 1767. Wiley was born in North Carolina, possibly in Burke County.

On July 27, 1826, in Butts County, Georgia, Wiley married Julie Ann Crews, born December 9, 1809, in Butts County. Wiley and Julie had four children born to them in Butts County, Georgia.

In 1833, Wiley, Julie and their children moved with a five unit wagon train, with several other members of his family, over Indian trails, to Coosa County, Alabama, where they settled. The part of Coosa County where they lived became Baker County, and later became Chilton County, Alabama.

Wiley served in the Company commanded by Captain John Sharp from the last part of May, 1836, until his discharge on September 1, 1836, during the time of the Creek Indian War, when President Andrew Jackson ordered removal of the Creek Indians from Alabama to their reservation in Oklahoma.

Wiley and Julie were the parents of fourteen children. By 1840, they were living in Randolph County, Alabama with nine of their children. In 1844, their oldest son, James was on a family errand and his route took him along the east bank of the Coosa River. He was found dead, his horse grazing nearby. By the time his body was found, the buzzards were starting to devour him.

In 1850, Wiley applied for a land grant, based on his military service in the Creek Indian War and received a "bounty grant" of forty acres. In 1855, Congress passed another law making it possible for veterans to receive more liberal grants, and Wiley received another bounty grant of 120 acres near the town of Aliceville, Alabama. Wiley died in September in 1855, and his widow had the long and difficult task of having the land transferred to her name. In the many affidavits she wrote was one which stated that one of the witnesses to their marriage was Walter Bean, her brother-in-law. This evidence indicates that Walter also lived in Butts County, Georgia before coming to Alabama.

Sources

• Biography from Clan MacBean in North America, Volume III, Revised 1995, by Joseph S. Bean, pages 227, 234
• findagrave