David Beels
Immigrant before 1790
Adjoining the Venango Co. PA farm of our ancestor James Francis Beals but across the border in Salem township, Clarion County PA was the Beels Hill farm of the Beels family. While a relationship between these two families is expected, it is not established at present. (In the records of this Beels family, the spellings Beals, Beal and Biehl are also to be found.) David Beels arrived in Clarion County in 1806, having immigrated from Germany. The History of Clarion County, 1887, by A. J. Davis, p. 608 says that he arrived in Baltimore as a stowaway, was arrested and had to serve out his time (presumably in the Baltimore area). He then resided in Penn's Valley, where he was married. [Today there is a Penn Valley in Berks Co. PA, another in the Philadelphia area, (another in California), but Penn's Valley, an actual valley, lies in Center County, primarily in Haines and Penn townships. State Rt. 45 running east from State College runs through Penn's Valley. It carried this name in the 19th century.]
In 1806, having two children, the David Beels family moved westward to Clarion County, and eventually settled on and "commenced improving the northwestern corner of the tract now comprising Salem Township." He was given a tract of land by the Fox family of Foxburg, PA, who had received their land grant from William Penn. David Beels is said to have been only the second settler in Salem Township. Eventually the property went to David's son Daniel, then to a grandson David, and today still remains in the family. The old original barn on this property burned in April 1994.
Immediately adjacent to and west of this Beels property was the farm of James Francis Beals, son of Jacob Beals, and our direct ancestor. One researcher has suggested that our ancestor Jacob Beals was the 2nd child in the family of David Beels (the other known to be a daughter) when he entered Venango (now Clarion) County in 1806; this however is false. Jacob Beals was married before migrating from eastern PA to Venango County.
If it turns out that this Beels family is related to the family of Jacob Beals (b. 1806), David Beels who settled in Clarion Co. in 1806 could perhaps be Jacob Beals' uncle, or his father's cousin. David's son Daniel Beels could be Jacob Beals' cousin.
| Date | Location | Notes | Sources | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birth | ~1765 | Germany | [5] | |
| Marriage | 1791? | Penn's Valley PA | [3] | |
| Death | Salem Twp., Clarion Co. PA | [3][5][8] | ||
| Burial |
Ancestry chart segment
Generation 4 Generation 5 Generation 6 Generation 7
+-- David Beels
| (~1765-????)
+-- Daniel Beels --+
| (~1792-1878) |
+-- David M. Beels --+ +-- [unknown]
| (1827-1908) |
John Howard Beels --+ +-- Elizabeth Painter/Bender
(1856-1935) | (1797-1869)
+-- Margaret Campbell
(1830-????)
sources: [4][5][9]
Children
| Name | Gender | Date of Birth | Birthplace | Spouse | Notes | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| daughter Beels | F | between 1785-1794 | expect Penn's Valley, Center Co. PA | [ 1][3] | ||
| Daniel Beels | M | ~ 1792 | expect Penn's Valley, Center Co. PA | Elizabeth Painter/ (Bender in German) | [ 3][6][9] | |
| son Beels | M | between 1800-1810[1] between 1806-1810 (ie. after 1806 migration) [3] |
expect Venango Co. PA | [1][3] |
Photos
Places of Residence
| Location | Dates | Notes | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| ~1765 | Germany | [3] | |
| ???? | Penn's Valley, expect Center Co. PA |
[3] | |
| 1806 | Clarion Co. PA, "Herman Snyder" place |
[3][8] | |
| >1806 | western border Clarion Co. PA, Beels Hill farm |
[7][8] |
Sources
| Ref. Num. | Description | Image of original |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1810 United States Federal Census, Richland Twp, Venango Co, PA, page 3. Census is not dated. Family headed by David Beal: 1 male <10, 1 male 10-15, 1 male 26-44; 1 female 16-25, 1 female >44. The ages and children here are close to what is expected for David Beels and his wife, with 2 children born before their arrival in Venango Co. in 1806. The male 10-15 is a little young for Daniel, b. 1792. The spelling differences are common in this line. |
 |
| 2 | Beels Tax Assessment for Daniel and David Beels, 1842 - 1880, Clarion Co. PA | (Click here for tax record) |
| 3 | History of Clarion County, 1887,by A.J. Davis, p. 608 "Mr. David Beels settled on the farm now called the Herman Snyder place, in 1806. Mr. Beels was a German who smuggled his way on to a ship coming to America, and was not discovered for several cays. When the ship arrived at Baltimore the captain sold him for his passage; after serving out his time, he took up a home in Penn's Valley, where he was married. In 1806 he and his family, for they now had two children, emigrated to these parts on a wagon. The family stopped at Sligo, while Mr. Beels sought a location. Finding a fine lay of land, and finding no deed or article to cover it, he soon landed his family upon it, and began improving it. He afterwards was forced to abandon it. He then commenced improving the northwestern corner of the tract now comprising Salem township." | |
| 4 | Clarion News, May 5, 1994 Beels genealogy and history in article about the barn fire on the Beels homestead. |  |
| 5 | Research of Sally Painter Prior, ggg-granddau. of Johannes Bender whose daughter Elizabeth Painter (Bender in German) married Daniel Beels). | |
| 6 | Penn's Valley reference in Pioneer Outline History of Northwestern Pennsylvania 1780 - 1850, W.J. McKnight, J.B. Lippincott, Phila. 1905
"After a long and toilsome journey these pioneers halted on their course...and immediately began the clearing of their lands, which they had purchased from General James Potter, of the far-famed 'Potter Fort" in Penn's Valley, in Centre County, familiar to every one who has ever read of the terrible depredations committed by the Indians in that part of the country at an early period of its history." [Note: this paragraph does not refer to the Beels family; it is included here for its information on Penn's Valley] |
N/A
|
| 7 | Nancy Beals Walls correspondence, including the Sally Painter Prior's notes, copy of Clarion News clipping re. the Beels barn fire, & driving tour to Beels Hill. | |
| 8 | Donna Beels Best interview, June 2007 by E. W. Williams. Information included the location of the Herman(Harmon) Snyder farm on which David Beels first settled, and of the Beels Hill farm; location of graves at Nickleville Presbyterian. | |
| 9 | Gravestones, Nickleville Presbyterian Cemetery, transcribed 23 June 2008 by Elizabeth Wilson Williams.
|
Source Notes
- The 1887 History of Clarion County source says that the David Beels farm was in the northwest corner of what is today Salem Twp.,Clarion Co. The adjacent farm to the west, that of James Francis Beals, relationship unestablished, is just across the county line in Richland Twp., Venango Co. PA
- The Ancestry.com search engine does not find any David Beals or David Beels in Venango (Clarion) County prior to 1850.
Research Notes
- Daniel Beals can be found in Richland Twp in the 1830 and 1840 census, with the correct age to be Daniel, b. 1792. In 1850, Daniel and son David are present, still in Richland Twp, but now Clarion Co.
- Emanuel Lutheran Cemetery, Beaver Twp., Clarion Co. PA, lies adjacent to a present day Beels family property (per Charles Walls of Emlenton PA, 2007).
- Page-by-page search of the entire census for Venango County in 1820 (all townships) revealed neither David or Daniel Beels or any name that might be mistaken for them. Some of the neighbors of David Beal in 1810 are still present in 1820 in Richland Twp, but a whole new group is also present. These include a number of Snyder families. This is interesting since there is information that David Beels may have lived on property that eventually became the "Harmon Snyder Place".
Conjecture
- It may be significant that a Daniel Biehl died in Lehigh County & is buried in the Fogelsville Union Cemetery. He was born in 1808, so is of the same generation as our Jacob Beals (b.1806). One could imagine this Daniel, (who possibly lived out his life, and certainly died, in Lehigh County), as possibly having an immigrant father also named Daniel. This older, conjectural Daniel would have been of the generation of the immigrant David Beels, and could have been his brother. If an older Daniel immigrated first and settled in the Lehigh area, his (brother) David could have been trying to follow his lead with the Lehigh County area as his hoped-for destination. Daniel immigrated through the port of Baltimore, ( rather than Philadelphia which would make more sense if he were trying to reach Lehigh County), but we know he was a stow-away, and may have taken what opportunity made itself available as to port of entry. David's son, Daniel Beels, could concievably have been named for such a brother. We have no evidence that David Beels ever resided in Lehigh County. He could have visited there however, and finding land scarce by the early 1800's, proceeded on westward, to Center County, then to the Venango/Clarion counties border area.
This leads to another possibility, that Daniel Biehl of Lehigh County (d. 1868) could have been the brother of our Jacob Beals, who is said to have been born in Berks Co., but presumably married in Lehigh County about 1828-29, resided there until between 1833and 1836, and then migrated to Clarion Co. by at least 1839. If this were the case, (that an older Daniel Biehl was the father of Jacob Beal and the brother of David Beel), then Jacob Beals (b. 1806) and Daniel Beels (b. 1792) were cousins, and their sons who owned neighboring farms (James Francis Beals and David Beels (b. 18270,) were 2nd cousins. By time period and coincidence of locations this is all possible, but at this point, all is HIGHLY conjectural.
See Tombstone Inscriptions, Fogelsville Union Cemetery, Lehigh Co., PA compiled by St. John's Church, at Lehigh County Historical Soc. Library, Allentown.
- Daniel Biehl, b. 19 Oct. 1808, d. 17 Aug. 1868
- Hannah Biehl nee Resch b. 11 Jan. 1809, d. 31 Mar. 1887.
