Reign

A member of the House of Capet, Henry was born in Reims, the son of King Robert II (972–1031) and Constance of Arles (986–1034).[1] He was crowned King of France at the Cathedral of Reims on 14 May 1027,[2] in the Capetian tradition, while his father still lived. He had little influence and power until he became sole ruler on his father’s death.

The reign of Henry I, like those of his predecessors, was marked by territorial struggles. Initially, he joined his brother Robert, with the support of their mother, in a revolt against his father (1025). His mother, however, supported Robert as heir to the old king, on whose death Henry was left to deal with his rebel sibling.[3] In 1032, he placated his brother by giving him the duchy of Burgundy[3] which his father had given him in 1016.

In an early strategic move, Henry came to the rescue of his very young nephew-in-law, the newly appointed Duke William of Normandy (who would go on to become William the Conqueror), to suppress a revolt by William’s vassals. In 1047, Henry secured the dukedom for William in their decisive victory over the vassals at the Battle of Val-ès-Dunes near Caen;[5] however, Henry would later support the barons against William until the former’s death in 1060.[6]

In 1051, William married Matilda, the daughter of the count of Flanders, which Henry saw as a threat to his throne.[7] In 1054, and again in 1057, Henry invaded Normandy, but on both occasions he was defeated.[7]

Henry had three meetings with Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor—all at Ivois. In early 1043, he met him to discuss the marriage of the emperor with Agnes of Poitou, the daughter of Henry’s vassal.[8] In October 1048, the two Henries met again and signed a treaty of friendship.[9] The final meeting took place in May 1056 and concerned disputes over Theobald III and County of Blois.[9] The debate over the duchy became so heated that Henry accused the emperor of breach of contract and subsequently left.[9] In 1058, Henry was selling bishoprics and abbacies, ignoring the accusations of simony and tyranny by the Papal legate Cardinal Humbert.[10] Despite his efforts, Henry I’s twenty-nine-year reign saw feudal power in France reach its pinnacle.
King Henry I died on 4 August 1060 in Vitry-en-Brie, France, and was interred in Basilica of St Denis. He was succeeded by his son, Philip I of France, who was 7 at the time of his death; for six years Henry’s queen Anne of Kiev ruled as regent. At the time of his death, he was besieging Thimert, which had been occupied by the Normans since 1058.[11]

Marriages

Henry I was betrothed to Matilda, the daughter of Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor, but she died prematurely in 1034.[12] Henry then married Matilda of Frisia, but she died in 1044,[13] following a Caesarean section.[citation needed] Casting further afield in search of a third wife, Henry married Anne of Kiev on 19 May 1051.[13] They had four children:

Philip I (23 May 1052 – 30 July 1108)
Emma (1054 – 1109?)
Robert (c. 1055 – c. 1060)
Hugh “the Great” of Vermandois (1057–1102)

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Biography

Philip was born 23 May 1052 at Champagne-et-Fontaine, the son of Henry I and his wife Anne of Kiev.[3] Unusually for the time in Western Europe, his name was of Greek origin, being bestowed upon him by his mother. Although he was crowned king at the age of seven,[4] until age fourteen (1066) his mother acted as regent, the first queen of France ever to do so. Baldwin V of Flanders also acted as co-regent.

Following the death of Baldwin VI of Flanders, Robert the Frisian seized Flanders. Baldwin’s wife, Richilda requested aid from Philip, who was defeated by Robert at the battle of Cassel in 1071.[2]

Philip first married Bertha in 1072.  Although the marriage produced the necessary heir, Philip fell in love with Bertrade de Montfort, the wife of Fulk IV, Count of Anjou. He repudiated Bertha (claiming she was too fat) and married Bertrade on 15 May 1092.[6] In 1094, he was excommunicated by Hugh of Die, for the first time;[6] after a long silence, Pope Urban II repeated the excommunication at the Council of Clermont in November 1095.[7] Several times the ban was lifted as Philip promised to part with Bertrade, but he always returned to her, but in 1104 Philip made a public penance and must have kept his involvement with Bertrade discreet.[8] In France, the king was opposed by Bishop Ivo of Chartres, a famous jurist.

Philip appointed Alberic first Constable of France in 1060. A great part of his reign, like his father’s, was spent putting down revolts by his power-hungry vassals. In 1077, he made peace with William the Conqueror, who gave up attempting the conquest of Brittany.[10] In 1082, Philip I expanded his demesne with the annexation of the Vexin. Then in 1100, he took control of Bourges.

It was at the aforementioned Council of Clermont that the First Crusade was launched. Philip at first did not personally support it because of his conflict with Urban II. Philip’s brother Hugh of Vermandois, however, was a major participant.

Philip died in the castle of Melun and was buried per his request at the monastery of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire[12] – and not in St Denis among his forefathers. He was succeeded by his son, Louis VI, whose succession was, however, not uncontested. According to Abbot Suger:

… King Philip daily grew feebler. For after he had abducted the Countess of Anjou, he could achieve nothing worthy of the royal dignity; consumed by desire for the lady he had seized, he gave himself up entirely to the satisfaction of his passion. So he lost interest in the affairs of state and, relaxing too much, took no care for his body, well-made and handsome though it was. The only thing that maintained the strength of the state was the fear and love felt for his son and successor. When he was almost sixty, he ceased to be king, breathing his last breath at the castle of Melun-sur-Seine, in the presence of the [future king] Louis… They carried the body in a great procession to the noble monastery of St-Benoît-sur-Loire, where King Philip wished to be buried; there are those who say they heard from his own mouth that he deliberately chose not to be buried among his royal ancestors in the church of St. Denis because he had not treated that church as well as they had, and because among those of so many noble kings, his own tomb would not have counted for much.

Issue

Philip‘s children with Bertha were:

Constance (1078 – 14 September 1126), married Hugh I of Champagne before 1097[13] and then, after her divorce, to Bohemund I of Antioch in 1106.[14] Louis VI of France (1 December 1081 – 1 August 1137).
Henry (1083 – died young).
Philip‘s children with Bertrade were:
Philip, Count of Mantes (1093 – fl. 1123),[15] married Elizabeth, daughter of Guy III of Montlhéry[16] Fleury, Seigneur of Nangis (1095 – July 1119)[17] Cecile (1097 – 1145), married Tancred, Prince of Galilee[18] and then, after his death, to Pons of Tripoli.[19]

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Louis VI

Louis was the first member of his house to make a lasting contribution to the centralizing institutions of royal power.[1] He spent almost all of his twenty-nine-year reign fighting either the “robber barons” who plagued Paris or the Norman kings of England for their continental possession of Normandy. Nonetheless, Louis VI managed to reinforce his power considerably and became one of the first strong kings of France since the death of Charlemagne in 814.

Louis was a warrior king but by his forties his weight had become so great that it was increasingly difficult for him to lead in the field. A biography – The Deeds of Louis the Fat, prepared by his loyal advisor Abbot Suger of Saint Denis – offers a fully developed portrait of his character, in contrast to what little historians know about most of his predecessors.

Early life

Louis was born around 1081 in Paris, the son of Philip I and Bertha of Holland.

Suger tells us: “In his youth, growing courage matured his spirit with youthful vigour, making him bored with hunting and the boyish games with which others of his age used to enjoy themselves and forget the pursuit of arms.” And…”How valiant he was in youth, and with what energy he repelled the king of the English, William Rufus, when he attacked Louis’ inherited kingdom.”[4] Louis married Lucienne de Rochefort, a French crown princess, in 1104, but repudiated her three years later. They had no children.

On 3 August 1115 Louis married Adelaide of Maurienne, daughter of Humbert II of Savoy and of Gisela of Burgundy, and niece of Pope Callixtus II. They had eight children. Adelaide was one of the most politically active of all France’s medieval queens. Her name appears on 45 royal charters from the reign of Louis VI. During her time as queen (1115-1137), royal charters were dated with both her regnal year and that of the king.
Suger became Louis’s adviser even before he succeeded his father as king at the age of 26 on 29 July 1108. Louis’s half-brother prevented him from reaching Rheims, and so Daimbert, Archbishop of Sens, crowned him in the cathedral of Orléans on 3 August.[5] Ralph the Green, Archbishop of Rheims, sent envoys to challenge the validity of the coronation and anointing, but to no avail.[5]

Challenges to royal authority

When Louis ascended the throne the Kingdom of France was a collection of feudal principalities. Beyond the Isle de France the French Kings had little authority over the great Dukes and Counts of the realm but slowly Louis began to change this and assert Capetian rights. This process would take two centuries to complete but began in the reign of Louis VI.
The second great challenge facing Louis was to counter the rising power of the Anglo-Normans under their capable new King, Henry I of England.

Struggles with the robber barons

From early in his reign (and during his father’s reign) Louis faced the problem of the robber barons who resisted the King’s authority and engaged in brigandry, making the area around Paris unsafe.

From their castles, such as Le Puiset, Chateaufort, and Montlhery, these barons would charge tolls, waylay merchants and pilgrims, terrorize the peasantry and loot churches and abbeys, the latter deeds drawing the ire of the writers of the day, who were mostly clerics.

In 1108, soon after he ascended the throne, Louis engaged in war with Hugh of Crecy, who was plaguing the countryside and had captured Eudes, Count of Corbeil, and imprisoned him at La Ferte-Alais. Louis besieged that fortress to free Eudes.[6]

In early 1109, Louis besieged his half-brother, Philip, the son of Bertrade de Montfort, who was involved in brigandry and conspiracies against the King, at Mantes-la-Jolie.[6] Philip’s plots included the lords of Montfort-l’Amaury. Amaury III of Montfort held many castles which, when linked together, formed a continuous barrier between Louis and vast swathes of his domains, threatening all communication south of Paris.[6]

In 1108-1109 a seigneur named Aymon Vaire-Vache seized the lordship of Bourbon from his nephew, Archambaud, a minor. Louis demanded the boy be restored to his rights but Aymon refused the summons. Louis raised his army and besieged Aymon at his castle at Germigny-sur-l’Aubois, forcing its surrender and enforcing the rights of Archambaud.[7] In 1121, Louis established the marchands de l’eau, to regulate trade along the Seine.[8]

In 1122, Aimeri, Bishop of Clermont, appealed to Louis after William VI, Count of Auvergne, had driven him from his episcopal town. When William refused Louis’ summons, Louis raised an army at Bourges, and marched into Auvergne, supported by some of his leading vassals, such as the Counts of Anjou, Brittany, and Nevers. Louis seized the fortress of Pont-du-Chateau on the Allier, then attacked Clermont, which William was forced to abandon. Aimeri was restored. Four years later William rebelled again and Louis, though his increasing weight made campaigning difficult, marched again. He burned Montferrand and seized Clermont a second time, captured William, and brought him before the court at Orleans to answer for his crimes.[7]

Some of the outlaws became notorious for their cruelty, the most notable being Thomas, Lord of Coucy, who was reputed to indulge in torture of his victims, including hanging men by their testicles, cutting out eyes, and chopping off feet. Guibert of Nogent noted of him, “No one can imagine the number of those who perished in his dungeons, from starvation, from torture, from filth.”[9]

Another notable brigand was Hugh, Lord of Le Puiset, who was ravaging the lands around Chartres. In March 1111,[10] Louis heard charges against Hugh at his court at Melun from Theobald II, Count of Champagne, the Archbishop of Sens, and also from bishops and abbots. Louis commanded Hugh to appear before him to answer these charges, but Hugh evaded the summons. Louis stripped him of his lands and titles and laid siege to Le Puiset. After a fierce struggle, Louis took the castle and burned it to the ground, taking Hugh prisoner.

Theobald II of Champagne

Rashly, Louis released Hugh, and while Louis was engaged in war with Henry I of England and Theobald, Hugh raised another band of brigands and began ravaging the country again. When Louis returned his attention to Hugh, he found Le Puiset rebuilt and Hugh receiving aid from Theobald. Hugh held out against the King until Theobald abandoned him. Once again Louis razed Le Puiset and Hugh, who had sworn never to return to his brigandage, rebuilt the castle and resumed terrorizing his neighbours. At the third attempt, Louis finally defeated Hugh and stripped him of his possessions for the last time. Hugh later died on an expiatory pilgrimage to the Holy Land.[11] These were just some of the recalcitrant nobles Louis was forced to contend with. There were many more, and Louis was in constant motion against them, leading his army from castle to castle, bringing law and order to his domains. The result was increased recognition of the King’s authority and the Crown’s ability to impose its will, so that all sectors of French society began to see the King as their protector.

War with Henry I over Gisors

After seizing the English Crown, Henry I of England deprived his brother, Robert Curthose, of the Duchy of Normandy and quickly took possession of the castle at Gisors, a fortress of strategic importance on the right bank of the Epte, commanding the road between Rouen and Paris. This violated an earlier agreement between Henry and the French King that Gisors should remain in the hands of a neutral castellan, or else be demolished.

This move threatened the Capetian domain and Louis was outraged, demanding Henry, as his vassal, appear before him to account for his actions. The two kings met, in force, in March 1109[12] at the borders of their respective territories at the bridge of Neauphle on the Epte.[12] Henry refused to relinquish Gisors. Louis challenged the English King to single combat to settle the issue. When Henry refused, war was inevitable, a war which would last, on and off, for twenty years.

The first years of the war went well for Louis until the influential Theobald II, Count of Champagne, switched to Henry’s side. By early 1112[12] Theobald had succeeded in bringing together a coalition of barons with grievances against Louis: Lancelin of Bulles,[12] Ralph of Beaugency,[12] Milo of Bray-sur-Seine,[12] Hugh of Crecy,[12] Guy of Rochfort,[12] Hugh of Le Puiset[12] and Hugh, Count of Troyes.[12]

Louis defeated Theobald’s coalition but the additional effort meant he could not defeat the English monarch as well or force him to abandon Gisors, and in March 1113[12] Louis was forced to sign a treaty recognizing Henry I as suzerain of Brittany and Maine. Peace of sorts lasted three years until April 1116[12] when hostilities renewed in the French and Norman Vexins, with each king making gains from his rival.

By 1119, buoyed by several successes and the capture (through treachery) of Les Andelys, Louis felt ready for a final encounter to end the war. In the fierce Battle of Bremule, in August 1119,[12] Louis’s troops broke and were routed, abandoning the royal banner and sweeping the King along with them in retreat to Les Andelys. A counterattack through Évreux to seize Breteuil failed, and Louis, his health failing, looked for peace.

He appealed to Pope Calixtus II, who agreed to help and met with Henry at Gisors in November 1120.[12] The terms of the peace included Henry’s heir, William Adelin, doing homage to Louis for Normandy, a return of all territories captured by both kings with the painful exception of Gisors itself, which Louis was forced to concede to Henry.

Intervention in Flanders

On 2 March 1127, the Count of Flanders, Charles the Good, was assassinated in St. Donatian’s Cathedral at Bruges. It was a scandal in itself but made worse because Charles had no heir.
Soon a variety of claimants were abroad, including William of Ypres, son of Charles’s uncle and popularly thought to be complicit in the murder, Thierry of Alsace, the son of Gertrude of Flanders, Duchess of Lorraine, Arnold of Denmark, nephew of Charles the Good, who seized Saint-Omer. Baldwin, Count of Hainault, who seized Oudenarde, and Godfrey I, Count of Louvain and Duke of Brabant.[13]

Louis had his own candidate in mind and marched into Flanders with an army and urged the barons to elect William Clito, son of Robert Curthose, who had been disinherited of Normandy by his uncle Henry I of England, as their new Count. He had no better claim to Flanders than being the King’s candidate but on 23 March 1127 he was elected Count by the Flemings.[13] Louis then moved decisively to secure Flanders, apprehending the murderers of Charles the Good and ousting the rival claimants. On 2 April he took Ghent, on 5 April Bruges, on 26 April he took Ypres, capturing William of Ypres and imprisoning him at Lille. He then quickly took Aire, Cassel and all the towns still loyal to William of Ypres.[13] Louis’s final act before leaving for France was to witness the execution of Charles the Good’s murderers. They were hurled from the roof of the church of Saint Donatian where they had committed their crime.[13]

It was a triumph for Louis and demonstrated how far the Crown had come under his leadership, but it was a brief triumph. The new young Count William Clito fared badly, relying on heavy handed feudal ways not suited to the more socially advanced and mercantile Flemings. William’s knights ran amok and the Flemings rebelled against Louis’s candidate. Ghent and Bruge appealed to Thierry of Alsace and Saint-Omer to Arnold of Denmark.[13] Louis attempted to intervene again but the moment was gone. The people of Bruge rejected him and recognized Thierry of Alsace as their Count, and he quickly moved to enforce his claim. Louis called a great assembly at Arras and had Thierry excommunicated but it was a gesture. Louis abandoned William of Clito, who died during a siege at Alost on 27 July 1128, and after the whole country finally submitted to Thierry, Louis was obliged to confirm his claim.[13]

Invasion of Henry V

Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, with Ruthard, Archbishop of Mainz. Paint on vellum. Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
On 25 November 1120, Louis’ fortunes against Henry I of England were raised when Henry’s heir, William Ætheling, drunkenly perished aboard the White Ship en route from Normandy to England, putting the future of Henry’s dynasty and his position in doubt.

By 1123 Louis was involved with a coalition of Norman and French seigneurs opposed to Henry. The plan was to drive the English King from Normandy and replace him with William Clito. Henry, however, easily defeated this coalition then instigated his son-in-law, Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, to invade France.[14] Henry V had married the Empress Matilda, the English King’s daughter and the future mother of Henry II of England, 9 years earlier, in hopes of creating an Anglo-German empire, though the couple remained childless. Like Louis, Henry V had designs on the Low Countries and an invasion of Northern France would enable him to strengthen his ambitions in Flanders, as well as support his father-in-law.

Thus in 1124, Henry V assembled an army to march on Rheims.[14] It never arrived. In testament to how far Louis had risen as national protector, all of France rose to his appeal against the threat. Henry V was unwilling to see the French barons united behind their King, who now identified himself as the vassal of St Denis, the patron saint of Paris, whose banner he now carried,[15] and the proposed invasion was abandoned.

Alliance of the Anglo-Normans and Anjou

In 1128 Henry I married his sole surviving legitimate child, the dowager Empress Matilda, to Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou. This was a very dangerous alliance for Louis and would prove so during the reign of his successor, Louis VII of France.

Final years[edit]

As Louis VI approached his end, there seemed to be reasons for optimism. Henry I of England had died on 1 December 1135 and Stephen of Blois had seized the English crown, reneging on the oath he had sworn to Henry I to support Matilda. Stephen was thus in no position to bring the combined Anglo-Norman might against the French crown.
Louis had also made great strides in exercising his royal authority over his barons, and even Theobald II had finally rallied to the Capetian cause.

Finally, on 9 April 1137, a dying William X, Duke of Aquitaine appointed Louis VI guardian of his fifteen-year-old daughter and heiress, Eleanor of Aquitaine.[16] Eleanor was suddenly the most eligible heiress in Europe, and Louis wasted no time in marrying her to his own heir, the future Louis VII, at the Cathedral of Saint-André in Bordeaux on 25 July 1137.[16] At a stroke Louis had added one of the most powerful duchies in France to the Capetian domains.

Louis died of dysentry 7 days later, on 1 August 1137. Despite his achievements, it would be the growing power of the soon to be Angevin Empire that would come to overshadow his successor, its seeds sown in the marriage between the Empress Matilda and Geoffrey Plantagenet and realised through their son, Henry II of England.
Louis VI was interred in the Basilica of St Denis in Paris.

Marriages and children

Epitaph of Louis VI, after 1137, Eglise Abbatiale de Saint Denis, today at Cluny Museum.
He married in 1104: 1) Lucienne de Rochefort — the marriage was annulled on 23 May 1107 at the Council of Troyes by Pope Paschal II.[17] He married in 1115: 2) Adélaide de Maurienne (1092–1154)[17] Their children:
Philip (29 August 1116 – 13 October 1131), King of France (1129–31), not to be confused with his brother of the same name; he died as a result of a fall from a horse.
Louis VII (1120 – 18 September 1180), King of France.
Henry (1121 – 13 November 1175), Archbishop of Reims.[18] Hugues (ca 1122 – died young).
Robert (ca 1123 – 11 October 1188), count of Dreux.[19] Peter[20] (September 1126 – 10 April 1183), married Elizabeth, Lady of Courtenay.[21] Constance (ca 1128 – 16 August 1176), married first Eustace IV, count of Boulogne, and then Raymond V of Toulouse.
Philip (c.1132 -1160), Archdeacon of Paris[22] With Marie de Breuillet, daughter of Renaud de Breuillet de Dourdan,[23] Louis VI was the father of a daughter:
Isabelle (ca 1105 – before 1175), married (ca. 1119) Guillaume I of Chaumont in 1117.[24]

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Robert de Vere was the second surviving son of Aubrey de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford, and his third wife, Agnes of Essex. The date of his birth is not known, but he was likely born after 1164. Almost nothing is known of his life until 1207, when he married Isabel de Bolebec, the widow of Henry de Nonant (d.1206) of Totnes, Devon. In 1206-7 Isabel and her sister Constance were co-heiresses of their niece, another Isabel de Bolebec, the countess of Oxford by her marriage to Robert’s brother, Aubrey de Vere, 2nd Earl of Oxford. They divided the barony of Whitchurch.[2] The fact that aunt and niece had identical names, Isabel de Bolbec, and were successively countesses of Oxford and heiresses of Whitchurch has led to confusion between the two women.

When Robert’s brother, Aubrey de Vere, 2nd Earl of Oxford, died in the latter half of 1214, Robert succeeded to his title and estates and the hereditary office of Master Chamberlain of England. The dower of Earl Aubrey’s second wife, Alice (possibly his cousin, a daughter of Roger Bigod, 2nd Earl of Norfolk),[3] had not been formalized. In 1215 Oxford settled his sister-in-law’s dower by lot, the earl drawing two knights’ fees for every one drawn by Alice.[4] This is the only known instance of dower being settled in this manner.

Oxford joined the disaffected barons who met at Stamford and forced King John to issue Magna Carta at Runnymede on 15 June 1215. The earl was elected one of the barons who were to guarantee the King’s adherence to its terms. Together with other Magna Carta barons, he was excommunicated as a rebel by Pope Innocent III on 16 December 1215, and joined them in offering the crown to Prince Louis of France.[5]

Oxford took up arms against King John, but pledged loyalty to him after the King had taken Castle Hedingham in March 1216. Later in the same year, however, he did homage to Prince Louis at Rochester.[6] Louis entered London and was proclaimed King. On 14 June 1216, he captured Winchester and soon controlled over half of England.[7]

In the midst of this crisis, King John died, prompting many of the barons to desert Louis in favor of John’s nine-year-old son, Henry III. In 1217 Prince Louis retook Castle Hedingham and restored it to Oxford, but despite this Oxford transferred his allegiance to the new King in October 1217. Although he did homage to Henry, he was not fully restored in his offices and lands until February 1218.

Earl Robert served as a king’s justice in 1220-21, and died shortly before 25 October 1221.

He was buried at Hatfield Regis Priory, where either his son, Hugh de Vere, 4th Earl of Oxford, or his grandson, Robert de Vere, 5th Earl of Oxford had an effigy erected in which he is depicted in chain mail, cross-legged, pulling his sword from its scabbard and holding a shield displaying his de Vere arms.

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From John Beals, the father, there descended a large number of members of the Society of Friends located in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Oregon and California. On many of these descendants, gifts in the ministry have been conferred. Among those of direct descent were: Thomas Beals, Bowater Beals, Sarah Mills, Ruth Hockett, Hannah Cloud, Nathan Hunt, Hannah Baldwin, Elizabeth Bond, Peter Dix, Benejah Hiatt, John Bond, Jesse Bond, Jesse Williams, Jesse Hockett, Aseneth Clark, Myseam Mendenhall, Daniel Williams, Eleazer Beals, Asaph Hiatt, Ruth Haisley, Naomi Coffin, Esther Carson, Levi Jessup, Jesse B. Williams, Margaret Toms, William J. Thornberry, Anna M. Votaw, Amos Bond, Elwood Scott, Dr. Dougan Clark, Elizabeth Beals Bond and Jehial Bond.

From Chester County, as it then was, John Beals moved with his family to Monocacy Carols Manor, Maryland, There, his son Thomas, the subject of this sketch, married Sarah Ankram. From there they moved to Hopewell, near Winchester, Virginia, where John Beals died in 1745, three years before the family moved on to North Carolina.

Thomas Beals moved with his family to North Carolina in 1748, being then twenty-nine years old. He stopped first at Cane Creek, then he went to New Garden, North Carolina, which was at that time frontier territory. In a very short time, he was joined by some other families. In the year 1753, Thomas Beals, then about thirty-four years of age, came forth in the ministry. The next move he made was to Westfield, Surry County, North Carolina. Here he was instrumental in the development of a large meeting. He must have lived at New Garden and Westfield about thirty years, during which time he paid lengthy visits to the Indians.

In the year 1775, twenty years before Wayne’s Treaty with the Indians at Greenville, Thomas Beals, accompanied by his nephew Bowater Sumner, William Hiatt and David Ballard, started to pay a visit to the Delaware Indians and some other tribes. After passing a fort not far from Clinch Mountain in Virginia, they were arrested and carried back to the fort to be tried for their lives on the charge of being confederates of the hostile Indians. The officers, understanding that one of them was a preacher, required a sermon before they went in for trial. Thomas Beals thought it was the right time to hold a meeting with the soldiers. This proved to be a very good idea for a young man from the fort was converted and, some time after joined the Friends, became a member of the group and, at a very advanced age, bore public testimony to the truth of the principles of which he was convinced at the fort.

After the meeting, the Friends were kindly entertained and told that they were at liberty to go on their journey. They crossed the Ohio River into what is now the State of Ohio; held many satisfactory meetings with the Indians and returned home safely. Discussing the trip, Thomas Beals told his friends that he saw with his spiritual eye the seed of Friends scattered all over that good land and that one day there would be a greater gathering of Friends there than any other place in the world, and that his faith was strong in the belief that he would live to see Friends settle north of the Ohio River.

In the year 1777, Thomas Beals, accompanied by William Robinson and an interpreter, Isaac Ottoman, started to pay a religious visit to the Six Nations and some other tribes of Indians and proceeded as far as Sewickley, a small meeting of Friends in the western part of Pennsylvania, where they were captured and carried to Hannelstown, not far from Fort Pitt, now Pittsburgh. There they were detained some time and then sent home. Still having a concern in his mind for the Indians, he made another attempt to visit them, but was again arrested and imprisoned, under guard, in a cold, open barn. When he was let out of confinement, he was permitted to hold a meeting with the soldiers, but was not allowed to go any farther, and had to return home.

In 1781, Thomas Beals moved from Westfield, North Carolina, to Blue Stone, Giles County, Virginia, where he lived but a few years. This move does not appear to have had the approval of his friends, for Nathan Hunt states that they sent a committee to induce him to return to Westfield, North Carolina. The little meeting of twenty or thirty families was entirely broken up at Blue Stone. Beals and his family stayed, however, and suffered not only for the necessities of life, but their son-in-law, James Horton, was taken prisoner by the Indians and, from most reliable information that can be obtained, was carried to Old Chillicothe, near Frankfort, Ohio, and there put to death.

In the year 1785, Beals moved to Lost Creek, in Tennessee, and in the year 1793, he came to Grayson County, Virginia, where Nathan Hunt states that Thomas Beals established meetings and says that he was very zealous for the support of the testimonies of Friends. In the year 1795, George Harlan and family, members of the Society of Friends, settled on the Little Miami, at Deerfield, four miles from the present town of Morrow.

In 1796, James Baldwin and Phineas Hunt, with their families, members of the Society of Friends, from Westfield, North Carolina, moved to the Virginia shore of the Ohio River. Here Mary Hunt was born, on October 18, 1796, four miles from Point Pleasant, on the Virginia shore. In February, 1797, the Baldwins and Hunts crossed the Ohio River and settled opposite Green Bottom near each other. Two families of Friends now settled together in the Northwest Territory with the one previously mentioned (the Harlans) quite remote from them.

On May 8, 1797, a group of Friends moved from Westland, Pennsylvania, and settled at High Bank on the east side of the Scioto River, four miles below the present Chillicothe. In the latter part of this same year, Jesse Baldwin moved from his first location opposite Green Bottom, some eighteen miles down the Ohio, and settled in what was called Quaker Bottom, in Lawrence County, opposite the mouth of the Guyandot River, and the present town of Guyandot. So far as can be ascertained, this was where Friends in the Northwest Territory first sat down to hold a Meeting for divine worship.

John Warner, son of Isaac and Mary Warner, who was born at High Bank, Ross County, Ohio, on July 12, 198, was, so far as is known, the first child born as a birthright member of the Society of Friends northwest of the Ohio River, and, on November 11 of that year, Rebecca Chandler, daughter of William and Hannah Chandler, was born near the same place. In 1798, a group of Friends from Hopewell, Virginia, settled at High Bank, and in the same year a group of Friends, all from North Carolina, settled at Salt Creek, near Richmondale, Ross County, Ohio.

In 1799, Thomas Beals, who had visited this country twenty-four years before, now moved to Quaker Bottom, along with other members of his family. They were accompanied by Obediah Overman and his family, all from Grayson County, Virginia. On their arrival, they opened a meeting for worship in the dwelling of Jesse Baldwin. There they met regularly during their residence at that place. The nearest Meeting to them was at Westland, Pennsylvania. Sometime during the year, 1799, Taylor Webster and family, from Redstone, Pennsylvania, settled at Grassy Prairies, five miles northeast of Chillicothe.

In the spring of 1801, Thomas Beals, Jesse Baldwin, John Beals and Daniel Beals moved from Quaker Bottom, and they, with Enoch Cox and their families, settled up Salt Creek, near the present town of Adelphia.

August 29, 1801, Thomas Beals died and was buried two days later, near Richmondale, Ross County, Ohio, in a coffin of regular shape, hollowed out of a solid white walnut tree by his ever faithful friend, Jesse Baldwin. He was assisted by Enoch Cox and others, who covered the coffin with a part of the same tree, which had previously been selected for this purpose by the deceased. Buried near him were William Puckett, Hugh Moffett, as well as others of the small community. A meeting house was later built on the land then owned by the Moffett family and a Meeting was held there for some time.

In the spring of 1802, a group of Friends settled on Lees Creek, in and near the present town of Leesburg, which is located in Highland County, Ohio, where no white person had lived before. In the fall of the same year, Sarah Beals, widow of Thomas Beals, and her sons, John and Daniel, and their families, moved from Adelphia, as did Phineas Hunt, formerly of Raccoon Falls. All settled at Lees Creek and Hardins Creek near each other. This community was augmented in the spring of 1803 by the families of Jesse Baldwin, John Beals, Bowater Beals and John Evans, and, in the fall of the same year, two Lupton families, from Hopewell, Virginia, settled at Lees Creek. On their arrival, Friends became concerned about a meeting for worship. Widow Sarah Beals heartily endorsed the idea. Thus there began a Friends Meeting at Fairfield (Leesburg), regularly authorized in May, 1804. Sarah Beals died July 7, 1813, at the age of 89, and was buried at Fairfield. Thomas Beals’s daughter, Margaret, whose first husband, James Horton, was captured by the Indians, afterward married Daniel Huff, who lived in the Fairfield community.

When Thomas Beals was captured in 1775, one recalls that a young man then in the fort was converted. That young man was Beverly Milner, who eventually settled near the last residence of Sarah Beals. In his later years, after he became too feeble to attend Meeting, he often alluded to the ministry of that “heavenly man by whom he was converted.” He died in 1848, when he was almost 87, and was buried at Fairfield.

This sketch may give some idea of the toil, privations, labor, struggles and sufferings of the pioneers. In planting Quakerism in the Old Northwest, Thomas Beals and his faithful wife and devoted family are but one of the hundreds who struggled, nor was he the only one buried in a log coffin. Many were buried with nothing but boards to separate them from the lone mountains, never to be seen or marked by loved ones. The author is convinced, however, that to Thomas Beals belongs the credit of having been the first Friends minister to carry the message of Christ into the vast region north and west to the Ohio, that region which in a few years, was to become the great center of the life of not only the Society of Friends, but the entire Nation. Thomas Beals’s prophecy of 1775 began to be realized in his own lifetime and has long been a reality, since one-third of the Friends of America have resided within the limits of the old Northwest Territory for three-quarters of a century!

Note: On September 19, 1937, a monument was dedicated at the grave of Thomas Beals near Richmondale, Ohio.

Rev. Thomas BEALS was the son of John BEALS II & Sarah BOWATER. Born 14 Mar 1719 in Nottingham, Chester Co., Pennsylvania. Died 29 Aug 1801 in Richmondale, Ross Co., Ohio. Buried in Presley Caldwell Farm 3/4 Mi. W Of Richmondale, OH.

Thomas Beals and Sarah Ancram had declared marriage intentions in Virginia, most likely at Hopewell MM, where their early books were lost in a fire in 1795. They were married in Prince Georges Co., Maryland. Living within the verge of Fairfax MM in Virginia, when that Quaker meeting was established and set off from Hopewell MM, Virginia, they were automatically transferred to Fairfax MM 1745-6. Thomas Beals remained in Prince George Co., MD until 1749. On 26 Jun 1749, Thomas and Sarah Beals and their four oldest children were granted certificates to Carvers MM, Bladen Co., NC, from there transferred to Cane Creek MM, Orange Co., NC when Cane Creek MM was set up, 7 Oct 1751 and were charter members. Then when New Garden MM (now Guilford Co., North Carolina) was set up in 1754, the family was transferred to that MM, never having moved from their original settlement.

Jeremiah Mills wrote in his journal: “My grandfather died when my father was about nine years old, leaving a weakly widow in the wilderness, with a family of small children to support. I have no doubt they saw hard times. Thomas Beals and family lived near grandmother’s, without seeing bread as I have often heard old people saying. They did not know what it was when my grandfather and some other persons came to see the country, and happening to have a few cakes in their saddle bags, gave some to the children, they did not know what they were, but looked at them awhile and never offered to bite them, laying them upon a board in the cabin. The girls wore leather petticoats, made of deerskins, and when they were young women grown, yet enjoyed themselves as well as Queen Victoria, dressed in silks of India and gems of Golconda. This Thomas Beals was a Quaker preacher and like Nimrod, the mighty hunter, he followed the game and was always forward in settling new countries. From Guilford, he moved into the mountains of Stokes Co., from there to Grayson Co., Virginia, from hence to the mouth of the Gian, on the Ohio River, thence to Salt Creek on the Scioto, there he was buried.”

In 1775, Thomas traveled into Shawnee territory with Bowater Sumner, William Hiatt, and David Ballard. During their journey, they were arrested and carried back to the fort near Clinch Mt., VA to be tried for their lives on the charge of being confederates with the hostile Indians. The officers, understanding that one of them was a preacher, required a sermon before they went in for trial. Beals thought it right to hold a meeting with the soldiers, which proved to be a highly favored season. A young man (Beverly Milner) then in the fort was converted and, sometime after, moved among Friends and became a member and, at a very advanced age, bore public testimony to the truth of the principles of which he was convinced at the fort. He later settled near the Beals family in Ohio and in his later years, after he became too feeble to attend Meeting, he often alluded to the ministry of that “heavenly man by whom he was converted.” Beverly Milner died in 1848, when he was almost 87 and was buried at Fairfield, Ohio. He was the great-grandfather of Clyde A. Milner, later President of Guilford College in N.C.

After this meeting was over, the Friends kindly entertained and were free and at liberty to go on their journey. They crossed the Ohio River south of Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh, PA) into what is now the state of Ohio and became acquainted with Chief Tecumseh and Waw-wil-a-way and held many meetings with the Indians with satisfaction and returned home with much peace of mind. Thomas Beals told his friends that he saw with his spiritual eye the seed of Friends scattered all over that good land and that one day there would be the greatest gathering of Friends there of any place in the world and that his faith was strong in the belief that he would live to see Friends settle north of the Ohio River In 1777, Thomas was again granted a certificate to the Mingo and Delaware Indians on the Ohio River. William Robinson and Isaac Ottoman (interpreter) proceeded as far as Sewickley in the western part of Pennsylvania. In his diary, Samuel Fisher writes: “11th day of 11th month — Thomas Bails and William Robinson, from New Garden in N. Carolina, visited us… they were on their way to perform a religious visit to the Indians, at the risk of their lives, engaging in this service from a sense of duty and universal love to be kind, engaged our sympathy and desire that they should be preserved in this time of diligence in the arduous undertaking. Thomas Bails expects to spend the greater part of his life among the Indians, and having visited them before, he will be useful among them.”

On their return in 1778, they reported that they had been detained prisoners for some weeks in a cold, open barn. Thomas had his certificate taken from him and the group was not allowed to go further.

In 1780, Thomas desiring to move his family to the Ohio River to be near the Delaware Indians, was advised by the meeting that he go himself and make inspection before moving his family. On 25 Mar 1780 Thomas Beals, William Hiatt, Christopher Hiatt and David Ballard were granted certificates to travel to the Ohio River to be near and labor with the Delaware Indians. On 7 Jul 1780, Thomas Branson was granted a certificate to Ohio to be with Thomas Beals. On 30 Sep 1780, Thomas Beals and David Ballard returned the certificates which had been granted them to Ohio. However, at some later date, Thomas Beals with his sons Daniel and John (also Jacob) did move from Grayson Co., Virginia to Quaker Bottom, Ohio, crossing the Ohio River on New Year’s day, 1800, where Cincinnati now is. They went to what is now Ross Co., Ohio. Others from the family came later.

According to Roger S. Boone, Some Quaker Families, Thomas Beals was knocked off his horse by a tree limb, coffin hewed out of solid butternut tree by Jesse Baldwin. He was buried on the Presley Caldwell Farm about 3/4 mi. west of Richmond Dale (Richmond), Ross Co., Ohio (near Londonderry MH, Highland Co., Ohio). Gravestone in Londonderry FBG.
At 2 P.M on Sunday, September 19, 1937, a public ceremony was held in a little walled plot on the Jacob Caldwell farm near Richmond Dale, Ohio marking the grave of a man who played a big part in the history of Ohio and Ross Co. In this two-rod square burial plot is interred the body of Thomas Beals, the first Quaker or Friends missionary to work among the Indians and early settlers of southern Ohio and Kentucky.

Thomas Beals died on August 28, 1801, near the spot of burial and was buried there three days later in a coffin hewed out of a white walnut log. The final resting place of Thomas Beals would be lost forever if it were not for records made by Gershom Perdue. The grave went unpreserved until 1854 when Gershom Perdue, an enthusiastic church organizer among the Friends, prevailed upon the yearly meeting of Friends to take steps to preserve the resting place of their patriarch. On June 20 of the same year, the plot was deeded to a special committee of the yearly meeting and the stone wall enclosure built a while later.

According to The History of the Early Settlement of Highland Co., Ohio by Daniel Scott, 1890: “Daniel, John and Jacob Beals, sons of old Thomas Beals, came with their widowed mother, and were the first to communicate the sad intelligence of the death of the venerable and loved Thomas, the preacher, which happened on their way out, and was caused from a hurt received by his horse running under a stooping tree. He died in a few hours afterward in the woods on the banks of Salt Creek. His sons and others who were with him found it utterly impossible to get plank or any material out of which to make a coffin, so they went to work and cut down a walnut tree and made a trough, which they covered with a slab. Thus prepared, they performed the sad rites, and the remains of the pure and good man were left to repose amidst the profound solitudes of the unbroken forests. The Friends’ meeting of Fairfield, in this county, have recently sent down a committee for the purpose of enclosing the grave, which was done by erecting a permanent stone wall around it”

Timeline

1719 – born to John Jr. & Sarah (Bowater) BEALS, birth recorded at New Garden MM, Chester Co., Pennsylvania
1719 – born in Chester Co., Pennsylvania
1741 – married at Cold Springs Friends Mtg., Monocacy, Prince Georges Co., Maryland then move to Opeckon/Hopewell, Frederick Co., Virginia near Winchester
1745 – chr mbrs Fairfax MM, Loudon Co., VA
1748 – to Carvers MM, Bladen Co., NC, then Cane Creek MM at Snow Camp, then New Garden (never moved)
1749 – travels into “Indian Territory” at the age of 30
1752 – Thomas & Sarah sign the first wedding cert. at New Garden MM, Rowan (now Guilford Co.) – marriage of John Hiatt and Sarah Hodson
1753 – becomes Quaker minister at age of 34
1754 – chr mbrs New Garden MM, Guilford Co., NC
1755 – Thomas Beals & Beals Sawmill shown on map of early residents of New Garden MM in Guilford Co., NC
1757 – (Note from JLT: This is probably another Thomas Beals, a cousin sent me this information) Thomas is listed in the “Muster Rolls” of Fredericks Co., MD. According to “The Early Settlements of Fredericks Co., MD”. Thomas & Sarah (Ancrum) were still residing in MD 1725 Mar 1765 – Rowan Co., NC, Deed Book 6 p. 258: Thomas Beals to Christopher Hiett – 11 acres – 5 pounds “on the branches of the Horsepenn Creek, beginning at sd. Beals Corner and running south twenty poles to White Oak the West eighty eight poles to a black oak then north twenty poles to a stake on the original line thence to the beginning.” signed by Thomas Beals and Sarah Beals and witnessed by Eleazar Hunt and John Unthank (this land was located in that part of Rowan Co. which became Guilford Co. in 1770)
1768 – of Rowan Co. (now Guilford), NC
Westfield, Surry Co., NC (this is the MM where many families who had removed to Tennessee and the west before meetings were established in those areas deposited their certificates — it is right at border of NC/VA)
1771-1774 – Thomas, William, Bowater, John and Daniel Beals are on the Surry and Wilkes Co., NC tax list
1774 – signs marriage record of Ann Beals & Jacob Jackson at Tom’s Creek in Surry Co., North Carolina
1775 – travels into Shawnee territory with nephews Bowater Sumner, William Hiatt and David Ballard and became acquainted with Chief Tecumseh and Waw-Wil-a-Way. They are arrested near Clinch Mtn., Virginia for “being confederate with the hostile Indians”. Beals felt it right to hold a meeting with the soldiers, after which they were released and they continued across the Ohio River, cross the Ohio River below Pittsburgh, taught many Indians and returned home with peace of mind
1777 – Religious visit to the Six Nations and some other tribes of Indians by Rev. Beals, William Robinson and Isaac Ottoman (interpreter). They proceed as far as Sewickley, a Friends settlement in the western part of Pennsylvania. They were captured and carried to Hannastown (Fort Reed), not far from Fort Pitt, now Pittsburgh. They were detained some time and then sent home. Still having a concern in his mind for the Indians, Thomas Beals made another attempt to visit them, but was again arrested and imprisoned in a cold, open barn.They were finally released, but not allowed to go further.
1780 – Thomas’s request to move his family to Ohio to be near the Delaware Indians is denied by New Garden MM, NC. He was advised to go himself and make inspection before moving family.
1781 – moved from Westfield, Surry Co., North Carolina to Blue Stone, Giles Co., Virginia
1782 – visited by a Westfield committee which recommended that they return. Beals and his family stayed.
1785 – to Lost Creek, New Market, Jefferson Co., Tennessee
1786 – Tom’s Creek, Surry Co., NC becomes Westfield Mtg.
1787 – Beals and a small party to Clinch River, Kentucky
1788 – when Thomas’ son (John) married, Thomas was described as living in Hawkins Co., TN from Center MM, NC records (Hawkins Co. est. 1786)
1790 – “Virginia” consists of current states of VA, WV & KY
1790 – Beals, James Horton and a dozen men from NC establish camp on Bluestone River in Kentucky. Horton and 6 men captured. 5 men killed. Horton and John Branson captured and taken to Chillocothe, Ross Co., Ohio and tortured and burned at the stake. (Quaker John)
1792 – Thomas and sons John, Daniel and Jacob are received at Westfield MM, Surry Co., North Carolina from Lost Creek, Jefferson Co., Tennessee
1792 – Kentucky becomes a state
1793 – Mount Pleasant, Grayson Co., Virginia
1795 – Beals and Nathaniel Pope (personal friend of Daniel Boone) explore area that is now Fairfield Twp., Highland Co., Ohio. Beals introduces Pope to Chief Waw-Wil-a-Way.
1795 – George Harlan and family settle on the Little Miami at Deerfield, OH
1796 – James Baldwin & Phineas Hunt, with their families, members of the Society of Friends from Westfield, NC, moved to the Virginia shore of the Ohio River.
1796 – Jesse Baldwin, the wife and sons of Rev. Beals, Phineas Hunt and families are already at “The Green Bottom” when Nathaniel Pope arrives
8 May 1797 – a group of Friends moved from Westland, PA, and settled at High Bank on the east side of the Scioto River, four miles below the present Chillicothe.
Late 1797 – Jesse Baldwin moved 18 miles down the Ohio River from Green Bottom to what was called Quaker Bottom in Lawrence Co., opposite the mouth of the Guyandot River and the present town of Guyandot.
1798 – Thos., Daniel, John & Jacob “laid a concern before the mtg. (Westfield, NC) of removal to Scioto River (Highland Co., OH) or thereaway”. Disapproved by QM.
1798 – a group of Friends from North Carolina settle at Salt Creek, near Richmondale, Ross Co., Ohio
1799 – Quaker bottom land (Lawrence Co., Ohio) with John & Daniel , & Jacob – just across the Ohio River from the Guyandot River in West Virginia
1799 – Thomas & members of his family moved to Quaker Bottom with Obediah Overman from Grayson Co., VA
1800 – Thomas and John Belas (typo for Beals?) and Daniel and Jacob Beals are on the 1800 census living in Gallipolis, Washington Co., Ohio along with Nathaniel Pope and Jessie Hiatt (all except Rev. Thomas are shown in the early records of Fairfield Twp., Highland Co.)
Spring of 1801 – Thomas Beals, Jesse Baldwin and Daniel Beals (and John and Jacob?) moved from Quaker Bottom, and they, with Enoch Cox and their families, settled on Salt Creek, near the present town of Adelphia
1801 – Was in Adelphia on Salt Creek, Ross Co. (NE corner), Ohio
29 Aug 1801 – Thomas Beals died and was buried near Richmondale, Ross Co. (now in Jefferson Co.), Ohio
19 Sep 1937 – a monument was dedicated to Thomas Beals, inscribed: First Quaker Missionary to the Indians in the Northwest Territory, at Londonderry (now Guernsey Co.), Ohio
He married Sarah ANCRAM, daughter of Richard and Mary (Ashman/Matthews) ANCRAM on 12 Nov 1741 in Cold Spr. Mtg., Monocacy, Prince Geo. Co., MD. She was born About 1724 in Chester Co., Pennsylvania. Died 6 Jul 1813 in Fairfield, Highland Co., Ohio. Buried in Fairfield FBG, Fairfield, Highland Co., Ohio.
Timeline: 1724 – born Chester Co., Pennsylvania?
1741 – married at Cold Springs Mtg., Monocacy, Prince Geo. Co., MD
Sarah Antram of Prince George Co., MD married Thomas Beales. Witnesses: Oliver Matthews, Thomas Matthews, Francis Henley, Amos Jenny, Evan Thomas. John Wright, Mary Matthews, Sarah Beales, Elizabeth Matthews, Hannah Ballinger, Susanna Moon, Mary Tannyhill
1788 – of Hawkins Co., according to Center MM, NC records
1801 – dies in Fairfield, Highland Co., Ohio
1801 – buried in the old Fairfield Friends Mtg. Cemetery near the old brick church, Leesburg, Highland Co., Ohio

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