John Bean

Information by email from Moira C. Wallace, 19/01/2014:

John Bean was born in 1756 in Logie Parish, which at that time was deemed to be in Perthshire Scotland. It is in fact within walking distance of the town of Stirling. His parents were Mungo Bean, a blacksmith, and his wife Elizabeth Porteous. He had 11 siblings, many of whom died in childhood. It has not been possible so far to find a marriage record for him.

He died in the parish of St Andrews Jamaica, aged 81 years and 6 months on 6th August 1837. He appears to have been buried with an Elizabeth Armour and her three small children, Joseph Jane and Catherine. The children have the surname Wordie. Elizabeth died in 1827 and the children in 1825. There is also reference to a John Bean Armour, the son of another Joseph Armour in Trinidad in 1853 but I cannot ascertain what the connection is with Elizabeth or Joseph.

The University of Cambridge Library holds a letter written by John Bean in July 1807 to Philip Monoux Lucas who was an agent for the sale of slaves and was a partner in P. M. Lucas and Co. in Liverpool. It was regarding the arrival of the ships Aurora and Agreeable which held a total of 540 slaves and asking about a likely market for them and the need to procure licences for their sale.

Bean bequeathed £500 Jamaican currency to Logie Parish Church (which appears to have been recorded in the Logie Kirk Session Records as £3,500 sterling). It took the Church 22 years to recover it after instructing solicitors Farquar Hill and John Symons Airey of Kingston. He also purchased burial ground (6 Lairs) at the church and this is recorded in the Lair Register. These were later transferred to his nephew, Archibald Bean.

His niece Elizabeth Bean married Alexander Wood in Glasgow. On his death she became a Lodging House Keeper and one of her lodgers was the John Cunningham, variously described as a clerk or accountant, who sent a letter dated 05/08/1839 to the Compensation Commission. In it he states that John Bean had died and the family wanted to know what had happened to the money. It would appear that it was collected by an N Tory and was uncontested. This may have been Netlan Tory, the Kingston merchant.

Probate for the last Will and Testament of John Bean, dated 7th August 1835 was entered on 6th September 1837 by Thomas Farquar Hill and George Symons Airey Attorneys at Law Jointly.

There are many Annual returns of slaves spanning the early 1800's signed by Bean. Included on these lists is a slave called Nelson Bean who was freed and somehow made his way to Oxford, England. He died a pauper in 1881. On Cowley Road at the entrance to Manzil Way there is a plaque bearing his name. No one knows why.

The turning to Sterling Castle from Red Hills Road is known as Bean Junction, presumably after this John Bean.

Email 19/01/2014 sourced to:

Scotland's People.gov.uk, baptism of John Bone [sic] OPR Births 374 020 126 Logie.

Lair Register of Logie Parish Church.

Logie School Records.

Robert Menzies Fergusson, Logie: a Parish History (1905) Vol. 1 p. 228.

Logie Kirk Session Records.

Jamaican Family Search.com for Archer's Memorial Inscriptions p. 109, http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Members/Barche05.htm.

Jamaican Archives Wills Liber # 118.

University of Cambridge Library MS Add. 8369 for letter from John Bean to Philip Monoux Lucas, http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/deptserv/rcs/slavery/case4.html [accessed 14/07/2015].

'Nelson Bean Freed Slave in Oxford', https://ericwedwards.wordpress.com/2013/10/24/nelson-bean-freed-slave-in-oxford/ [accessed 14/07/2015].

T71/1607 letter from John Cunningham dated 05/08/1839.

Family Search.org.

We are grateful to Moira C. Wallace for compiling this entry.

We are grateful also to Caroline Mary Sloper for providing information about Bean Junction.