Re: Richard Boehm (Beem) of Saxony Germany
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In reply to:
Re: Richard Boehm (Beem) of Saxony Germany
Richard Beem 2/09/08
Hi Richard, it's nice to meet you.
I haven't been on this page in a long time.
I was surprised to get this response from you!
I am a bit familiar with Daniel Beem.I'm glad you contacted me.
Was Daniel the civil war drummer?Or was that another brother?
To answer your question regarding the correct birthplace and date of Michael Beem, I do not know for certain.I have looked and looked for the facts on this myself.
I do have a photo of Michael's Tombstone in Jersey township.This tombstone says that Michael was a descendant of the famous Jakob Boehm, a cobbler who had a divine vision and consequently wrote many books on this event involving God. See sites online about Jakob Boehmehttp://www.passtheword.org/Jacob-Boehme/http://www.passtheword.org/Jacob-Boehme/
This is actually stated on the tombstone that Michael is a descendant of Jakob Boehm, but I don't have any idea whether this is correct or not.I wouldn't think they would put this on the tombstone unless true.If it is, then it could give us some clues about the area where our Beem ancestors came from.
If true, then with the research I have done on Jakob Boehm, he lived in the area of Silesia.There is also another Boehm named Theodore Boehm who is responsible for changing the Baroque flute into the modern flute that we have today.See here;http://www.flutehistory.com/Instrument/Boehm.php3http://www.flutehistory.com/Instrument/Boehm.php3
He also wrote a book on the acoustics and mechanics of the Flute.How he designed the keys and levers etc.
I do not know if he is related to our group, but he is also from this same area in Saxony. There would have been a music school in Munich according to this info.
I have tried to find the boat and Richard's name as a passenger on a boat, but haven't found the correct spelling of the name anywhere.
I think it could have been spelled in German as Reichard Boehm or some spelling similar to this.Instead of looking for Richard Beem.
Papers I have say the name was Boehm before it became Beem. That this name is Bohemian and this is what the Germans called them.The Bohemians were wanderers.I know that when I visited Fredricksburg Civil War battle field, they printed Certificates of My GGGGrandfather JK Beem.In the Civil War record his name was mispelled.Also several of my relatives dates and middle names are not correct in the History of Michael Beem book by Nelson Beem 1936.So this proves two things.War records are not always written correctly by the person penning the documents and dates and names can be mispelled.Once I found Jonathan Beem's name written as "Been" , well, whose going to find that in the future?So, it is very unusual that you contacted me, because I was just this week looking at info in Saxony about the name Boehm.I have been looking at the origins of the name and do not believe they were German, but Boehmian.As this is where the name originated.These people were from a tribe called the Boii.
At one point they lived in north Italy and gave their name to Bologna as well as Bohemia when they went up the river into Europe.They fought against the Romans.They are not Italian but another tribe.There is a speculation in the records that this tribe might be a celtic tribe.However, I have some other theories that are interesting to say the least.I would take a guess and say that if Richard Beem came over as a music master, (and this is only written in one letter in one sentence that is in my possession), then this would mean that he studied music at a University and perhaps received a masters in music somewhere in Germany.Munich seems like a possibiltiy as it is an old college.This is where Theodore Boehm studied music.
This is another reason I wondered if Theodore Boehm could be related.Have you been on the Michael Beem and Elizabeth Green webpage? These are our relatives. Some interesting info there.
See here; http://michaelbeem.rootsweb.com/http://michaelbeem.rootsweb.com/
I'd like to hear from you again.Thanks for the response!!!! KB
When I returned from Fredricksburg battle field, incredibly out of the blue, another of our relatives named Ronald Beem contacted me. I was purchasing Civil War certificates for my GGGGrandfather and one of his brothers.
Yet, there was another brother who was a Civil War drummer and I was trying to decide whether to purchase one on him.
I didn't, but immediately when I returned home, a relative of this very man (who was the civil war drummer), found my posting and wrote to me.Ronald Beem. Do you know him?It was like a miracle!
He is a historian and sent me the following info.
Here is what he had to say about the topic you mentioned;
Quote;
There are several dates and places put forward for Michael Beem Sr’s birth. The History of Licking County, Ohio, It’s Past and Present (compiled by N.N. Hill, Jr. Newark, Ohio: A.A. Graham & Co, Publishers, 1881) in a biography of
G.W. Beem states that "G.W. is the descent of Michael Beem, who was born in Alleghany county, Maryland, about the year 1751. He was of German extraction. At the age of 20 he married Elizabeth Green, daughter of Benjamin Green." The same book, in the biography for J.W. Beem states "he is the son of Michael Beem, who was born in Maryland." The record of Revolutionary War veterans burial sites (Soldiers of the American Revolution Who Lived in the State of Ohio Roster III) lists Michael Beem as having been born Fri, February 7, 1755 in Saxony, Germany. This information corroborates a letter from Mrs. Louis Beem to Dr. E.C. Beem stating that "Michael Beem was born in Saxony, Germany, Wed, March 5, 1755. He came to America in 1760 when his father immigrated from Germany." {A History of the Michael Beem Family - 1936). Michael Beem’s gravestone in the Jersey Universalist Church Cemetery says Michael Beem "died Dec. 12, 1850, aged 95y, 10m, 5d." Working backward from the date
of death, Michael Beem would have been born Thurs, February 7, 1755. The gravemarker also states Michael "came to America with his parents in 1768." Since his sister Catherine was born in 1760, her birth would have been in Germany by that account. Most accounts have her born in America shortly after arrival. The G.W. Beem bio in the History of Licking County states Michael Beem died "at the age of 95 years, ten months, and 14 days." This would place his birth on Jan. 28, 1755. The Revolutionary War pension claim S2986 (Revolutionary War Pension Applications) indicates that Michael Beem (spelled Beam in the application) was born in Pennsylvania in 1758.
So what is one to believe. First, the Licking County History statement can be dismissed. It was written 31 years after Michael Beem died. It says he was born in 1751 and married at 20. That would make the marriage of Michael and Elizabeth in 1771. We know that Michael and Elizabeth were
married in 1775. If he was 20, this would coincide with a 1755 birthdate, unless they were married in January, 1775. Then the 1754 date would be correct. The problem with using the gravestone information is that it is not the original marker. For Elizabeth it states "Elizabeth, his wife, died Oct. 11, 1835, aged 80y - Some 50 years has passed since you’ve been resting here, but in honor of your noble lives this monument we read." If the monument was erected 50+ years after the death of Michael, the gravestone would have been erected in 1900; if 50 years from Elizabeth’s death, 1885. In either case, after the History of Licking County had been published.
It is strange that in the pension application, filled out when Michael Beem was 75, should have errors in birthplace and birthdate. However, the name is spelled Beam when every census from 1820 to 1850 (except 1840) spells the name Beem. If he had been born in 1758 he would have been 17 when he
married, an improbability since young men usually did not marry in their teens. Elizabeth was about six weeks younger than Michael and the prospect of two 17 year olds marrying in colonial America is remote. New England men commonly married in their middle twenties, women at about 20. (Richard Hofstadter, America at 1750: A Social Portrait, 1971). So, if Michael filled out his application, he misspelled his own name, made himself younger, and was born in Pennsylvania. Why would he have supplied so much misinformation?
All the estimates of Michael Beem’s birth are based on memory which has a tendency to be faulty. My gut feeling is he Michael was born 2-7-1755 as stated on his gravemarker. Hopefully, the information from the original gravestone was transferred correctly. However, was he born in Germany or Pennsylvania. Either would make sense. If the family came over in 1760, they would have been traveling in the midst of the Seven Years War (French
and Indian War). I would think there would not have been a heck of a lot of passenger ships sailing to America at that time. The closest I have found was a Michael Böhm who is listed with 31 men on board the Richard and Mary that arrived in 1752 in Philadelphia.
[List 183 C] The Foreigners whose Names are underwritten, Imported in the
Ship Richard and Mary, John Moore, Master, From Rotterdam, and last from
Portsmouth, took the usual Qualifications to the Government, Before
Joshua Maddox, Esquire.
The Twenty Sixth Day of September 1752. No. 91 men
Source:
Pages 487 and 488
STRASSBURGER, Ralph Beaver. Pennsylvania German Pioneers: a
Publication of the Original Lists of Arrivals in the Port of Philadelphia
from 1727 to 1808. Edited by William J. Hinke. 3 Vols. Pennsylvania:
Pennsylvania German Society, 1934 Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing
Co., Inc. 1964 Vol. 1.?
More Replies:
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Re: Richard Boehm (Beem) of Saxony Germany
Richard Beem 2/10/08
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Re: Richard Boehm (Beem) of Saxony Germany
K Ballard 2/10/08
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Re: Richard Boehm (Beem) of Saxony Germany