Re: WILIAM BEAN COME TO TENNESSEE

One of the problems with tracing William Bean is that there are at least 3 of them in a row.William Bean was born in Abt. 1700 in St Stephans Parish, Virginia.Then he and Elizabeth Hatton had several children including Elizabeth Bean and William Bean born 9 Dec 1721 in Northumberland Co, Va.Then William & Elizabeth married sister Lydia Russell and brother Capt. George Russell, respectively and both families moved to Boone creek area.Here William and Lydia had several children:

Another William, Robert, George, John, Edmund, Jane, Sarah & Russell.Russell was their only child born in TN (NC at that time), all the older children were born in VA.

Some interesting tales of William (9 Dec 1721) & wife Lydia:

in 1786, Tennessee was still a part of North Carolina.
According to legend, William Bean traveled with Daniel Boone to the East
Tennessee area before he settled there with his family.
According to "The Story of Marion County", a plaque in the Bean Ralston
Cemetery erected in 1917 by William Bean's descendants he was a "Captain
in the Indian Wars; Companion of Daniel Boone; a Tennessee Volunteer, a
Hero of Kings Mountain; an Intrepid Pioneer-Patriot"
Said to have been the first white man to take his family over the
mountains into what is now Tennessee to live (1769)

Lydia Russell Beene was captured as she rode horseback toward Ft Lee at
Watauga and was taken to the Cherokee Camp on Nolichucky River. She was
told that she would be killed. Mrs. Bean was tied to a stake at the top
of a large mound on the Little Tennessee River. The fire had been
lighted around her when the "Beloved Woman", Nancy Ward, arrived on the
scene. Revolted at the thought that a Cherokee should tortue a squaw,
she hastened to the rescue, scattered the burning brands and cut the
bonds which fastened the prisioner. She took Mrs . Bean to her own house
where she was treated kindly.
Lydia Bean in her gratitude instructed Nancy Ward and the other Cherokee
women in the art of making butter and cheese. Due to Mrs. Bean's
training, Nancy Ward became the first owner of a herd of cattle. The
Indians had previously regarded with disapproval the white man's buffalo.
(From John P. Brown's "Old Frontiers")
The Lydia Russell Bean, Knoxville Chapter of the Daughters of the
American Revolution was organized in April 18, 1959, named in honor of
Lydia Russell Bean, ae of the American Revolution. When captured
in 1776 by the Indians, she led her captors to believe the garrison was
well defended, thus preventing an attack.
Source: "William Bean, Prioneer of Tennessee, and His Descendents", by
Jamie Ault Gray.