Friday, December 11, 2009

THE BEERE FAMILY

Those of us descended from James Henry and Cora Mae (Beere) Elting seldom hear about our Beere family connections. The following information is taken from three sources: (1) A record begun in 1888 by Mary Nealey, wife of Alonso Nealey and the daughter of Charles and Anna Beere. Mary and Alonso Nealey lived in Spangle, Washington in 1888. (2)"Descendants of William Beere," no author listed, but possibly Carole (Elting) Logeman as it contains extensive information about her family. (3) Information compiled by Lawrence F. Mulligan for a project of the Jersey Central Power & Light Company in March 1983. None of these sources included documents for genealogical proof.

Note: Often names are spelled in different ways within the same document. I have combined the names thus listed with a /. There is no way to determine from these documents which name is accurate.

While most of our Elting "nationality" centers around France, The Netherlands and Germany, the Beere side history shows our ancestors were born in England and Scotland.

1st known generation:
WILLIAM BEERE: born at Oxfordshire, England
Wife: MARY

2nd generation:
CHARLES BEERE, youngest son of William and Mary. Born in the Burrough of Banbury, Oxfordshire, England on March 5, 1817. He emigrated to the U.S in 1834 landing in New York with his oldest brother William and family.
Married on December 2, 1841 to ANN/ANNE Ruthern/Ruthven, youngest daughter of SYM and MARGARET RUTHVEN/RUTHERN/RUTHREN of Edinburgh, Scotland, by a Forbs Episcopal Minister in New York. She was born August 27, 1820 at Sailsburry Square, Edinburgh, Scotland. They lived in New York until 1846, then moved to Iowa where they settled on a farm near Dodgeville. They had ten children, some born in New York and some in Iowa: Margaret, John, Elizabeth, Amos, Joseph, Mary, Jessie, WILLIAM, Sym, Henry.
Charles died April 13, 1869 near Dodgeville, Iowa. Ann/Anne died September 25, 1912 at the home of her daughter, Elizabeth Kline near Mediapolis, Iowa.

NOTE: Elizabeth (Beere) married John Kline. Her brother, WILLIAM, married LIZZIE MAY (ELIZABETH MAE) KLINE, thus creating some confusion.

THE RUTHVEN/RUTHERN FAMILY:
Ann/Anne's father: Sym Ruthven/Ruthern. Born January 8, 1775 at Edinburg, Scotland. (Married first: Margaret Clark. Four children. None married, all deceased by 1888)

Ann/Anne's mother: MARGARET (second wife of Sym). Born April 1, 1788 at Nusselborough, Scotland. Six children: Jessie, Catherine, WILLIAM, John, Mary, and Ann/Anne.

3rd generation:
WILLIAM BEERE: born September 30, 1855 in Iowa. Died June 21, 1929. Married November 29, 1877/1879? in Dodgeville, Des Moines Co, Iowa to LIZZIE MAY KLINE(Elizabeth Mae Kline). She was born in Dodgeville, Iowa on September 18, 1856 to John and Angeline (?)Kline. Lizzie died February 24, 1941 in Burlington, IA. Six children: Annie, William, Jr., CORA MAE, Margaret C., Elizabeth K, Charles E.

4th generation:
CORA MAE BEERE, born Feb. 18, 1885/1886? in Union, Cass Co., Nebraska. Died: December 22, 1965 in Burlington, IA. Married JAMES HENRY ELTING on Wednesday, January 1, 1908 at Sperry, Iowa. He was born November 5, 1884. He died July 1, 1960 in Burlington, Iowa. Nine children: JAMES EVERETT, Charles Leland, Josephine Mae, Ronald Earl, Kathryn Louise, Alys Ruth, Ada Margaret, Cora Elizabeth, Robert William. (All are deceased in 2009).

It's interesting to me that though our Elting progenitor arrived here in the mid-1600s, our first Beere ancestor didn't arrive in the U.S until nearly 200 years later. We probably could find an abundance of family information in the United Kingdom, not to mention Ruthven and Beere relatives there.

Though the following names are not in our direct ancestral lines, they are the names of those whom our relatives married so we may have relatives scattered about the nation with these names:

Hallburgh, Ritson, Manning, Kitchen, Kline, Lines, Nealey, Cockayne, Atkenson, Seymour, Fimmen, Hueschen, Patterson, Moehn/Mochn, Weidhans, Hatcher, Stevenson, Smith, Gray, Nelson,Bentz, Quinty, Gamma, Dooley, Luckenbill, Williams, Thode, Crile, Narem, Mason, Carpenter, Corder, Swygard, Husted, Henderson, Crook, Shaffer, Schmidt, Schieffer, Miller, Pennington,Venderhaar, Pack, Lant, Schwab, Brown, Deeds, Baker (three of Alonso and Mary Beere Nealey's four children married Bakers); Kjack, Ball, Bartfoff, Bussler, Colburn, Rinehart, Paterson, Saxton, Wilson, Snow, Derr, Crosley, Snyder, Botwell, Willaims, Geil, Lines, Leffler, Funk.

If anyone has additions/corrections, etc. to this Beere information, please send them via the commment area below. Also, anyone needing additional information on a Beere descendant not in my direct ancestral line, please let me know---there's lots more in these three documents.