John Bean

History of Montana,by Joaquin Miller, 1894
May be copied for non-profit purposes.
USGENWEB Montana Archives

John Bean, Clerk of the District Court, Helena, came to Montana 
in 1883 and has since been identified 
with its interests. He was born in York, England, June 1, 1860, 
in which city he was reared and educated, 
first attending the common schools and afterward the Lord Mayor's 
College of which institution he is a 
graduate. At the age of thirteen he began the study of 
stenography, studying under the best teachers and 
becoming proficient therein. He also learned telegraphy and 
as an operator was for four year in the employ
 of the Northeastern Railway Company of England. At the age 
of nineteen he came to America, and is today 
the only member of his family outside of Great Britain. He is 
one of six children and the remaining brother 
and sisters reside at the old homestead in York, where the 
father, who was a successful merchant for many years, 
is now retired from active business, being a learned scholar 
and an accomplished linguist, and having amassed a 
fortune. Mr. Bean's mother is also living. She is a sister of 
James Carter, of Carter, Redfern & Company, the 
noted Liverpool merchants and importers.

When he reached America, Mr. Bean at once entered the employ 
of D.W. King and Company, wholesale glue 
manufacturers at Boston Massachusetts with which firm he 
remained three years. Growing weary of mercantile 
pursuits he began reporting the lectures delivered at Tremont 
Temple, Boston for publication in book form. 
Leaving the East he came as far west as Chicago and was with 
George M. Pullman at Michigan Avenue and Adams 
Street for six months at the expiration of which time he came 
to Helena. Here he became private secretary of 
General Agent Stokes, of the Northern Pacific Railway. At the 
end of a few months he received the appointment 
of Court Reporter for the First Judicial District of Montana 
under Chief Justice Wade, and when the latter 
retired from office, Mr. Bean resigned his position and went 
into the law office of Carter and Clayberg and 
continued the study of law which he had hitherto begun. He was 
admitted to the bar from their office and at once 
entered upon the practice of his profession. Subsequently he 
formed a law partnership with C.B. Nolan which 
lasted until 1889, when Mr. Bean was elected Clerk of the 
District Court of the First Judicial District being 
elected by a handsome majority. The term of office was for 
three years. In 1892 he was again nominated for the 
same office and was re-elected for a term of four years, by 
a still grater majority. His present term will expire 
in January 1897.

Mr. Bean was married in Boston in 1880 to Miss Ida F. Parsons. 
They have had six children, four of whom, three sons
and a daughter, are living. 

Mr. Bean is a prominent Republican and is as popular with his 
associates here as he was in Boston where his 
fellow employees tendered him a banquet on the eve of his 
departure to visit his home in England.

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