Sampson County, NC – Beaman’s Crossroads ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BEAMAN’S CROSSROADS By Jerome Tew The following for the most part is a 1884 memorandum by Stephen G. Worth and an interview with John R. Beaman and his wife Elizabeth. This document was passed on to me by Frances Johnson of Faison. Some known names and dates have been added. "My grandfather, I am satisfied, came from Virginia. He married Rebecca Colston (b 1762), lived in Green County and then moved to Sampson. His name was Ozias Beaman (1754-1803). Ozias had a cousin named +David Beaman, who died young (1805), leaving one son named Arthur Beaman. Arthur, who was the only relative of Ozias known to me, lived in Sampson and left one child only, a daughter, (Eunice) who married a man by the name of (James D.) Malloy." "My father’s name was John Beaman. He died young (Sept. 30, 1820), with some kind of fever, which took a number of persons in that locality at that time, the same having been treated by old Dr. Mckoy with Calomel and Jalap remedies. I was only six at the time of my father’s death (I am now seventy). His wife, my mother, by the maiden name of Colen Carraway, who two or three years after my fathers death, married Hardy Royal. At the time of my father’s death, he gave me, a child, to Uncle Carraway. I am almost sure that my father died of Typhoid Fever. He was merchandising and farming during that time. He owned four Negroes. Among others who died with the same type fever, was his clerk, (Kenneth) McIntosh (9-24-1820)." "My father’s home was at Beaman’s Crossroads. His grave and that of my grandfather are under a covered-place or house. My mother’s remains are just outside under a vault which has since fallen in. My grandmother’s remains are also there. I have sold the home place land, but reserved an acre or perhaps only ½ acre, and a right of way. This burying ground in on the plantation where my grandfather (Ozias) lived and died, about one mile toward Goldsboro from Beaman’s Crossroads. I put a headstone at my mother’s grave and I think I did the same with my father’s grave." "The mother of my mother (Colen Carraway 1779-1832) was *Mariah Rhodes, my mother’s father was Bedreaden Carraway Sr.(1742-1821) A brother of my mother, Bedreaden Carraway Jr.(1782-1844) is the one to whom my father gave me and who I call Uncle Carraway; he married Jan. 4, 1807 my grandmother Rebecca, widow of Ozias Beaman as his first wife. Rebecca, my grandmother died when I was 16 years old. She was an uneducated woman, but was noted for her mind, having great intellectual powers. She had a bother, Matthew Colston, who moved to Georgia, she use to visit him there." "Besides my father, Ozias Beaman left one other child, a daughter named Martha Beaman who married George Draughon, and one of the sons of this marriage was William, the father of W. B. (Buck) Draughon of Fayetteville." "The offspring of my father, John Beaman and his wife Colen were four children, to wit: Mary Jane (1808-1868), who married Isaac Ward Lane on 8-17-1826; John Robert (1813-1892) (my self) married Elizabeth Robinson; William T. (1815-c1885), married 1842 Rhoda A. Barbrey and 2nd Mariam Clifton and he was the father of John A. Beaman, now living at Beaman’s Crossroads; and Mariah Rhodes (1819-1885), who married John Loftin Boykin of this county. My mother left no children by her marriage to Hardy Royal. She died Oct. 21, 1832." The following account was giving by Elizabeth Robinson Beaman: "My father, John Robinson, lived in Clinton, in the hotel. He was born near Lisbon, this county, and died between the years of 1851 and 1853. My mother’s name was Charlotte Matthis, who was born and raised in Sampson. My grandfather, Capt. Wm. Robinson, was raised near Lisbon, and his wife’s name was Charlotte Treadwell; he died near Lisbon, I remember the time. He was the son of one on three brothers who came from Ireland, each of whom was said to have denied relationship to the others. My father was born in 1792 and married my mother in 1813. My mother was born in 1796 and died in 1847. The father of my mother was Thomas Matthis, one of a family of twenty-two sons and daughters. The wife of my grandfather, Thomas Matthis, was Nancy Robinson, unrelated to the Robinsons on the other side of the family." Beaman’s Crossroads got it’s name from John Beaman (1775-1820), the son of Ozias Beaman. In the 1817 Sampson County Court minutes is the first reference to the crossroads at John Beaman's. It was a prized public stop on the Goldsboro to Fayetteville road and many travelers from Virginia moving south would pass this way. The road was originaly an old Indian Trail and has existed on early maps for nearly 200 years. (1817) Ordered that Bedreaden Carraway and John Beaman have leave to sell spirituous liquors in this county on their own lands at the cross roads. (1820) Ordered that John Beaman have leave to retail spirituous liquors at his place of residence (the Crossroads) for the next 12 months. (1824) Ordered Raiford Wiggs be overseer of the public road beginning at the cross roads on the land formerly where lived John Beaman, now dec'd, LIQUOR LICENSE: Ordered Hardy Royal have leave to retail spiritous liquors at the Cross Roads Store where John Beaman dwells. (1825) Ozias Beaman moved from Wayne to Sampson County in 1792. The father of Ozias Beaman was Francis Beaman. He was a Quaker and also, although given credit, was a not in the Revolutionary War. Both were likely born in Nansemond County Virginia. Francis was born about 1726 and died about 1795 in Wayne or Sampson County. Francis was falsely credited with being a soldier. His wife was named Mary. Their children were: James c1750, Francis Jr. c1752, Ozias c1754, Martha c1756, and Keziah Beaman c1758. David Beaman c1760? The actual location of Beaman’s Crossroads is now some what confused on state maps but is still listed on county maps and is located just east of the old Herring High School and seven miles north of Clinton on 421. It was also located on the maps of General Sherman as his army passed that place on March 16, 1865. For many years there was a county store there that had been established by John Beaman. It was a voting place, gossip place, and community center. One hundred years ago it was also the place that Art Sauls ended the life of John Herring. It is today the junction of Rabbit Street and Hwy 421. The death of the above John R. Beaman was carried in the Morning (Wilmington) Star. "He died about 4:00 AM Wednesday morning January 27, 1892. He was 79 years old. At the time of his death, he was treasurer of the county and had held nearly every office of trust in the county." He was Clerk of Court for many years. "He will be missed greatly by the poor people—not only in his own neighborhood, but of the whole county. He was always foremost and a leader in every enterprise for the good of his county and for the welfare of the people." John R. Beaman was laid to rest on January 28, 1892 in Clinton. Some of the family gravestones near Beaman’s Crossroads were later moved to the Clinton. The original family cemetery for the Beaman family was destroyed about 40 years ago. However, the 153 year old grave stone for the above Uncle Carraway still stands and is located in the woods off Church Road and not far from the Vann Road junction, and about one and one-half miles north of Beaman’s Crossroads. The above Rebecca Coston Beaman died Sept. 3, 1829, then Bedreaden Carraway Jr. married 27 June, 1830 Susannah Duprey Tyson and had one child, Susan, who was born Nov. 15, 1831, married 1851 Howell H. Cobb and died March 6, 1860. Apparently no issue. A fifth child of John R. Beaman is identified in the 1844 will of Bedreaden Carraway Jr. He was Bedreaden Carraway Beaman. He apparently died young. *According the Carraway family Bible, a wife of Bedreaden Carraway was Lucrecy___ who was born Dec. 11, 1740 and died April 30, 1804. Mariah Rhodes was his first wife, she died about 1790. Around 1806 he married Sarah ___ and moved to Cumberland Co. and died there. Bedreaden Sr. also had Elizabeth (1764), Archibald (1766), William (1770), John Carraway (1777), and Bedreaden Jr. on Feb. 28, 1782. +David Beaman married 1788 Phobe Smith in Wayne Co. and was most likely a brother to Ozias and not his cousin. In the 1805 will of David Beaman, he list sons Arthur, John, and Cullen. Bedreaden Sr. was born Oct. 24, 1742. He moved about 1810 to Cumberland Co. and died there on March 4, 1821. The above Eunice Beaman actually had two brothers, Stephen T. Beaman, who died in the Civil War and John Allen Beaman, who died in 1925. The above David Beaman, married Phoebe Smith about 1786, and Arthur was born in 1800 in Wayne Co. Stephen T. Beaman was 23 in 1860 and joined the CSA in August of 1862 and died of a disease on June 14, 1863 in a hospital at Lynchburg, Virginia. In 1870, the above James D. Malloy had a six year old Ursula Beaman living with him in Dismal Twp. The parents of whom is unknown to me. The most likely, but not proven, story is that she was a war orphan of the above Stephen T. Beaman. If true, Ursula Beaman would be a niece of James and Eunice Malloy. I, Jerome Tew descend from the above Martha Beaman, she married George Draughon. A grandson of this couple was John Robert Draughon, he married Lucy Jane Bell and they lived near Piney Green. ___________________________________________________________________ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Jerome Tew ___________________________________________________________________