Biographical Sketch of Henry BEAN (1893); Chester County, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by John Morris . *********************************************************************** USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: Printing this file within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** Source: "Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Chester County, Pennsyl- vania, comprising a historical sketch of the county," by Samuel T. Wiley and edited by Winfield Scott Garner, Gresham Publishing Company, Phila- delphia, PA, 1893, pp. 346-51. "HENRY BEAN, deceased, who served for a number of years as justice of the peace in Schuylkill township, was a man of rare business ability, and one who left his mark on the industrial development of his section. He was the fourth child and eldest son of Nicholas and Mary Ann (Vanderslice) Bean, and was born August 4, 1833, at Pawling, Schuylkill township, Chester county, Pennsylvania. There he grew to manhood, receiving a superior English education at the Trappe school and in the boarding school at Norristown. Soon after leaving school he became associated with his father in the lumber and coal trade at Pawling, and was, more or less, interested in that business all his life, owning and operating a large saw mill for many years. About 1860 he embarked with his brother, Capt. B. F. Bean, under the firm name of H. & B. F. Bean, in the sand crushing busi- ness at Pawling, where he continued that business until 1881, in connec- tion with his brother, Capt. Benjamin F. Bean. In 1881 the co-partnership of H. & B. F. Bean was dissolved, Henry Bean moving to Valley Forge, where, under the firm-title of the Bean Fire Sand Company, he started a similar enterprise. His business proved successful, the demand for his product constantly increasing. The business was conducted under the above name until 1888, when a joint stock company was organized under the style of Bean Fire Sand Company, limited, to run five years. "Henry Bean was a man of great energy of character, and had a wonderful capacity for managing the details of business. He seemed capable of creating success in every enterprise he touched, and was apparently at the zenith of a successful career when called away by death, September 5, 1890, at the age of fifty-seven years. His remains lie entombed in the Morris cemetery at Phoenixville. In politics Mr. Bean was an ardent and enthusiastic republican, and was honored by his fellow citizens of Schuyl- kill township with election to the office of justice of the peace, in which he served with distinction for three full terms, and was holding the position at the time of his death. "Henry Bean was twice married. His first wife was Andora Umsted, by whom he had one son, Alfred Umsted, who married Sarah Reed, and now resides in the city of Pittsburgh, where he is engaged in the real estate business. Some years after the death of his first wife, on December 27, 1860, Mr. Bean was united in marriage to Mary Jane Tyson, a daughter of Robert and Jane M. Tyson, members of the Society of Friends, of Lower Providence township, Montgomery county, this State. To them was born a family of seven children, all of whom died in infancy except the third son, Nicholas, who married May R. Rowan, and resided in Schuylkill township, where he was engaged in the sand business with his father until his death, September 8, 1890, at the age of twenty-seven years. His widow is now living at Phila- delphia. The other six children of Henry and Mary Jane Bean were Franklin, Jesse, Robert, John, Mary Jane, and Andora. For ancestral history of Henry Bean, see the sketch of Capt. Benjamin Franklin Bean, which appears elsewhere in this volume. "After the death of her husband, in 1890, Mrs. Mary J. Bean took his place in the management of the stone crushing business at Valley Forge, and has proved herself a shining example of that latent business ability possessed by a large class of American women, who only need some sudden emergency to call into action a power and force of character that might else have never been suspected. She is of German and Welsh descent, and was reared and educated in Montgomery county, where her family is among the oldest and most respected, and has furnished the Commonwealth with a number of active, useful and influential citizens."