Nansemond County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Beale, Eliza J. Faucett, 1905 

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ELIZA JANE FAUCETT BEALE 

"Christian Sun" (Elon College, NC), Vol. "LVII" [LVIII], No. "37" [47], 
   Wed., Nov. 22, 1905 (1st ed.) [8 p.; some bleed-through] 

p. 4; file at: 
https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn93062839/1905-11-22/ed-1/seq-4/ 

      Suffolk Letter. 

  Mrs. Eliza Jane Beale, the widow of the lamented Rev. E.W. Beale, a 
Christian minister who died in Suffolk, Va., March 6th, 1881, in his 
forty-eighth year, died at the home of her son-in-law Junius E. West, October 
17th, 1905, being seventy-one years, six months and twenty-nine days of age. 
She was one of thirteen children and was born in Alamance county, N.C.  Her 
parents were Chesley Faucette [sic; Faucett] and Margaret Faucette, (nee 
Shutte).  Their children were Henry, Chesley, Giles, who was a physician, 
John, Robert, Albert P., Adolphus, Leonidas, Eliza J., Anna, Emma, Job, and 
Lelia.  Dr. Giles married Kate Westbrook; Robert married Miss Walton; Albert 
married Ella Westbrook; Adolphus married Miss Jennings, Eliza J. married Rev. 
E.W. Beale; Anna married three times: Joseph Dickey, James Parker and Henry T. 
West; Emma married John M. Moring.  Adolphus, Job, and Leonidas are the only 
members of the family who survive. 

  Rev. and Mrs. Beale had eight children: Lura Faucette, who died in infancy; 
Ella W.; Lena B., who married Wm. G. Farrar, and is the mother of three 
children, Va. D., Garland Hope, and Edwin, and Garland the only one who 
survives; Selma B., who married Robert T. West, and is the mother of two sons, 
Rosser Beale and Alton Thomas, who are students in Elon College; Effie J.; 
Ollie M., who married J.E. West; Virginia Pearl, who married H.J. Veach, and 
was the mother of one child and died; and Edwin Chesley, the only son. 

  Mrs. Beale was proud of her native State, North Carolina, and of her native 
county, Alamance, and of her church, the Christian church.  She remembered 
with great pleasure her native hills and streams in Alamance.  Stony Creek, 
Jordan Creek, and Haw River made music in her memory from childhood down to 
ripe old age; and Stony Creek mountains made a background to many a mental 
sunset and fleecy cloud in her reveries.  She lingered, in thought, among the 
hills, the meadows, and orchards of "dear old Alamance," and drew inspiration 
and comfort from them in many a lonely hour of nearly a quarter of a century 
of widowhood. 

  She was stricken with paralysis the last of May, 1905, and lingered for 
nearly five months before she departed.  Her youngest daughter, Mrs. Pearl 
Veach, died in January, 1904, and her youngest grand-child, Edwin Farrar, in 
the fall of the same year, and after their death she seemed tired of earth and 
anxious to go to meet loved ones in heaven.  Whether this feeling caused, in 
any manner, paralysis, or whether approaching paralysis caused such feelings, 
I do not know; but she often expressed her desire to quit this world and to be 
in heaven with loved ones. 

  In her long and lingering illness she had every attention and comfort that 
human love and convenience could provide.  Her son-in law, J.E. West, did all 
in his power for her comfort.  She occupied a spacious and beautiful room. 
Doctors J.E. Phillips and J.E. Rawls were her physicians and they ministered 
to her faithfully.  Her daughters were by her bedside from the time she was 
taken sick till tbe end came.  They anticipated every want and gratified every 
wish.  Mrs. Lucy W. Ashburn, who used to board with Mrs. Beale at the Beale 
House and who herself is a widow, came and spent months with the family and 
assisted the daughters in their service of love.  So often did she say to her 
pastor, "God bless you, I'm so glad to see you."  The future to her was "a 
morning without clouds," a day without a sunset, a home without mourning, a 
life without a tear. 

  The family history I have given may not be accurate, but it is the best I 
have and it is meant to suggest to others the importance of gathering up 
family records. 

  I give below the remarks which I made at her funeral services, because she 
was the widow of a Christian minister, a beautiful Christian character, and a 
true personal friend. 


     A MOTHER IN ISRAEL. 

  (Funeral of Mrs. E.J. Beale, M.E. Church, 11 a.m, Oct. 19, 1905.  Died 17. 
Judges 5:7 - B.C. 1406.  2 Sam. 20:19 - B.C. 1023.) 

  The Prophetess, Deborah, wife of Lapodith, inspired by the Lord, called 
Barak from the North to take an army against Jubin, King of Caanan, who had 
oppressed the people of Israel for twenty years.  Barak declared that he would 
not go unless Deborah would go with him, and she said she would go.  Sisera 
was Jabin's captain and had 900 iron chariots.  He was slain by Jael, wife of 
Heber, the Kenite, after his army had been carried away by flood in river 
Kishon.  By virtue of her inspiration and service she was called "a mother in 
Israel."  Again: Sheba headed the rebellion in the time of David.  At David's 
command Amasa led an army to quell the rebellion.  Amasa was slain by Joab on 
the way and then Joab and Abishai led the army to Abel-Beth-Moachab where he 
was harbored.  They cast earth works around the city to take it.  "A wise 
woman" called from within and entreated Joab to desist from his purpose, 
because he would "destroy a city," and "a mother in Israel."  "A mother in 
Israel" was, therefore, a woman who was wise, moved by the spirit of the Lord, 
serving her nation and her God - so the disclosure is made that the interests 
of the State and of the church are in the hands of "a mother in Israel."  We 
often speak of a good woman as "a mother in Israel" and we know what "a mother 
in the home" means to the character, refinement, and influence of that home. 
This will indicate the line of remarks on this occasion.  I shall speak of 
Mrs. Beale, the relict of Rev. E.W. Beale, who was a Christian minister and so 
well beloved in Suffolk that this church was opened for his funeral services 
March 8, 1881, over twenty-four years ago, because the Christian church at 
that time was too small for the multitudes that attended the service.  It so 
happens, by our church not being in use, and the kindness of this church, that 
his beloved wife is to be buried from the same house.  I shall speak of her as 
(1) a woman, (2) as a Christian, and (3) a mother in Israel. 

  1.  As a woman she was French by descent.  Her father was Chesley Faucette 
and her mother was Margaret Shutte - both French of descent and so, as Paul 
said he was a "Hebrew of the Hebrews," 


p. 5; file at: 
https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn93062839/1905-11-22/ed-1/seq-5/ 

she was so in French.  She possessed the high artistic instincts of French 
refinement ornamented by the better qualities of child-like faith in Jesus 
Christ.  Her womanly virtues towered above sordid and vain pursuits, and she 
dwelt much in the realm of lofty meditation upon great themes.  Besides being 
well bred she had the best educational advantages in Hillsboro, N.C., the most 
cultivated town in the State and once the capital.  The educational impetus of 
her girlbood days lasted through a long and useful life.  She knew nothing of 
care when a young woman, having a maid to aid her in dressing and all that she 
chose to do; but when her husband died leaving her with seven children, her 
womanhood developed in the stern school of heroic service to care for those 
she loved.  How nobly she performed this task the unwritten family history 
only knows.  She possessed the patriotism of a soldier, the love for beauty of 
an artist, the loyalty to convictions of a martyr, and the spirit of a saint. 
She despised the coarse, the doubtful, and the unrefined. 

  2. As a Christian she was simple in her faith, faithful in her life, strong 
in her hope.  All modern isms that partake of mysticism, and dogmatize along 
some special line of speculation, or set aside the Old book by making higher 
criticism the medium of doubt, were distasteful to her pure but simple faith 
in Jesus Christ.  She would not allow philosophy to obscure Jesus Christ.  If 
there was any one thing that she loved with true affection, as a Christian, 
outside of her Saviour, it was her church.  It vas this double quality of love 
for Jesus and love for her church that made her a model minister's wife.  No 
personal sacrifice was too great for her to make, if it aided her husband in 
doiug his duty as a minister of the Gospel.  Brought up in luxury on an estate 
on Stony Creek in Alamance county, N.C., she fit into the positi in of a 
minister's wife as boat fits in water or as song fits the human ear.  Heavy 
burdens were a pleasure to bear when she thought they honored God and 
strengthened truth.  Widowhood vith its cares and its struggles did not dampen 
her ardor or cool her zeal.  Her heart seemed to have as its goal the 
continuation of the noble ministry of her husband.  Her ambition is met if her 
life ends in that one aim.  She sought to train her children in this good life 
that husband's name might never be stained.  She conducted the Beale House on 
the Square for fourteen years and during that time I sat at her table and felt 
the influence of her Christian example.  She could not tolerate wrong in her 
house, no matter how distinguished her guests.  Her house had a wholesome 
influence over church attendance which, as a pastor, I have greatly missed. 
Guests in her House on Sunday instinctively felt that they ought to attend 
church.  I have known guests to leave the House because they found it "too 
good." 

  3. As a mother she seemed to possess most of the virtues, graces and 
instincts of the sacred relation.  Her family was her empire and motherhood 
was its throne.  She ruled with the sceptre of love, and she endured in the 
spirit of Jesus Christ.  "She opened her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue 
was the law of kindness. * * Her children rise up and call her blessed." 
Those who knew her long know how hard she labored to provide for her 
children's daily wants and how she planned and struggled to give them 
education; but she labored equally as hard to train them in the nurture and 
admonition of the Lord.  It was her daily prayer to build up and maintain a 
Christian home and this was the glory of her achievement.  On the day of her 
70th birthday, when all the family gathered for the last time, as the guests 
of a family reunion, a beautiful incident occurred which she often thought of 
with pleasure.  All the members of the family had brought mama a present, 
except little Edwin Farrar, who was very small.  In the dining room while they 
were all looking at the presents aud speaking of them, Edwin went to his 
grandma and said: "Grandma, I have no present but I can say the Lord's Prayer 
for you," and she said: "God bless you, that is the sweetest of all" and laid 
her hands on his head and while all kept silent he repeated it at her knee. 
Edwin went to glory Nov. 21, 1904, and was there to greet her.  I will not 
open the door into the treasures of that home now except to say that her 
daughters in the last five months of her last sickness responded to all her 
needs with a sympathy aud love and fidelity worthy of such a mother.  Mrs. 
L.W. Ashburn was a co-helper with them in this good service and special 
friends added their willing heart service to her needs to the end.  I have 
placed woman first, and mother last, with Christian between, because. that 
word crowns both and makes her both a Christian woman and a Christian mother - 
truly "a mother in Israel."  In the "Holy of Holies" in Solomon's temple was 
placed the ark of the covenant covered within and without with gold; above the 
lid were two cherubim facing each other with their wings meeting over the 
mercy seat.  Between them the light of the divine presence as a blaze of glory 
and made these two figures beautiful.  So the Christian spirit falls between 
woman and mother and makes both of them beautiful, true and good.  "God bless 
us all." - "A mother in Israel" has fallen, but she has entered into the joy 
of her Lord and the home of her loved ones in heaven. 


Eliza Jane (FAUCETT; Mrs. Edwin Williams) BEALE, 
   retired boarding-house matron, 
b. 18 Mar 1834, Alamance Co., NC, d. 17 Oct 1905, Suffolk, 
interred in Cedar Hill Cemetery (Block F, Lot 106*), Suffolk, 19 Oct 1905 

*Additional information: 

Cedar Hill list, an extension of the Southampton County Historical Society 
   {SCHS} Cemetery Project: 
   http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/cemeteries/cedar_a.txt 

A photo of Mrs. BEALE - added by James Maynard - and one of her gravestone - 
   added by Jenny - are posted with Find a Grave Memorial #14419751. 

Her husband's obits ("Christian Sun," Mar. 11 & 18, 1881) are posted at: 
   http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/obits/b400e26o.txt 

Her father (1792 - 1872) is buried in Union Ridge Church Cemetery, 
   Burlington, Alamance Co., NC. 

Some of her siblings did spell their surname FAUCETTE.  Her brother Albert 
   Augustus Preston FAUCETTE (1844 - 1907) was a Confederate veteran, having 
   served as a private in Co. I, 57th NC Infantry.  He was wounded in the leg 
   at Chancellorsville & in the face at Cedar Mountain, and captured at 
   Hatcher's Run 6 Feb 1865.  He is buried in Maplewood Cemetery, Durham, NC. 


Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by 
File Manager Matt Harris (zoobug64@aol.com). 

file at: 
http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/obits/b400e27o.txt