Bibles and Manuscripts

I grew up with an old family Bible. It sat forlornly on a shelf in the game closet of my parents’ basement, along with Parcheesi and Monopoly sets, homemade jigsaw puzzles, and playing cards. I had no interest in the Bible, which was big, heavy, stained, musty -- and published in 1834. When my parents downsized, the Bible found its way to my home in Milwaukee. It was carefully wrapped, placed in a red Sendik's grocery bag, and left on a bedroom shelf, still lonely but at least not relegated to the basement.

Then one day I wanted to join the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). Many years earlier, my father had told me we had a Revolutionary War soldier from New Jersey -- Captain Joseph Beach -- in our family tree, and urged me to join.

The DAR Library is one of the finest
genealogical libraries in the country, and
beautiful as well!

Off I went to the DAR library in Washington, D.C., hunting for Joseph and his progeny. I was focused, looking for links that proved my lineage. Births, deaths, marriages. Through my father I knew that Joseph Beach moved from New Jersey to New York after the war. He had a son Alexander, who had a son Robert, who had a son George (covered in an earlier post), whose daughter Buena Vista was my father's mother. I had no proof, however, and I was on the hunt. I needed that proof. It was all I cared about.

Lo and behold, in the Library I found the proof I needed! Among other treasures in the Library was "The Autobiography of Robert Beach." I filled in a card requesting the item, and waited. A librarian found the manuscript box and placed it on a table before me. I opened the file to find 13 pages of text dictated by Robert Beach during his last illness (1874). According to notes on the document, the dictated sheets had been transcribed by a distant relative and deposited in the Library more than three-quarters of a century ago.

A sample stack
of family research?

Skimming through Robert Beach’s manuscript, I found my links: important births, deaths, and marriages. I made a copy of the manuscript and brought it home, where it sat in a stack which grew with other items that “proved” my line of descent.

As I began to finalize my DAR application, with its long line of births, deaths, and marriages, I returned to the manuscript. I picked up a pen and underlined the proof I needed in red.

I can’t recall exactly what happened then. Did I happen to glance at the Sendik's bag while reading my application in bed? Did my father’s (or Robert’s) spirit whisper to me from the past? Or was the time simply right for me to return to the musty old Bible that had shared a home with me, unread, for much of my life.

Yes, you guessed it. The Bible was Robert’s. His and his wife Rhoda’s. Like the manuscript, it contained pages reciting births and deaths. Although the pages were torn and a bit of a mess, I could still discern the words Robert and Rhoda used to record the most important events in their lives.

 

The Beaches owned a H. & E. Phinney
Cooperstown (NY) Bible (1834) 

I touched the ink that had flowed onto the pages more than 150 years ago. I reread Robert’s manuscript. A door to his world opened. That world was wider than I could have imagined.

 

Armed with the two precious documents, I reviewed census records and local histories. I made a Google Map, and built my own picture of Robert and Rhoda's life. I came to realize that the Beach family had lived through a period of incredible social change, for western New York was a hot bed of activity in the 19th century. 

During Robert's lifetime, the Erie Canal was built. There were revival meetings and utopian social experiments. The temperance, women’s rights, and abolition movements took hold in the region. The Underground Railroad ran through the area, and the Mormon Church was founded there. Clara Barton lived near the Beaches, and there were "water cures" available to those who wanted to improve their health.  Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Horace Greely all gave lectures in the town the Beaches called home. There is no record that the Beaches attended the lectures, but Robert helped create the Rogersville Seminary, a school of higher education in the area, and it seems likely the family took advantage of at least some of the area's cultural activities. In sum, the Beach family lived in a time and place where religious fervor and cultural change swept through so fast and furious it became known as the “Burned-Over District.” A fascinating narrative from John Martin helped me understand the importance of this time and place in American history, as did a book by Whitney Cross.

Robert left his descendants a precious gift when he created the manuscript. Others cared for that gift, and placed it in a very special library, where it would live on.

“I was born June 25^th, 1804, in Milton, Saratoga County, N.Y., where I lived until of age. During my boyhood, my father was very strict with me, more so than I thought was right….”

 



Use this link to read
the entire manuscript

From an early age Robert wanted to strike out on his own. He held various positions – farm hand, ferry man, manager, and trader of goods. He had spells of ague – what we call malarial fever – but he didn’t stray far from home until 1829, when he set out to visit his older brothers in the western part of New York State.

First he visited brother Joseph in Pompey. “Soon after my arrival the roads became so badly drifted that I was obliged to stay with Joseph over two weeks which time however I made pass very pleasantly. Joseph had a pair of very fine horses standing in his barn which I used every morning and evening in driving the young ladies of the vicinity to and from a Seminary which was located there, so that with the sleigh-rides, visits, etc., the whole time passed very pleasantly indeed.”

Robert went next to Weedsport, to visit his brother William and his wife Sally (Remington). There he met Rhoda Douglass, Sally's maternal niece, whom he would later marry. He continued west until he reached South Dansville, New York, walking the last eleven miles on foot. There he found his brothers John and Aaron. He had not seen them in six years, and it was a happy reunion. He was so taken with the place and his brothers that he decided to stay. Money changed hands, and he was now in business with one of his brothers. He went home to break the news to his parents.
 

“Early in March I concluded my visit and started for my Father’s, taking the stage and making no stop until I reached home. After I had left my brothers and began to think over what I had done I was sorry that I had made the purchase.... [My] father and mother had calculated upon my coming home and taking father’s farm, and living with and taking care of them, and I knew they would be very much disappointed. When I arrived at home and told my parents of my purchase they felt so badly at the thought of losing me that I would gladly have sacrificed [the money I had spent], to free myself from my obligations if it had been possible. However, my interests had been cast....

Hartman's Tavern, built c 1845,
the oldest extant structure in Dansville

“The day that I left home I think was the sorriest day of my life. It was made such by the great disappointment of my father and mother at having me leave home instead of remaining to live with them. I engaged to keep my countenance until I got well past the farm, after which my feelings got the better of me and the tears were in my eyes a good part of the day.”

Thus Robert Beach became a tavern owner in what became known as Beachville, a hamlet in Dansville, not far from the Finger Lakes. He saw Rhoda Douglass on occasion, and in February 1832 he returned to Weedsport to ask her if she would be his wife. They married within a week, in William and Sally's home. Rhoda gathered her belongings, and they left for Robert's - and now Rhoda's  - home in Dansville.  

Dansville farm land

And so began Robert and Rhoda's life together. Robert liked the fact that Rhoda was “more than usually devoted to the cause of religion," and he had long before made up his mind that if he ever married he would "much prefer a pious girl." Rhoda was a Methodist Episcopal before they met. After marriage, Robert too "experienced religion," and they joined the Baptist Church, becoming part of the fabric of church life in Steuben County, NY. Robert learned "the evils of intemperance" and gave up the tavern for farm life.

Robert and Rhoda Beach had nine children. The first child, a daughter, lived only seven months: “This early death of our first born filled our home and our hearts with sorrow and grief for a long time.” More children followed, including my great-grandfather George Remington in 1838: “Although his health was very poor during a part of his boyhood, he grew up and is now a strong, healthy man.” In 1841, another baby was lost.

Deaths of three daughters
recorded in the family Bible

And then, the hardest entry to read: “In the year 1857, a very terrible accident occurred in my family causing the death of my daughter, Victoria. My two youngest daughters Victoria and Julia went one evening to their room to retire, taking with them a candle. Instead of going directly to bed, they sat down to read awhile in a Sunday School book and both fell asleep when their clothing was soon set on fire by the candle. Julia’s clothing was nearly destroyed but she herself was but very little injured. Victoria, however, was so terribly burned that she lived only four days, during which time she suffered the greatest agony. In extinguishing the flames, my own hands were so badly burned that I was unable to use them for several months.”

But life did go on, and Robert Beach described events, marriages, accidents, business transactions, and deaths, including his wife's. Rhoda died in 1867, while she and Robert were on a pleasure trip west to visit friends and family. They visited Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri. They then boarded a steamboat in Chicago, heading to Michigan. While crossing Lake Michigan Rhoda fell ill and died.

Robert's own death followed soon after the manuscript was dictated in 1874, and today the headstones of Robert and Rhoda (Douglass) Beach sit side by side in a Dansville cemetery.

I have yet to visit this part of New York, but hope to soon. When I get there, I will trace Robert's journeys, as well as Rhoda's. I'll walk the Old Erie Canal Trail at Weedsport. Visit the Old Brutus Historical Society. Find the intersection where Robert had a tavern in Beachville. I know there is much more to learn about the Beaches of western New York. And, as I said in an earlier post, sometimes you just have to go there.

But for now, I shall simply be grateful to Robert and Rhoda, who made me possible. And to Robert, who left a paper trail, as well as the photo below. And finally, to those who understood the importance of family documents, and guaranteed their survival. This post is for all of you.

I know of no extant photo of Rhoda Douglass Beach, but I
do possess this photo of Robert and his brothers:
standing (l-r): Aaron, Robert, Hiram
sitting (l-r): Sidney, John, William
 

Post script: Is there a Bible or manuscript somewhere waiting for you? The public can search for Bible transcriptions in the DAR Library's collection. You can also search online for Manuscripts in the Library’s online catalog, using DAR tips. You can check with local libraries and historical societies in the area where your ancestors lived.