BIOGRAPHY: NOTES FROM WALTER BEALL OF WINSTON-SALEM, NC
BIOGRAPHY: "Identification of Josiah Beall d. 1768, son of John and Verlinder
Magruder Beall, has been confused in published material and in some Beall
pedigrees, with Josias Beall who married Millicent Bradley. However,
records of St. John's Piscattaway Parish, Prince George's County, at the
death of Millicent Bradley Beall on April 21, 1772, detail the children of
Josias and Millicent, omitting reference to any names of children known
to be those of Josiah Beall d. 1768. Furthermore, Josias and Millicent
Bradley Beall lived and died in an area that remained in Prince George's
County after the creation of Frederick County in 1748. Josiah Beall d. 1768
is found in Prince George's County until 1748 and in Frederick County
thereafter. Those and other evidences make definite that Josias and
Millicent Bradley Beall were not of this Beall line
In her will of 1745, Verlinder Magruder Beall made a bequest to her
namesake "granddaughter Verlender the granddaughter of my Son Josiah
one negro girl called Pegg . . ." So, Josiah had married prior to 1744 and
had fathered at least one child. The granddaughter Verlender, born before
1745 and who died before 1799, married her first cousin, Thomas Beall,
son of Samuel Beall the brother of Josiah. Thus, there were two marriage
unions between children of the brothers, Josiah and Samuel Beall.
In 1741 John and Verlender Magruder Beall deeded to their son,
Josiah, part of a tract of land called "Easie Purchase" consisting of 300
acres. That tract of land remained in the family of Josiah Beall until
disposed of by his son Thaddeus in 1779. The deed from John described
him as a "Merchant" and Josiah as a "Planter" and was undoubtedly part of
the prevision for Josiah referred to in the will of John Beall. The tract
Easy (Easie) Purchase was in the immediate area of Ashton, Maryland,
a short distance north of the now District of Columbia. Easy Purchase
remained in the family for eleven years following Josiah's death in 1768, to
1779 when Thaddeus was a resident of North Carolina, indicating it as a
"dwelling plantation" of Josiah and his survivors.
A second tract of 107 acres called "Indolence" which lay ". . . on the West side of the Piney Branch of Rock Creek . . . "deeded by Thaddeus
Beall on September 19, 1778, was north of the Zoological Park of Rock
Creek Park in now District of Columbia. Thaddeus administered Josiah's
estate, so Indolence may also have been Josiah's land.
Josiah Beall was a founder of George Town and the owner of four lots there. His son and administrator, Thaddeus, disposed of the lots in 1772, 1773 and 1777.
These readily identifiable lands of the several owned by Josiah locate him in what is now the District of Columbia and nearby to its north.
Josiah Beall d. 1768 held a number of illustrious positions in the
Province of Maryland, revealed by official records in the years 1748 to
1768, the year of his death.
During the year 1748, Josiah Beall was an officer in the Captain
George Beall Troop of Horse, an authorized organization of militia charged
with the responsibility, among other things, for maintenance of law and
protection of inhabitants from Indian thievery and raids. Militiamen were a
select group of property owners, able to supply themselves with necessities
of duty such as firearms and horses.
Commission was issued on December 13, 1748, to Josiah Beall as one of the Coroners of Frederick County. Josiah was reappointed Coroner
September 18, 1751.
Josiah was a Vestryman of Prince George's Parish, Rock Creek, as
revealed by its records for the years 1748, 1749, 1750, 1760, 1761, 1762
and 1763. Prince George's Parish, as distinguished from the County of that
name, embraced the whole of Frederick County at its formation in 1748,
plus a portion of Prince George's County. Parish vestrymen, in addition
to customary spiritual duties, were charged with secular duties in behalf of
the Provincial Government. An example is service as inspectors at tobacco
warehouses where collections of taxes in the medium of tobacco were held
for the Province.
Josiah was appointed to just such a position as Inspector of George Gordon's Rock Creek Warehouse on October 4, 1748. Similarly, on
September 10, 1750, he was appointed Inspector at Rock Creek Inspecting
House, in Prince George's Parish.
The Maryland Assembly appointed Josiah Beall an Associate Justice and Commissioner of Frederick County for the years 1749-1752,
1763-1765, and 1768, a position he filled to the date of his death in
October 1768.
As such Commissioner of Frederick County, he was specially appointed by the Maryland Assembly a Commissioner for Laying Out of George Town, ". . . on Potowmack River, above the Mouth of Rock Creek in
Frederick County," on June 8, 1751.
"By order of his Excellency the Governor," Josiah Beall was appointed High Sheriff of Frederick County for the term 1752-1753. The office of Sheriff was not only one of honor but one of reward and profit, as the
Sheriff, among other duties, was tax collector and received a percentage of
collections for his service.
Josiah's term as Sheriff was cut short by his selection as a Member of the Maryland Assembly. On December 9, 1753 Josiah Beall was
discharged from his duties as Sheriff and his brother, Samuel Beall, was
appointed to succeed him.
Josiah Beall served as a Member of the Lower House of the
Maryland Assembly for Frederick County in the years 1754-1758, and in 1761.
On November 23, 1904, the Frederick Chapter of the Daughters of
the American Revolution erected a Memorial Tablet at the Frederick County
Court House to Josiah Beall, Samuel Beall and others. It reads:
BIOGRAPHY: IN MEMORY OF
BIOGRAPHY: THE TWELVE IMMORTAL JUSTICES
BIOGRAPHY: OF THE FREDERICK COUNTY COURT
BIOGRAPHY: WHO REPUDIATED THE STAMP ACT
BIOGRAPHY: NOVEMBER 23RD, 1765
BIOGRAPHY: Thomas Beatty Samuel Beall
BIOGRAPHY: Charles Jones Peter Bainbridge
BIOGRAPHY: William Luckett Andrew Heugh
BIOGRAPHY: Thomas Price William Blair
BIOGRAPHY: Joseph Smith Josiah Beall
BIOGRAPHY: David Lynn James Dickson
BIOGRAPHY: Erected by the Frederick Chapter of the
BIOGRAPHY: Daughters of the American Revolution
BIOGRAPHY: November 23, 1904
BIOGRAPHY: The 1765 decree of the Maryland Justices of Frederick County,
repudiating Britain's right to collect the Stamp Tax on documents, was the
only instance of a judicial annulment of an Act of Parliament by an English
or Colonial Court from the advent of Parliament 700 years before; perhaps,
in history to date.
Chief Judge James McSherry, in his 1904 memorial unveiling address, revealed:
"The annals of England from the reign of William the Conqueror, in the eleventh century to the days of the present monarch, Edward VII, will be searched in vain for an instance of a judicial annulment of an Act of
Parliament.... where the language has been plain and unambiguous, no matter how unjust or arbitrary the measure might be, no English
court has ever repudiated, that is, annulled, an Act of Parliament. Of
course the same limitation upon judicial authority applied in the
Colonies." (Ref: Hist. Frederick Co., Md. Williams & McKinsey, 1967, Vol. I, p. 80.)
Certain laws of the British Parliament in the period 1760 to 1764 of
limited application, had antagonized one particular Colonial group or
another, provoking isolated oratory, and press or civil protest. The 1765
general meeting assembled in New York City, known as the Stamp Act
Congress, protesting "taxation without representation was just that, a
protest, not extrajudicial.
The courage of the twelve Frederick County Justices, appointees of the Provincial government by authority of the British Parliament,in annulling the Stamp Act of their superiors, was the spark igniting official rebellious
episodes to follow, culminating in the 1776 Declaration of Independence.
Samuel Beall, Josiah Beall and Justice colleagues did not vainly
jeopardize their freedom. They merited memorialization by the Daughters of
the American Revolution as "Immortal" and the popular designation
"Twelve Apostles of Liberty."
On August 1, 1768, when Josiah, age 53 years, was reappointed
justice of Frederick County, he evidently enjoyed an active life without
foreboding of death, for he had drawn no will. Within two months Josiah
Beall was dead.
"Josiah Beall his administration Bond in common form by Thadeus
Beall his Administrator with Walter Beall and Richard Bell [sons and] his
Sureties in the sum 1,000 L Sterling, Dated 6th October, 1768," was
recorded 13 December, 1768 in Frederick County.
An inventory and appraisal of the "Goods and Chattles" of Josiah Beall was made December 1, 1768, and recorded September 19, 1769. The
inventory excludes real estate, and details hundreds of items of personal
property with a list of seven slaves, including Pegg as in the will of
Verlender Beall d. 1745, and Moll as in the estate of Sarah Magruder
d. 1734. The inventory names "Eramus Gill and John Beall - Creditors,"
and "Clement Beall and Walter Beall-- Nearest of Kindred."
A detailed accounting of amounts owed by the estate of Josiah Beall, was filed by Thaddeus Beall November 21, 1770. It bears the notation that the residue of the estate is "To be divided among 7 children." None of the estate documents give any clue to the identity of Josiah's wife with the
possible exception of the monogram "IMB," appearing on ''1/2 dozen old
teaspoons. "Engraving authorities identify the "I" as an early day "J".
The children of Josiah, order of birth not known, have been identified as follows: (1) Thaddeus, the "oldest son"; (2) Verlinda b. before 1745 and d. before 1799 who married her first cousin, Thomas Beall, son of Samuel Beall; (3) Josiah the "son of Josiah," who d. 1805 in Allegany County, Maryland; (4) Lucy who d. 1799 in Allegany County, Maryland; (5) Walter, identified as a son in the administrator's bond of Thaddeus: and
(6) Richard, identified as a son in the administrator's bond of Thaddeus.
The seventh child could be Clement, identified as "Nearest of Kindred" with
Walter who is positively identified as a son, or "Creditor" John Beall, but
Josiah d. 1768 also had brothers named Clement and John.
BIOGRAPHY: Above notes from "Alexander Beall - 1649-1744" by William Hunter McLean
published 1977.
BIOGRAPHY: His spouse has not been identified.
