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March 22 — If a famous director wanted to make a movie about one of your female ancestors who would it be? What actress would you cast in the role and why?
If a famous director wanted to make a movie about one of my female ancestors, it would probably be Margaret Smith Perkins Bean. Margaret was born in 1826 to Rev. Samuel Perkins and Elizabeth Tuckwiller in Greenbrier County, [West] Virginia.
She met and married William McHarvey Bean in 1852, in Monroe County.
Her first two children died in infancy.
When the Civil War broke out, families were split asunder, and her husband’s family was no exception. To make matters worse, her husband was a “double-agent”. Appearing to have enlisted in the Confederacy, he was actually spying for the Union forces.
In the middle of the War, Margaret took her three children, Billy, Sam and Betty, and travelled by oxen pulled covered wagon to Ohio, crossing enemy lines. There she lived with the children until after the War when she and her husband and children returned to West Virginia.
She went on to have a total of eight children, six of them reaching adulthood.
In 1890 her husband was murdered. She died one year later; the family insists she succumbed to a broken heart.
Who would play Margaret?
There are so many good actresses to whom I think portray the stamina Margaret must have possessed. The first who comes to mind is Meryl Streep. And if she would turn down the role? None other than Angelica Huston!
1 comment:
Sounds like the makings of a good movie to me!They lived lives that took courage didn't they?I wonder if her husbands wartime service led to his murder?
My family lore says my ggreatgrandfather would not return to Alabama after the war because he feared being hung for joining the Union.Some other family members did and I have always wondered if there was more to his story.
We always want to know more!Thanks for sharing this remarkable woman's story with us.
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