Amanuensis Monday - John Jackson Bean and the 1850 Slave Census

The 1850 Slave Census for Putnam County, [W]Virginia is shown above, and the entry for John J. BEAN is found in the second [right hand] column and begins on line 3.

Let's first look at the heading however, as this verifies the time and place of this record:

SCHEDULE 2 - Slave Inhabitants in 46th District in the County of Putnam State

of Virginia, enumerated by me, on the 16th day of July, 1850, Jho R Hope Ass't Marshall.

Following line 3 of column two we find John J. BEAN and th list of his slaves at that time:

1 80 F B  [translated as "one 80 year old female black slave"]

1 35 M B

1 35 F B

1 16 M B

1 14 M B

1 12 M B

1 10 M B

1  8 F B

1  6 M B

1  4 M B

 1  2 M B

1 2/12 F B

Therein are 12 slaves listed for John J. BEAN's household. It is entirely possible, looking at this, that we might be looking at a grandmother, father , mother, and their children, although this is merely postulating and is not a proven point.

John Jackson BEAN was the sixth born of 11 children to William M. BEAN and Rachel WISEMAN BEAN. Born 24 Mar 1821 in Monroe County, [W]VA, he married [1] Mary A. SUMMERS [1826-1865] and the couple had 3 children. It is also believed he had an illegitmate son, James Henry BEANE, and the mother is unknown.

John J. died 26 Jun 1890 in Sissonville, Kanawha County, West Virginia. He is buried at the Humphreys Memorial Church Cemetery in Sissonville.