Amaneunsis Monday - Archibald Beane to Amanda Shires

Know all men by these presents, That we

Archibald Bean and George Shires

_________________are held and firmly bound unto

______________________the Commonwealth of Virginia,

in the sum of One Hundred and Fifty Dollars, to which payment well and

truly to be made, we bind ourselves, our heirs, &c. jointly and severally firmly

by these presents. Sealed with our seals, and dated this 1st day of

January 1849.

      The conditions of the above obligations is such, That whereas the above

bound Archibald Bean ______ hath this day obtained

from the Clerk of the County Court of Monroe, a Licence

for his marriage with Amanda Shires ______daughter

of John Shires ______ of said county. If therefore

there be no lawful cause to obstruct said marriage, then the above obligation

to be void.

                     TESTE

Geo.W.Hutchinson DC                          Archibal M Been (sic) [SEAL]

                                                         

                                                               George W. Shiers (sic) [SEAL]

*****

The signatures for both Archibald Bean and George Shires appear to have been written by the same individual. And since both names have been mis-spelled, I feel it is safe to assume that neither of the two men wrote the signatures. [I have examples elewhere of the pairs signatures, and it is plain that both men knew how to spell and write their own names. Both were lieterate and intellectual. So, it remains unknown as to why neither applied their own signatures. Another mystery in this journey of uncovering our family history!

Treasure Chest Thursday...Two Photos

The following two photographs are of my great-grandfather's brother, Archibald Marmaduke Beane.

Born 06 Oct., 1826 he died 31 Aug. 1899.

I received these portraits this week from a distant cousin who is descended through Archibald's BEANE line. I was thrilled to have these!

Take a look:

This photo shows us a 40-year old Archibald. Archibald was the 9th born child of William and Rachel [Wiseman] Bean of Monroe County.

I love the detail in this portrait.
First, he is posed in a relaxed manner, one arm resting on the side table, the other hand upon his thigh. His legs are crossed comfortably. Other details to note:
He has a moustache and a small chin goatee. In later years he wore a full beard. He has a rather unique hair style! His hair appears to be parted on both sides, with the center combed back, and then a small, short bangs present upon the forehead.

It is hard to tell in the portrait, but he may be wearing two shirts beneath the vest. Over the outermost shirt, he is wearing a lapelled vest of striped material. A watch chain is clearly visible, and appears to have a watch placed in the fob pocket. His outer coat appears to be a rougher, coarse material. Perhaps a linsey woolsey [this was most recent after the Civil War]. His trousers are tucked firmly into his knee high boots, which while very clean, do not appear to be highly polished.

He is seated upon either a chair or a wide stool with spindled legs.

The coverlet on the side table is printed with Victorian flowers.

This appears to be a studio portrait, but that is merely deduction and conjecture and is uncertain. And may be the earliest known photograph of Archibald.

A marvellous portrait!

 Here is another photo of Archibald taken in his later years. He would have been in his late 60's to early 70's in this photo.

Note the beard here, which was indicative of all photos of Archibald in his latter years. He has a low collar shirt on, which appears to have print design. He is wearing a vest over his shirt, which is striped. This looks to possibly be made of wool. You can clearly see the button detail. He is wearing a suit jacket with wide lapels. His hands are indicative of an older gentleman. Note the prominence of large, gnarly veins. He is slightly squinting, which may be due to lighting in the studio, or preparing for the flash of the camera.

A wonderful portrait!

Many thanks to our newly found cousin for sharing these!