THE YARMOUTH BEAL FAMILY

Abel Beals was not the only, or the first, person to bring that name to Nova Scotia.  According to "Eaton's History of Kings County" (p. 305), a Baptist church was established in Horton (Wolfville) in 1778 and one of the founding members was Silas Beals.  A connection to Abel's family has not been made.

One of the first six settlers of Yarmouth was Josiah Beal who arrived in 1761.  He came from Plymouth, Mass and was probably distantly related to Abel.  He and his son Josiah and James were among the grantees of the township.  Josiah is referred to briefly in the diary of Jonathan Scott, Pastor of the Congregational Church: "1774 June 27 - I went early this morning and brought up Mr. Josiah Beale to help Mrs. Scott, but all his endeavours to set her jaw were in vain".  This indicates he may have had some medical knowledge or at least a reputation as a medical practitioner.

We have no knowledge of Josiah's immediate family but the details for his son Josiah follows:

    Josiah (Jr) m. (1) ----  (2)25 Dec 1768, Dorothy, dau of
         Joshua Burgess.  She died in 1792.  They had issue:  
         (1)Esther, b.17 June 1766.
A        (2)Othniel, b.4 Nov 1767, m.26 Feb 1798, Mary, dau
              of Thomas Trask.
         (3)Joanna, b.15 Nov 1769, m.6 Mar 1788, Josiah, son
              of Ebenezer Haley.
         (4)Thomasine, b.27 Mar 1772.
         (5)Mary, b.25 Nov 1775.
         (6)Josiah, b.2 Oct 1778.
         (7)Olive, b.4 Mar 1782, d.25 Nov 1862, m. Mar 1805,
              Manasseh, son of Ephraim and Louise Cook.
   
         
A   Othniel and Mary had issue:
         (1)Othniel, b.11 Nov 1799, m. Mary, dau of Joseph  
              Whitehouse of Ohio.
         (2)Mary b.15 Mar 1800, d.30 June 1884, m. Capt.
              John Jacques.
         (3)Olive, b.7 July 1802.
         (4)Joanna, b.10 Sept 1804, m.4 Feb 1841, John, son 
              of Francis Bridgeo.
B        (5)Josiah, b.9 Sept 1806, m. (1) Sarah, dau of
              Capt. Philip Hemeon, (2)13 Oct 1868, Mrs Lois
              Perry, widow of William.
C        (6)David, m. Sarah, dau of Capt. Samuel Ellis.
         (7)Mary Elizabeth, m. Simeon, son of Capt. Samuel
              Ellis. 
         
         
B   Josiah had issue by his first wife:
         (1)Josiah, b. 1842, d.19 Nov 1848.  Killed by
              rolling logs.
         (2)Joanna, b. 1843, died young.
         (3)Enos, b. 1844, d.13 June 1867.  Lost with
              schooner Dezette on Gannet Rock Ledge.
         (4)Thomas, b. 1845, d.13 June 1867 with his brother
              Enos.
         (5)Mary, b. 1847, m. James Jones of Boston.
         (6)Sarah, b. 1849, d. Apr 1888, m.13 Feb 1877, 
              William H. Nickerson.
         (7)Lois, b.1851, d. Oct 1897, unmarried.
         (8)Annie, lived in U.S.A.
         (9)Deborah, lived in U.S.A.
         
         By his second wife:
         (10)Magietha, b.20 Jan 1872, d.20 Feb 1873.
         
         
C   David and Sarah had issue:
         (1)Samuel E., b. 1841, d.2 Oct 1864.  Lost at sea.
         (2)Martha Ann, b. 1854, d.14 July 1867.

As we can see most of the male members of these families died accidental deaths early in their lives and therefore left no descendants.  Descendants of Olive (Beal) Cook, daughter of Josiah (Jr), still lived in the Yarmouth area as late as 1979.  Four or five brothers, great grandsons of Olive Beal, owned and operated Cook's Dairy, the second largest milk distributer in Yarmouth County.