I have started this story many time with no results. Just can't get all my facts together. I have been fascinated with this subject since I found it on the internet about 1998. "The Hanging of John Yates Beall." First of all, let us find out about the name Beall. It is based on the ancient Celtic god "Bel" who was by some accounts similar in nature and function to the Greek god "Apollo." The best known patriarch, Ninian Beall, came to this country as a slave more or less. He was an indentured servant and as he worked, he accumulated land in the Maryland area. He originally spelled his name "Bell" but he was commanded to change it to the older spelling, Beall, when he was sent to the New World in 1653. This was to politically disassociate the members of the clan who supported the Stuarts from the parts of the clan that remained loyal to the Crown.
Variations on the spelling include Bell, Beal, Belle, Bel, and of course Beall-but these are all related families. In fact there can be various spellings of the name in the same family. Much research has been done to prove that all the Bealls and different spellings are one and the same.
My tale begins with John Yates Beall, a distant relative of mine. He was born at Walnut Grove, Jefferson County, Virginia on January 1, 1834. His parents were George Brooke Beall and Janet Yates. He was studying for the law at the time of his father's death in 1855. So he came home and farmed for the family until the outbreak of the Civil war when he volunteered for the "Botts Greys" and mustered into Company G, 2nd Virginia infantry. After being incapacitated by a wound, he went west and then moved into Canada. While in the latter country, he contrived a plan to liberate the Confederate prisoners at Johnson's Island prison. With this plan in mind, he returned South and solicited the approval of the Confederate authorities. He was commissioned as acting master in the Confederate navy, but was not assigned to command. On his own initiative, he began a series of exciting privateering enterprises along the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay, but he was captured in November, 1863, and confined in irons at Fort McHenry, Baltimore, Maryland. until he was exchanged on May 5, 1864. Unable to secure the approval of the government, he went to Canada without orders to carry out his favorite plan of liberating the prisoners on Johnson's Island. On Sept. 18, 1864, with a small band of picked men, he captured the "Philo Parsons" and "The Island Queen" and would probably have reached Johnson's Island, but for a mutiny in his crew and the miscarriage of other plans. He was forced to abandon his project and was captured in citizens clothing at Niagara, NY on Dec. 16, 1864. He was hurried to New York. General John Adams Dix ordered a military commission for Beall's trial, which began on January 17, 1865. He was represented by James T. Brady. The arrest of Beall had not been published in the newspapers and Confederate authorities were unaware of his status. On February 8, the commission found him guilty on all charges and sentenced him to death.
The story of Beall's arrest and trial then appeared in the newspapers, and efforts were made to save him. Appeals were made by many prominent people, including six Senators and ninety one members of Congress, but President Lincoln refused to intervene and Beall was executed on February 24, 1865.
There is a legend discussed by Lloyd Lewis that Lincoln was approached by John Wilkes Booth who was a friend of Beall's to save his life, and that the President agreed to do so. But Lincoln changed his mind (the legend goes) when he was approached by his friend and Secretary of State, William Henry Seward, who insisted that Beall's activities had been dangerous to the citizen's of New York State (Seward's state). Supposedly a furious Booth determined to kill Lincoln and Seward for this betrayal after Beall was executed.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Saturday, April 14, 2012
PELLAGRA
While I have been working on my family tree, I came across something that puzzled me. A disease called Pellagra. My grandmother on the Beall side died from this in 1924. As I ran across this on some other death certificates, I decided to find out what were the causes. Definition:
"Pellagra is a vitamin deficiency disease most commonly caused by a chronic lack of niacin (vitamin B3) in the diet." I found this disease mostly occurred in women from about 1910 thru 1930. In the early 1900's, pellagra reached epidemic proportions in the American South. There were 1,306 reported pellagra deaths in South Carolina during the first ten months of 1915. At first, the scientific community held that pellagra was probably caused by a germ or some unknown toxin in corn. Primary research was set up to study this disease in prisoners and they determined a certain diet could cause the condition. By 1926, Dr. Goldberger established that a balanced diet or a small amount of brewer's yeast prevented pellagra. It was also determined that women died more often than men due to the fact that men were the breadwinners of the family and were given preference and consideration at the dinner table. They also had pocket money to buy food outside the household. Women often gave protein foods to their children first. The women would eat what was left, and I had a first hand view of this when I first married as my mother-in-law would always cook for her husband and son the choice foods. Even at breakfast, eggs were given to the men first and if any were left, then the children were feed. Women would eat gravy and biscuits with maybe a piece of fatback. And at other meals, meat parts and choice vegetables were given to the men first, and then the children. Often many families lived in one house and ate together, so the men and older boys ate and the children were feed in the kitchen. The women were always left behind.
Pellagra no longer stalks the nation as it once did. But during the early part of the 20th-century, pellagra, a disease that results from niacin deficiency killed many poor Southerners. Dr Joseph Goldberger discovered the cause of pellagra and stepped on a number of medical toes when his research experiments showed that diet and not germs caused the disease. He also stepped on Southern pride when he linked the poverty of Southern sharecroppers, tenant farmers, and mill workers to the deficient diet that caused pellagra.
I wish this research had taken place sooner that that era. Then I could have known my grandmother. My dad had to grow up without his mother. How many other children in the South were in this same situation. My dad always told me that his mom died from pellagra, an iodine deficiency, but this was not the case. Since he was from a family of 7 children, then this mother was often last at the table and would probably eat any leftovers. This is hard to fathom in this day and age but we don't know what took place in that era. It was hard for farmers to make a living unless they had children to work the acres. And after this, the depression of the 30's. We are fortunate to have food today, with access to a store to buy the things we need. We don't have to grow anything except for pleasure. Plus, we have plenty of vitamins and minerals that sold over the counter. Thank goodness for the doctors who took the time to discover and find cures for these diseases.
"Pellagra is a vitamin deficiency disease most commonly caused by a chronic lack of niacin (vitamin B3) in the diet." I found this disease mostly occurred in women from about 1910 thru 1930. In the early 1900's, pellagra reached epidemic proportions in the American South. There were 1,306 reported pellagra deaths in South Carolina during the first ten months of 1915. At first, the scientific community held that pellagra was probably caused by a germ or some unknown toxin in corn. Primary research was set up to study this disease in prisoners and they determined a certain diet could cause the condition. By 1926, Dr. Goldberger established that a balanced diet or a small amount of brewer's yeast prevented pellagra. It was also determined that women died more often than men due to the fact that men were the breadwinners of the family and were given preference and consideration at the dinner table. They also had pocket money to buy food outside the household. Women often gave protein foods to their children first. The women would eat what was left, and I had a first hand view of this when I first married as my mother-in-law would always cook for her husband and son the choice foods. Even at breakfast, eggs were given to the men first and if any were left, then the children were feed. Women would eat gravy and biscuits with maybe a piece of fatback. And at other meals, meat parts and choice vegetables were given to the men first, and then the children. Often many families lived in one house and ate together, so the men and older boys ate and the children were feed in the kitchen. The women were always left behind.
Pellagra no longer stalks the nation as it once did. But during the early part of the 20th-century, pellagra, a disease that results from niacin deficiency killed many poor Southerners. Dr Joseph Goldberger discovered the cause of pellagra and stepped on a number of medical toes when his research experiments showed that diet and not germs caused the disease. He also stepped on Southern pride when he linked the poverty of Southern sharecroppers, tenant farmers, and mill workers to the deficient diet that caused pellagra.
I wish this research had taken place sooner that that era. Then I could have known my grandmother. My dad had to grow up without his mother. How many other children in the South were in this same situation. My dad always told me that his mom died from pellagra, an iodine deficiency, but this was not the case. Since he was from a family of 7 children, then this mother was often last at the table and would probably eat any leftovers. This is hard to fathom in this day and age but we don't know what took place in that era. It was hard for farmers to make a living unless they had children to work the acres. And after this, the depression of the 30's. We are fortunate to have food today, with access to a store to buy the things we need. We don't have to grow anything except for pleasure. Plus, we have plenty of vitamins and minerals that sold over the counter. Thank goodness for the doctors who took the time to discover and find cures for these diseases.
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