Aphia (Bean) Baker (1800 - 1848)

Born 5 Feb 1800 in Alfred, York, ME

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 20 Jan 1848 at age 47 in Shapleigh, York, ME

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Biography

Aphia Bean and Moses Fogg were fifth cousins once removed, both descended from Roger Shaw. They married the first cousins Ahira Baker (son of Alexander Douglass Baker) and Christiana Baker (daughter of Moses Baker).

Apphia or Aphia is a Biblical name from the New Testament Book of Philemon; letters St. Paul: "Philemon 1 1 Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer, 2 And to our beloved APPHIA, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house: 3 Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

BEAN, originally pronounced BAYNE, origin: Scotch MacBean. Aphia, as her name is spelled on her marriage certificate and gravestone, is a direct descendant of John Bean of Exeter (James, Richard, Rev. James, Jeremiah, John), and maternally also a descendant of William Russell, Clement Moody. John Scribner, Thomas French, Robert Long, Richard Kimball, Philip Towle and others. Her parents were James Bean of Waterboro and Alfred, ME (Richard, James, Jeremiah, John of Exeter), born in 1771 and Mary Russell b. 1777 in Waterboro, whose parents were Joseph Russell, Jr. and Aphia Moody, b 1757. Her grandmother, Aphia Moody, for whom Aphia Bean was presumably named, was the daughter of Samuel and Hannah Severance, Moody. Aphia Bean Baker died in Alfred, ME May 12 1847.

APHIA not APHRA! The Ms. Bean who resided in Alfred, ME when she married Ahira Baker in Shapleigh, ME, in 1825 was APHIA Bean. Many records including their marriage in the Town Books of Shapleigh, her father's probate proceedings and her gravestone are clear on her given name, which was spelled both Aphia and Apphia, and was the also the name of her maternal grandmother Aphia Moody (Samuel, Josiah, Clement, Caleb, William), the wife of Joseph Russell of Massabesick (Joseph, William). Her parents were James and Mary Russell Bean of Waterboro and Alfred, ME.

Her mistaken appellation as Aphra Bean seems to have started with an error in the widely known Otis Genealogy written by Horatio N. Otis, 1861 and was perpetuated in subsequent genealogies which drew from this work, including the Wentworth Genealogy and the Genealogy of Edward Baker of Lynn, MA by Nelson Baker, 1867, all of which relate to Aphia's husband, Ahira Baker.

In "Early Families of Shapleigh and Acton, Maine" by Frederick R. Boyle. published in 2002 by Peter E. Randall, Portsmouth, NH Page 23. "AHIRA BAKER married (1) Shapleigh 13 Nov 1825 (VR) APPHIA BEAN of Alfred, b. ca 1800, daughter of JAMES and MARY ( ) BEAN, d. Shapleigh 20 Jan 1848, aged 48 (VR)" Boyle goes on to say that " Guardianship of his children, heirs of the late James Bean of Alfred, was given to Ahira Baker, 16 March 1848. Following this he, as guardian, and his older children sold their rights in the estate of James Bean to Cyrus Russell, 12 March 1849. The family homestead was on the road from Ross Corner to Shapleigh Corner and was sold by Rhoda Baker to Alvah Garvis and William Hutchins 3 January 1854. Rhoda also sold land to Abby Baker, the same day (YD 397:427. Adeline Batchelder, and Mary Baker were named as nieces of Mary Bean of Alfred, ME in her 1848 will." (This Mary must have been Apphia's sister, not her mother, since she is aunt to Apphia's children,) (In later communication Boyle says it was Lydia Bean, not Mary whose 1848 will named her nieces). Boyle goes on to name their children with female's married names included.

Beans listed on the 1790 census in York Co., ME (only heads of households are listed until 1850, so women listed are single, often widows) are Lewis, in York, Mary, in York, Mary (again) in York, Daniel in Sanford, Elizabeth in Buxton, James in York, Jeremiah in Sanford, John in Sanford, Joshua in Sanford and Mary in Sanford. On the 1798 tax list, James Bean, Widow Mary Bean and John Bean are listed one after the other in Alfred, Maine. He has 50 acres worth $258, John ? son of John, (presumably James' cousin) is directly below and owns much more: 164 acres worth $1004. A Widow Mary Bean is on the line below him and has 70 acres worth $420. Between the three properties there is only one house and it is on John's land and worth $20. It is not clear who this Widow Mary is...Richard Bean didn't die until 1806 and John's mother was Elizabeth. At that time there were many (Widow) Mary Beans in York Co..

By the 1850 census there are Beans living in Alfred, York Co., ME as follows: Mary Bean, 70, (Aphia's mother) living next door to her son, Jonathan Bean, 48, farmer, Susan, 45, Caroline, 16, Asenath C., 20 (female). Betsey, 17, Horace, 12 (a name which found its way to the last of Ahira and Aphia's sons; their firstborn son being John A.) Richard, 3. Another cluster of Alfred, ME Bean and Roberts families lived not far from the others: (Aphia's brother) Ivory Bean, 46 (Ivory was a male given name seen over and over again in this era) with wife, Betsey M., 40, Joseph D., 15, Ellen F. 6, Ivory P., 1 and Dolly Nowell, 74, mother-in-law. A few doors away are James Bean, 32, Hannah F., 33, Lorenzo, 11, Charles E., 6 with Erastus Abbott, 13, living with them. Abbott is a common name where there are Beans, Bakers and Roberts and Erastus was son of Andrew Abbott who married Aphia's sister, Lovey (Andrew was first married to Aphia's sister, Dolly, who died with the birth of her first child, Laura Jane). The Roberts family also originally came from nearby NH and had several Baker marriages).

Bean is sometimes spelled Bane, Baine, Beane and there are other variations, from the Scotch Mac Bean, the "Mac" having been dropped by the early New England immigrants The name Bean comes from the Scotch clan Veaan, b and v being interchangeable in Gaelic It signifies "mountain", however the Highlanders also used the term to mean "fair" or "white" and could have been a descriptive appellation of the clan progenitor. The clan Vean or Mac Bean was one of tribes of the Clan Chattan which occupied the Lochaber (Locherbee) Territory around 1300. Several early colonial family ancestors are identified: Lewis in York, Maine, 1668, Michael in Kittery, York, Maine, 1653, John, born in Scotland, settled at Exeter, NH, 1650-60 and Philip at Salem, MA, 1637.

Sources

• ME Marriage Records

Early Families of Alfred, ME, Fred R. Boyle Gravestone, Baker Cemetery, Shapleigh, ME