Born: ca. 1695 Essex Co., VA
Died: ca. 1759, St. Anne's Parish, Essex Co., VA
Buried: Unknown
Married: Mary (--?--) ca. 1728
Records:
1704 - St. Anne's Parish Parish was created. It served Essex County until after 1785 and both Essex and Carolina County when it was formed in 1728 until after 1785.
1717 - Essex Co. VA - John was defendant in a court case against Paul Macou which was dismissed.
1733 - Caroline Co., VA - a John Beasley served as road supervisor.
1745, Nov. 27 - Account Book of William Beverley, 1745:
Page 10 – John Beasely – 11/27/1745: to TYR 574; 2/15/1754: to my note on Mr. Mills for £3.11.7 at 14/percent 507; total 1081. Contra: 2/15/1745 by 1 hhd tob. IB 4 1051; cask 30; total 1081
Tobacco received of Jno. Beasley from Jno. Beasley's plantation came into Roys warehouse with the mark IB, hogshead number 4, 1051 quantity, was shipped by William Beverley on the Mercury to Bristol.
This account book contains the names of 108 tenants, with one instance of two tenants being shown for the same leasehold. Pages 1-15 include tenants of
Beverley Chase, Caroline County and pages 15-19 including Dual Kidd Beverley Park, King & Queen County. The next four or five tenants were likely from Essex County. The remaining tenants would seem to be from the Elkwood, Stockwell and Ursulana tracts in that part of Orange County that in 1748 would become Culpeper County.
As seen in the 1752 account book (where acreage was more frequently stated), the most common size of leasehold was approximately 100 acres, although some were substantially larger. Evidently, different amounts of rent were charged depending upon the tract in which the leasehold was located. The rent charged for the most typical leasehold was 574 lbs. of tobacco in the Chase, 430 in the Park, 474 in Elkwood and Ursulana, and 365 in Stockwell. Beverley apparently charged a much reduced rate, i.e., usually 44 or 88 lbs of tobacco, during the first three years of a leasehold, presumably to allow for clearing of the land and planting of an adequate crop. He may have also had an understanding that even the reduced rate need not be paid during this period. Of the 23 tenants charged rents under 100 lbs., only 2 made any payments.
In this book, the total annual rents due in November 1754 for all leaseholds amounted to £206.3.6 and 40,608 lbs. of tobacco. However, not all rents were collected. Tenants on 38 leaseholds made payments that completely brought their accounts up to date, including past due amounts. In addition, incomplete payments were made on another 27 leaseholds. No payments were recorded at all for the remaining 42 accounts, including the 21 tenants with reduced rents mentioned above and the two likely non-current tenants.
Most of the entries deal exclusively with rent. In some cases, the rents were paid exactly, especially when merchant accounts or tobacco transfer notes were utilized. When crop notes for specified hogsheads (containing a fixed amount of tobacco) were used, Beverley often needed to return money to the tenant for any excess tobacco paid. Such transactions showed up in the accounts on the debit side as exchanges of money for tobacco, with the entry being made either on the same day as the payment of the crop note or later. The conversion rate normally utilized by Beverley for this purpose was 14 shillings per 100 lbs. of tobacco, which was about what tobacco merchants were paying at the time. It is interesting to note in this regard that during the same time period the charges at ordinaries for food, drink and/or lodging, which were set by the county courts in both currency and tobacco, were based on a conversion rate of 10 shillings per 100 lbs. of tobacco.
In these accounts, as in 1752, each hogshead of tobacco was normally identified by the initials of its producer, its warehouse number (or letter) and its weight in pounds. The initials, which also served as a distinguishing mark (presumably inscribed on the hogshead cask), were sometimes written as separate letters and sometimes creatively joined or combined together. A “J” was uniformly written as an “I,” with a crossing line not only at the top and at the bottom, but also in the middle. Occasionally, a third letter or symbol was added. If more than one person in an area had the same initials, some effort was made to distinguish their tobacco marks. For instance, three persons in this book had the initials “WB.” William Banister used “WB” as separate letters. Both William Ballard, Jr. and William Beverley, on the other hand, utilized the right-hand stroke of the “W” as the back of the back of the “B,” but Beverley added a distinctive diamond-shaped extension to the top of the middle strokes of the “W.” Apparently, depending upon the warehouse, the hogshead number could either be personalized to the individual, e.g. 1 through 4, or it could be a running number for all hogsheads received by the warehouse, e.g. No. 182 at Occupacia Warehouse. The hogshead mentioned in this book held, on average, approximately 1000 lbs. of tobacco.1756 - April 6 - Virginia - Caroline County - a John Beazley living in Caroline County, purchased 300 acres in Spotsylvania County from Aquilla & Elizabeth Johnson.
1757 - Virginia - Essex Co. - John acted as administrator for his father, Benjamin's estate.
1759 - November 3 - Virginia - Caroline County - a John Beazley, husbandman, living in Caroline County made a deed of gift to his son Charles Beazley of Spotsylvania County for 100 acres. This may or may not be our man.
1759 - Virginia, Essex County - John Beasley's will probated. An abstract shows that he named his wife Mary and children: John, Richard, Elizabeth (eldest daughter) Sarah and John James son-in-law. It also mentioned his uncle Charles Beasley of Caroline County, VA
Children:
John
Elizabeth
Sarah
Richard
Revised 6/7/2019
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