William Bean


William Bean was a Trans-Appalachian pioneer; longhunter; and Commissioner of North Carolina's Washington District. He was one of the first permanent European settlers of what is now Tennessee.

Biography

William Bean was born December 9, 1721 in St. Stephens Parish, Northumberland County, Virginia. In 1741 he married Lydia Russell. They were to become the future Tennessee area's first permanent European-American settlers; William was of Scottish descent and Lydia was of English descent.

Frontier settler

Bean was an associate of Daniel Boone's and a fellow longhunter. In 1769, he built a cabin close to the junction of Boone's Creek and the Watauga River, near what is today Johnson City, Tennessee. Bean may have visited the site with Boone, or Boone and a friend, Richard Callaway, when exploring as agents for Richard Henderson, a land speculator who later played an important role in the early settlement of Tennessee.
Later that year, the first child of permanent European-American settlers born in Tennessee, Russell Bean, was born there.

Later life

Bean's cabin soon attracted other pioneer families, who participated in the formation of the Watauga Association, a semi-autonomous colony.
After its formation in 1776, Bean was named a Commissioner of North Carolina's Washington District.

Death

Bean died in May 1782 in Washington County, North Carolina.

Namesake

Later descendents of Bean established what became the city of Bean Station, in present-day Grainger County, Tennessee.