The Earliest Official Owners (1851-1853)
Page 50

David Beebe appears as a resident of Bates Township on the 1850 census, but is not listed as a land owner. Thus, like Thomas Kersy and others, he was probably sqratting on land he subsequently acquired. Beebe acquired the S/SE Section 32 7N 29W as well as Lots 1 and 3 in Section 5 6N 29W and 120 acres in Sections 12 and 21 on 13 February 1851 using Choctaw Certificate 250 which was issued to Tah ish cam be on 6 October 1845. These lands were patented six yedars later on 15 January 1858. Beebe first appears on the 1857 tax list as the owner of these lands, except for Lot 3 which he apprears to have sold to Thomas Kersey. According to the 1858 tax list, he had also sold Lot 1 and 80 acres in Section 12. He is gone from the list by 1859/60. In all cases on the tax list, Beebe is called an absentee owner, possible implying that none of his land was improved, but this may not be the case. David Beebe was born about 1806 in New York, and his wife Susanna about 1808 in Kentucky. John A. Beebe, their eldest child living at home, was born about 1829 in Illinois. Adaline E. (b. ca. 1832) and Francis M(Marion?) (b. ca. 1833) were listed as natives of Illinois. Their next child Christopher C. Beebe was born about 1835 in Iowa. The subsequent child, George W.L. Beebe, was born about 1837 in Missouri. Napopeon Beebe was born about 1839 in Arkansas, as were their final two listed children. In 1840 David Beebe and Family were residents of Van Buren Township, Crawford County, living north of the Arkansas River. It is unclear when the Beebe family moved to Bates Township. They were gone by 1857 and we have not been able to determine where they moved. Nonetheless, they were the first official owners of land within the study area in 1851 and it is likely that they lived in the study region by 1848/49, if not earlier.