Biography - JEROME FOSTER BEAN
During the past decade many of the farmers of Johnson county have turned
their attention to specializing along certain lines, and have met with
unqualified success in fields that heretofore have been invaded only as side
issues, principal among these being the raising of hogs. This industry has
been pushed forward rapidly in late years, and among those who have found
that this can be made a remunerative occupation are Jerome Foster Bean and
James Monroe Bean, of Grantsburg township, owners of some fine farming
property, and enterprising agriculturists and stock-raisers who have made a
study of their chosen vocation and follow it along scientific lines. They
are sons of James and Mary (Glass) Bean, and grandsons of Henry Bean, a
native of Tennessee, who brought his family to Illinois in 1833 and spent
the rest of his life in Gallatin county.
James Bean was born in 1833 while the family was migrating from Tennessee to
Illinois, and he was reared on the pioneer farm in Gallatin county. At the
outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted in Company D, Twenty-ninth Regiment,
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with which he served three years and three
months, and on his return again took up farming. Mr. Bean was the type of
citizen who started 1 in life without a dollar and rose to a place of
prominence among his fellows. Overcoming all discouragements and hardships,
hewing straight to the line of honesty and integrity, believing in a fair
and honorable method of dealing in all things, he accumulated more than 600
acres of land, and when he retired, in 1907, was one of the most highly
esteemed men of his community. At that time he removed from Gallatin to
Johnson county, but did not live long to enjoy the fruits of his years of
toil, as his death occurred April 20th of that same year. Mr. Bean was a
total abstainer as to liquor and tobacco, was never heard to utter an oath,
and was very religious and serious minded. His word was as good as a bond,
and on many occasions he was forced to deprive himself of all but the
necessities of life on account of having to settle for a friend's notes,
which his kindness of heart had caused him to endorse. A stalwart, sturdy
pioneer, in his death Southern Illinois lost a man whose place will be hard
to fill and one whose career is worthy of emulation by the youth of any
land. Nine children were born to Mr. Bean and wife, namely: James Monroe;
Mrs. Alice Nazarene Nelson; Jerome Foster; Mrs. Margaret Josephine Hemphill;
Mrs. Faustine Ellen Willis; Logan Grant, who died at the age of nineteen
years; Sherman Henry; Mary Rosabel, who died at the age of four years; and
Mrs. Susan Catherine Hatfield. The mother of these children, who was a
daughter of James Glass, of Pope county, died in 1897, at the age of
fifty-five years.
James Monroe Bean, more familiarly known as Monroe, was born August 14,
1855, in Gallatin county, Illinois, and there was educated in the public
schools. Until the removal to Johnson county in 1907, he and his brother
Jerome F. were engaged in conducting their father's property, Monroe having
charge of 300 acres located in the "bottoms." On October 14, 1906, Monroe
Bean purchased eighty acres in Grantsburg township, where he has since been
engaged in agricultural pursuits, and he now has two head of cattle, five
horses and eighty Poland China hogs. He has been very successful in his
operations, and is looked upon as one of his community's substantial men.
On November 4, 1878, Mr. Bean was married to Mrs. Leah Amanda (Nelson)
Siddels, daughter of Elijah and Elsie Nelson, and they have had a family of
eight children, namely: James Franklin, Jerome Marshall, Minnie Belle, James
Monroe, Jr., Ridgeway, Logan, Byron Nelson and Clyde Lester. The family is
connected with the Methodist church and is well and favorably known in
Grantsburg township.
Jerome Foster Bean was born on the old homestead farm in Gallatin county,
April 10, 1860. He received a common-school education in the schools located
near the home place, which was situated about fourteen miles from old
Shawneetown, and as a youth was reared to agricultural pursuits. On
attaining manhood, Mr. Bean was given charge of 300 acres of his father's
land, known as the "ridge" farm, and this he operated until his father sold
out and came to Johnson county. Since coming to Grantsburg Mr. Bean has
accumulated 240 acres of excellent highly productive land, and here he has
carried on farming and stockraising. He is the owner of eight horses, two
jacks and one jennet, five head of cattle and ninety hogs. In the latter he
specializes in the Jersey-Duroc breed, and in November, 1911, had the finest
bunch of the season in Johnson county, his shipment bringing $560. Like his
brother, he has been successful in his chosen vocation, and he has always
been in favor of using progressive and up-to-date methods in his work.
In 1889 Mr. Bean was married to Miss Ethel Yost, of Gallatin county,
Illinois, daughter of Fletcher Yost, and she died in 1903, having been the
mother of seven children; Mary Jewell, Susan Catherine, Ruth Yost, James
Lewis, Jerome David, and two who died in infancy. In 1905, Mr. Bean was
married to Mrs. Luella (Nash) Strode, a widow, of St. Louis, Missouri, and
daughter of Samuel Nash, and two children have been born to this union,
Samuel Burdette and one who died in infancy. Mr. Bean is a member of
Cumberland Presbyterian church, and his fraternal connection is with the
Masonic Lodge of Ridgeway.
Extracted 07 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from History of Southern Illinois, by George Washington Smith, published in 1912, volume 3, pages 1694-1695.
