Brief Life History of William
William Beal was born in 1664, in York, York, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America as the son of Beal. He married Jane Trafton on 1 April 1690, in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts, United States. They were the parents of at least 7 sons and 3 daughters. In 1707, his occupation is listed as ferryman at york in York, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America. He died about November 1760, in York, York, Maine, United States, at the age of 96, and was buried in Desert Of Maine, Freeport, York, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America.
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Family Time Line
Sources (27)
- birth records for Benjamin son of William Bale and Jane Trafton
- William Beale and Jane Trafton, US New England Marriages prior to 1700
- William Beal Obituary, Boston Weekly News-Letter
Spouse and Children
Children (10)
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Parents and Siblings
World Events (1)
1700
Historical Boundaries: 1700: Massachusetts, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America 1716: York, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America 1760: Cumberland, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America 1776: Cumberland, Massachusetts, United States 1820: Cumberland, Maine, United States
Name Meaning
English (of Norman origin): variant of Beale , from Old French bel(e) ‘fair, lovely’ (see Beau ), either a nickname for a handsome man or a metronymic from this word used as a female personal name.
English (northern): habitational name from any of the places so named in Northumberland and Yorkshire. The former of these (Behil in early records) is named with Old English bēo ‘bee’ + hyll ‘hill’; the latter (Begale in Domesday Book) with Old English bēag ‘ring’, here probably used in the sense ‘river bend’, or an unattested personal name Bēaga derived from this word + halh ‘nook, recess’ (see Beagle 2). An additional source may be Beald, a farm in Cambridgeshire, recorded as Bele super Dedhil, c. 1195. In Lincolnshire, the surname is perhaps from a word or name for a farm derived from Scandinavian bøli ‘farm’.
French (Béal): topographic name for someone who lived by a mill race, from the Lyonnaise dialect term béal, bezale, bedale (of Gaulish origin).
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
Possible Related NamesStory Highlight
William Beal Deposition
On May 15, 1728, William Beal gave a deposition stating his age as 64 [so born c 1664] and that he had lived with Mr. John Hole [and his wife, Elizabeth Leader] for 18 1/2 years. As William was record …
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