Gen 1: Mary Jane Beal - Eliza R. (Beal) Henry - Continued

What are the origins of Johann Nicholas Biehl?

We continued our Biehl research project with the end goal of identifying the German origins of Johann Nicholas Biehl. I continued research on the first generation, which is Mary Jane Beal. You can find that post here.

 

Eliza Ruth (Beal) Henry

 

We began researching Eliza Ruth (Beal) Henry, who was James Henry’s wife and likely sister of Mary Jane (Beal) Henry. On 24 May 1861, Edward T. Dorton, aged 29, and Eliza R. Beel, aged 24, were married.[1] In 1870, Eliza Dorton with her likely son, Albert (aged 9), was living in the household headed by Oliver Burch. That household also included her likely parental family of Peter and Elizabeth Beal and siblings.[2] In 1877, Eliza married James Henry, who was the widow of her sister Mary Jane. No marriage record has been found.[3]

 

In 1880, James and Eliza R. Henry were living with their two-year-old son Edward Lee Henry in Springdale Township, Washington County, Arkansas.[4]

 

Springdale Township, Washington County, Arkansas
Name	Relationship to Head	Age	Marital Status	Occupation	Birthplace
					Person	Father	Mother
Henry, James	[Blank]	57 [Est. 1823]	Married	Farmer	Alabama	North Carolina	Tennessee
[Henry], Eliza R.	wife	45 [est. 1835]	Married	Keeping house	Tennessee	Maryland	Tennessee
[Henry], Edward Lee	Son	2 [Est. 1878]	Single	[Blank]	Arkansas	Alabama	Tennessee
Webb, Harvey	Nephew	25 [Est. 1855]	Single	farm hand	Arkansas	Tennessee	Tennessee

Notes: Enumerated 12 June 1880; the official date was 1 June 1880. Everyone was noted as being able to read and write.

 

What happened to Eliza’s son, Albert Dortin as he is not enumerated in the Henry household? In 1880, Albert resided in the household of John W. Beel and was named as his nephew.[5] This would be accurate as Eliza R. Beel was John’s sister. 

 

Batie Township, Benton County, Arkansas
Name	Relationship to Head	Age	Marital Status	Occupation	Birthplace
					Person	Father	Mother
Beel, John W.	[Blank]	39 [Est. 1841]	Married	Farmer	Tennessee	Maryland	Tennessee
[Beel], Elizabeth	wife	21 [est. 1859]	Married	Keeping house	Arkansas	Tennessee	Tennessee
[Beel], Iama Dee	Daughter	8/12, Oct [Est. 1879]	Single	[Blank]	Arkansas	Tennessee	Arkansas
[Beel], Elizabeth	Mother	74 [Est. 1806]	Widowed	[Illegible]	Tennessee	Virginia	Virginia
[Beel], Annie	Sister	40 [Est. 1840]	Single	[Blank]	Tennessee	Maryland	Tennessee
Dorton, Albert B.	Nephew	19 [Est. 1861]	Single	Working on the farm	Arkansas	Illinois	Illinois

Note: Enumerated 22 June 1880; the official date was 1 June 1880. Elizabeth Beel, aged 74, was noted as having “Bronchitis.”

As noted in a previous blog post, Eliza died on 31 July 1893 and is buried next to James.[6]

 

Future Research

 

Future research will include:

 

·      Search for additional marriage records for James Henry. He married Alphurnia Peerson in 1894.

·      Continue search for all real estate, both local and Federal, that James Henry owned in Washington County, Arkansas. He owned $300 in 1850 and $1,000 in 1870. Start a table showing the land transactions, both in and out, to ensure all transactions are captured.

·      Determine if there are records for Friendship Baptist Church in Springdale, Arkansas. Determine if there are extant records for First Baptist Church of Springdale.

·      Locate James Henry in the 1880, 1900, and 1910 Federal censuses.

·      Locate the extant applicable agricultural censuses for Arkansas.

·      Identify all of James Henry’s ten children.

·      James Henry served in the Mexican War and his widow, Alphurnia, received a pension. He may have had a pension too since he was feeble and helpless prior to his death. His tombstone notes his service from 1847–1848 in the Ark. Mounted Inf. Vol.

 

Next up: Continuing the research on Mary Jane Henry and her husband, James, as noted in “Future Research” above.

---

[1] “Arkansas, U.S., Washington County Marriage Records, 1845–1941,” database & images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 December 2025), p. 310 (image 13034 of 15,007), Edward T. Dorton-Eliza R. Beel marriage, 24 May 1861; citing marriage records, Washington County Archives, Fayetteville, Arkansas.

[2] 1870 U.S. census, Benton County, Arkansas, population schedule, Round Prairie township, Boudiville post office, p. 64–5 (penned), p. 342 (stamped), dwelling 432, family 435, Oliver Burch; digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 20 October 2025).

[3] The 1877 date came from James Henry’s obituary published on 10 June 1910 in The Springdale News (Springdale, Arkansas) and transcribed in his memorial on FindaGrave. See See Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 8 December 2025), memorial 32241713, James Henry (23 Sep 1822–5 Jun 1910), maintained by contributor 46510018, Rosa Cline; citing Friendship Cemetery, Springdale, Washington County, Arkansas, USA; accompanying marker photo from contributor 47287035, Gerry Stanley, added 16 May 2014. No marriage record was found for Henry-Dorton or Henry-Beal using “exact, sounds like, similar & soundex” for the Beal surname. See “Arkansas, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1851–1900,” database & images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 January 2026).

[4] 1880 U.S. census, Washington County, Arkansas, population schedule, p. 13 (penned), p. 538 (stamped) enumeration district (ED) 205, dwelling 118, family 118, James Henry; digital images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 7 December 2025).

 

[5] 1880 U.S. census, Benton County, Arkansas, population schedule, p. 44 (penned), enumeration district (ED) 7, dwelling 407, family 412, John W. Beel; digital images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 January 2026).

[6] Eliza R. Henry tombstone, Original Cemetery Section, Friendship Cemetery, Springdale, Arkansas; photographed by Debra A. Hoffman on 26 August 2024

Locating Relevant Archives

From German Girls Genealogy (Teresa Steinkamp McMillin & Debra A. Hoffman):

 

This series of posts, continued from last week, outlines our preparation for a German trip to research beyond church records. Before embarking on a research trip abroad, you want to make sure you’ve done your homework. The next step, outlined in this post, is identifying the right archives.

 

Debra’s research interest, her Braun family, was from Graben in Baden. Teresa’s Huber family was from Butschbach in Baden. Last week’s post (read on Debra’s blog or Teresa’s blog) provided some background information on both of these towns. Graben is now Graben-Neudorf in the Landkreis Karlsruhe.[1] Butschbach is part of Oberkirch in the Ortenaukreis.[2] Both places are in the modern state of Baden-Württemberg. 

 

A great tool for finding archives in Germany is the German Archive Portal. This allows you to easily search for archives with an online presence. You may search by type of archive, such as state, local, church, and nobility. This search can be narrowed to a specific modern state by clicking on the desired portion of the map. You can also search by archive or location name.

 

State Archives 

The state archive is often the first stop for finding information. The Landesarchiv (State Archive) Baden-Württemberg is a relevant archive for both Teresa and Debra. This is the main repository system for documents from the historic regions of Baden, Württemberg, and Hohenzollern. This state archive has multiple branches, each dedicated to a different historic region. This page with a map helps determine which branch is best for you.[3] Graben-Neudorf would be covered by the Karlsruhe location. Butschbach would have records at the Freiburg branch. The Karlsruhe branch also has administrative records for the Grand duchy of Baden in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Teresa will need to consider holdings in both branches when researching Butschbach.

 

Land records for Baden-Württemberg are housed at the Kornwestheim branch of this archival system. But that does not mean they have all the land records. Some are housed in local archives. For example, the records that pertain to Butschbach are at the Stadtarchiv (City Archive) Oberkirch. We visited that archive in 2024. If in doubt about the location of land records, contact Kornwestheim and they will direct you to the right location for your town. 

 

Local Archives 

Use the German Archive Portal to find local archives in Baden-Württemberg. Archives could be at the Gemeinde (community), Stadt (city), or Kreis (district) level. There could be other categories, as well. 

 

There are no city or community archives for Graben-Neudorf. There is, however, the Kreisarchiv for the Landkreis Karlsruhe. The Graben-Neudorf town website, mentions a Heimatmuseum. That is a local museum dedicated to the history of the town. Many communities have them and they are interesting for social context. They might also have documents in their holdings.

 

For Butschbach, there is the Stadtarchiv Oberkirch, mentioned above. There is also the Kreisarchiv for Ortenaukreis. In Oberkirch, there is also the Heimat und Grimmelshausenmuseum. It is closed until March 2026 for renovations. We should be there after that date, so we will add that to our schedule, time permitting.

 

Searching Their Holdings

The Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg has excellent finding aids. Teresa wrote a blog post back in 2018 about strategies for searching the holdings of this archive. Browse their “Online-findmittelsystem” (Online finding aid system). Each branch has an outline of its holdings, where the highest level is chronological. Within that, records are broken out by record types and regions. This is where knowing the historical jurisdictions identified last week will help.  

 

Also try searching for keywords, such as your surname, the town name, jurisdiction names, or record type. Remember to use German words! 

 

When looking at local archives, they may or may not have detailed finding aids. Usually, they provide overviews of that they have. From their website (if they have one), look for words like Bestände (holdings), Findbuch/Findbücher (finding aid/aids), or Findmittel (finding aids). If the finding aids are vague or do not exist, contact them with specific questions. For example, I have an ancestor who lived in Butschbach in 1820. Do you have tax or land records for that time and place? Do not expect the archives to research for you. They should be able to point you to collections that you can research when you visit.

 

Next week, we’ll talk about the next steps for planning a research trip.

 

 

 

 

 

---

[1] “Graben-Neudorf,” article, Wikipedia (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graben-Neudorf : accessed December 2025). 

[2] “Oberkirch (Baden), article, Wikipedia (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberkirch_(Baden) : accessed December 2025).

[3] Please keep this website in its German version and use translation tools. If you switch to English, some content will disappear, including the map! 

Gen 1: Mary Jane Beal - Eliza R. (Beal) Henry

 What are the origins of Johann Nicholas Biehl?

 

Last week we continued our Biehl research project with the end goal of identifying the German origins of Johann Nicholas Biehl. I continued research on the first generation, which is Mary Jane Beal. You can find that post here.

 

Eliza Ruth (Beal) Henry

 

When Mary Jane (Beal) Henry died in 1876, she left her husband James Henry a widow. James Henry’s obituary stated that he married Eliza Ruth Beal in 1877.[1] Eliza R. Henry is buried next to James in the Friendship Cemetery in Springdale. When Eliza died on 16 July 1893, she was 56 years old. Her obituary, posted on her FindaGrave memorial noted that she was born on 15 June 1837. This conflicts with her tombstone, which notes a birth date of 15 Jan. 1837. Since the obituary is a transcript, there may be an error. She was born in Hawkins, Tennessee, which probably refers to the county rather than a town. The FindaGrave memorial notes her birthplace as Hawkinsville, Dyer County, Tennessee. I believe this is in error, but future research will uncover the right information. Her obituary noted that she moved to Arkansas with her father when she was a young girl. She joined the Baptist church at 15 years old.[2]

 

In 1850, Eliza Beal, aged 15, was in Peter Beal’s household in West Fork Township, Washington County.[3] Peter’s household was enumerated adjacent to the household of James and Mary Henry.[4] In 1860, Eliza, aged 21, is enumerated in the household of “Peater Die.”[5] While her age is off by 4 years, the household is consistent with the 1850 household and her birthplace of Tennessee is consistent.

 

We will continue research on Eliza in next week’s post.

 

Future Research

 

Future research will include:

 

·      Search for additional marriage records for James Henry. He married Eliza Ruth Beal in 1877 and Alphurnia Peerson in 1894.

·      Continue search for all real estate, both local and Federal, that James Henry owned in Washington County, Arkansas. He owned $300 in 1850 and $1,000 in 1870. Start a table showing the land transactions, both in and out, to ensure all transactions are captured.

·      Determine if there are records for Friendship Baptist Church in Springdale, Arkansas. Determine if there are extant records for First Baptist Church of Springdale.

·      Locate James Henry in the 1880, 1900, and 1910 Federal censuses.

·      Locate the extant applicable agricultural censuses for Arkansas.

·      Identify all of James Henry’s ten children.

·      James Henry served in the Mexican War and his widow, Alphurnia, received a pension. He may have had a pension too since he was feeble and helpless prior to his death. His tombstone notes his service from 1847–1848 in the Ark. Mounted Inf. Vol.

 

Next up: Continuing the research on the Beals and Henrys as noted in “Future Research” above.

---

[1] Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 14 December 2025), memorial 32241713, James Henry (23 Sep 1822–5 Jun 1910), maintained by contributor 46510018, Rosa Cline; citing Friendship Cemetery, Springdale, Washington County, Arkansas, USA; citing obituaries posted on 21 July 1893 and 4 August 1893 in The Springdale News.

[2] Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 14 December 2025), memorial 44977126, Eliza Henry (15 Jun 1837–16 Jul 1893), maintained by contributor 46510018, Rosa Cline; citing Friendship Cemetery, Springdale, Washington County, Arkansas, USA; citing obituaries posted on 10 June 1893 and 22 July 1893 in The Springdale News.

[3] 1850 U.S. census, Washington County, Arkansas, population schedule, p. 376 (stamped), p. 751 (penned), dwelling 29, family 29, Peter Beal; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 January 2016).

[4] 1850 U.S. census, Washington County, Arkansas, population schedule, p. 376 (stamped), p. 751 (penned), dwelling 30, family 30, James Henry; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 January 2016).

[5] 1860 U.S. census, Washington County, Arkansas, population schedule, p. 325 (penned), dwelling 2195, family 64, Peater Die [Peter Beal]; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 June 2016).