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Jacob William Beyl Sr. | Margaret Elizabeth Kern
Documented History
Still working on the Beyl family, I am desperately trying to crack through this brick wall I’ve been faced with for awhile now. I have reached a point in this line where I can’t go back any further because I don’t have enough information on John Beyl. John Beyl (may also be Johann Beyl) is the grandfather of John Edward Beyl.
Between the two, was Jacob William Beyl Sr. Jacob is John Edward’s father. Now when I start researching somebody, I always start with the facts I already know. Since I’ve already researched Jacob’s son, here’s what I know to be true:
- John Edward’s father was Jacob Beyl.
- John Edward’s mother was Mary E. Kern (per John’s birth record).
- Mary has an alternate name of Margaret E. Kern (per the 1900 Census).
- Jacob was 53 years old in 1900 (per the 1900 Census record).
- Margaret was 42 years old in 1900 (per the 1900 Census record).
- Jacob was born in December 1846 (per the 1900 Census record).
- Margaret was born in November 1855 (per the 1900 Census record).
- Jacob and his parents were born in France.
- Margaret was born in Indiana. Her parents were born in Germany.
- Jacob and Margaret were married 38 years in 1910 (per the 1910 Census record).
- Margaret had birthed 7 children, but only 5 were alive in 1900.
- Jacob and Margaret Kern had the following children (per the 1900 Census record):
Parents and Birth
Now that I have a few facts to start with, I can start looking for documents that match up to those facts. And this is where things start getting hinky and confusing as far as the Beyl family tree is concerned. So let me see if I can break this down to where you can see where the confusion comes in…
Partial Death Certificate
I haven’t yet been able to find a Birth Certificate for Jacob Sr. However, I did find his Death Certificate. Unfortunately, it is extremely hard to read. There are several things I look for when examining documents to attach to my ancestors. What I pay the most attention to is how many of the details match the other documents that I have.
Age Estimate
This Death Certificate gives me a full name of Jacob Beyl. I’ve inverted the colors to see if it’s easier to read. At this point, I don’t know that he’s a Senior. And I don’t know that his middle name is William. While very hard to read, it looks like his Date of Birth is listed as 2 or 3 December 1842…possibly 1843. I see that he was 64 years 10 months and 8 days old. His Date of Death appears to be 11 October 1910. Now, 1910 – 1842 = 68. The Death Certificate says he was 64 years old. That makes his birth date about 1846. So we estimate his birthday to be December 1846 for now. This matches what we learned from John Edward Beyl in the 1900 Census record.
Marriage
Next, I see that Jacob was married and his wife’s name appears to be Margaret. The letters of the name easily fit what appears on this document. I also see that he was born in France. Now, I know from John Edward Beyl’s 1900 Federal Census, that his mother’s name was Margaret E. And the birth record for him shows Mary E. Kern. Mary could easily be short for Margaret. In fact, the 1910 Census record lists John’s parents as Jacob and Margaret. So the spouse detail matches for Jacob.
Jacob’s Parents
On the Death Certificate, his parents appear to be listed as John Byll and Catherine Fishel, both born in France. Now, I’ll pause here just to say that I’ve seen Beyl listed several different ways on several different documents. This only adds to the confusion and difficulty in figuring out this line.
On this particular record, since they wrote incursive, there isn’t clear definition in each letter allowing us to see exactly what was written. So for now we’ll go with John Beyl and Catherine Fishel.
Immigration
Since we’re only looking for personally identifiable information right now, we’re going to ignore the rest of the information in the Death Certificate, just for right now. We’ll come back to it later.
Passenger List
Next I found a passenger list on the Orphan ship immigrating from France to New Orleans. The record is hand written and does not include a date. But here is what I am able to decipher for the Beyl’s:
- Johann Beyl was a 20 year old Farmer
- Joseph was 18 years old
- Marianna was 16 years old
- George was 9 and a half years old
- Bernard? was 8 years old
- Jacob was 7 years old
Being that Jacob was the youngest in this party, I will assume that the others were his siblings. As I sat here writing this, it occurred to me that the oldest in the party was only 20, so naturally Johann could not have been the father. I went back to Ancestry.com and pulled up the passenger list record. This allowed me to go to the previous page of the document, where I found their parents.
Passenger List – Previous Page
Now I can see that the father was Johann Beyl, 68 years old. And the mother was Marianne, 66 years old. This doesn’t match Jacob’s parents. At this point, I don’t have enough information to be able to determine if this record is the same Jacob or not, but it’s looking like it’s likely not…based on the names of the parents. Also, this record lists their arrival as 19 October 1954. That would match the date on the Death Certificate, if he was born in December of 1846, he would’ve been 7 years old in October 1954. So lets move on.
Another Passenger List
I found a second passenger list from a different ship for the same date, 19 October 1853. In this list, the family is:
- Joseph – Age 56
- Johannes – Age 50
- Catherine – Age 16
- Adam – Age 9
- Johann – Age 8
- Bernard? – Age 6 and a half
- Jacob was 1 and a half at the time.
The name of this ship was R B Sumner and it came from Le Havre, France. Now the Jacob in this record would have been born in 1851 or 1852 timeframe, so it doesn’t match the Death Certificate above.
1870 Census
The 1870 Census record is another piece of information that I’m not sure about. According to the 1870 United Federal Census, Jacob lived with his father, John in Union Township, Clark County, Indiana in 1870. Jacob was 23 and John was 65 years old. Their last name was misspelled on the Census record as Bayle. John was a Farmer, Jacob also worked on the farm. John’s real estate value was $1,000 and his personal estate value was 600. The date of this record would put Jacob right at 23 years old if it’s the same Jacob in the Death Certificate. So we’ll assume for now that this record is the correct Jacob, though there isn’t enough detail to know for sure.
Marriage
After the marriage, I start gaining some confidence that I’m looking at the right guy. Jacob married Margaret E. Kern on 2 May 1872 in Clark County, Indiana, according to Indiana, Marriage Index, 1800-1941.
JWBSr Marriage Certificate
The only problem with this record is that she’s listed as Melissa Kern. So I need to verify that this is the right wife as well. It’s possible that Margaret went by Melissa. Or it’s possible that it’s the wrong person altogether.
1880 Census
According to the 1880 United States Federal Census, Jacob lived with his wife and children at 228 Jackson, Columbus, Bartholomew County, Indiana. At the time, Jacob was 32 years old. His wife was Elizabeth and was 24 years old. Their children were
Mary was born in August of the same year.
The Census has their name spelled incorrectly as “Boyel”. Jacob was a RailRoad Laborer at the time. Elizabeth was a housewife. Jacob was marked as Maimed, Crippled, Bedridden, or otherwise disabled. Jacob and his parents were born in France. Elizabeth and the children were born in Indiana but her parents were born in Germany.
Civil War Pension
The U.S., Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934 lists Jacob Beyl as the name of a soldier. The record was filed in Indiana with an attorney listed as S. W. Daugherty and Company. The service says “Unassd Drafted man 2 Cong Dist Ind Vols” and classifies him as an invalid with application number 1173306 on 13 January 1896.
While this record does not have personally identifiable data on it other than the name, it does support that 1880 Census record reporting Jacob as disabled. It also supports the 1910 Census reporting Jacob as a veteran survivor of the Confederate or Union of Army or Navy. The U.S. Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865 lists Jacob Beyl on the Union side in Indiana. Rank In and Rank Out are Substitute.
1900 Census
Jacob and Elizabeth still rented a house at 228 Jackson in 1900, according to the 1900 United States Federal Census. Jacob was born in December 1846 and was 53 years old at the time. Elizabeth (Margaret E.) was born in November of 1955 and was 44 years old at the time. They had been married 29 years.
Elizabeth had 7 children, 5 of which were still alive. Their children living with them were:
1900 Census-2
Their granddaughter also lived with them. She was Hellen M. Bond, born June 1899 (Age 11 months). Jacob immigrated from France in 1852 and had been in the United States for 47 years. He and Jacob W. were both Carpenters at the time.
Note: Many family trees have Jacob immigrating in 1844. This was 2 years before he was born and presents a conflict in that he can’t immigrate anywhere 2 years before he was born.
City Directory 1907
According to U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995, Jacob and Margaret Beyl lived at 542 Jackson in 1907. Jacob was a Carpenter at the time. Now this is the same street that was reported in the 1900 Census…but different house number. Interestingly, the 1900 Census lists the exact same address as the 1880 Census. In 1880, she was referred to as Elizabeth but in 1900 she went by Margaret E. This tells me her name is Margaret Elizabeth and that she’s the same person.
1910 Census Family
According to the 1900 United States Federal Census, Jacob (Age 63) and Elizabeth (Age 53) had moved to 542 Jackson, Columbus, Bartholomew County, Indiana with their 3 sons:
John E. was going by Edward by this time as his name first appeared as Edward on this Census record. All three sons were single.
1910 Census Occupations
Elizabeth had 7 children, 4 of which were still alive. This record shows that Jacob immigrated in 1844, which was 2 years before he was born. He was not employed at the time. However, Elizabeth was a cheeser or chesser at a Poultry House.
Jacob W. and John Edward were both Laborers at an engine factory. Grover T. was a Laborer in the furniture industry. Their house was rented. Jacob Sr. was marked as a veteran survivor of Confederate or Union of Army or Navy.
1910 Death Certificate
Jacob passed away on 11 October 1910, according to Indiana Deaths, 1882-1920. He was 64 years old at the time and still resided in Columbus, Indiana. His Death Certificate shows he died in Columbus, Bartholomew County, Indiana at 542 Jackson. His birthdate is listed as 3 December , he’s listed as 64 years, 10 months, and 8 days old which makes his birth year 1846. His father is listed as John Byll, born in France. His mother is listed as Catherine Fishel, born in France, as mentioned above.
Jacob’s Grave
According to U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current, Jacob is buried at Garland Brook Cemetery in Bartholomew County, Indiana. His death date is confirmed as 11 October 1910. His birth place is confirmed as France in December 1846. Check out his memorial at Find A Grave.
I think that some of this data that I’ve found so far is inaccurate, or belongs to a different Jacob Beyl. As such, I think I will delete all of Jacob’s siblings and some of the other facts that are saved and see if anything else pops up for him.
That’s all for now, I’ll check back regularly and update this page as I find additional information.
I’ll leave you with a common Genealogy phrase:
Still trying to decorate my family tree.
Happy researching!
~Kris
JEB Family Tree
