Edward Linville (Anderson) Bias 1843-1898

He was born in Cabell County, Virginia in November of 1843 or 1844.  At that time, Cabell County bordering the Ohio river, included the present day Lincoln County and was in West Virginia after that state's seccesion in 1863.  We know that he died on September 1, 1898 in Hamlin, Lincoln County, West Virginia so he probably never moved from where he was born.  He married Parmelia (Permelia?) Curry on May 24, 1870, reported to be his second wife, and had five children including Ira G., my great grandfather born in 1872, and Ezra M. born in 1874, Alva Garfield, 1882, Anna Belle, 1885, and Grace Lee, 1889.

WV Volunteer (not Linville)

Linville served in Company G, 3rd West Virginia Volunteer Cavalry (US) from October 17, 1862 through June 30, 1865, making him one of the few Yankee soldiers in our lineage.  He was likely in action as part of Averell's Union command against Echol's Confederate forces at the Battle of Droop Mountain, November 6, 1863, where another of our ancestors from the 22nd VA Infantry, CSA, was taken prisoner.

I can find little else about Linville at this time--not even a picture, but he is of great interest to me as a military man, not to mention as the grandfather of my grandfather, Arnold Bias, though he was born only three weeks before his grandfather's death.

Linville's father, Samuel, was a farmer, one of the second or third generation of white settlers to live and work the land in the Mud River valley.  However, by the time he returned from the Civil War, coal was being mined all over southwest West Virginia.  From 1870 on, many men and boys took jobs extracting the coal under horrific conditions.  I don't know if or that Linville or his sons ever worked in the mines, but I suspect so since I once heard my grandfather remark that he and his brothers left the area to get away from mining.

Linville and his wife Parmelia are buried in the Curry Chapel Cemetery, just north of Hamlin, West Virginia.

(Two years after Linville's death, in 1900, Parmelia married Samson Roberts who was 50 at the time.  She was 54 and lived until 1933 to the age of 88.  There is no record of other children from this marriage, which is unlikely due to their ages.)

Laura Gertrude Gainer Beam 1880-1959

She was born on January 9, or 13, or 21 (depending which records you believe) in 1880, in Tanners Fork, Gilmer County, West Virginia.  She died on October 10, 1959, in Akron, Ohio, and was buried in West Virginia, though I don't yet have information on exactly where.  On August 11, 1897, she married William Henderson Beam (middle name shown as Hector in census records) in a ceremony presided over by M. B. Stump.  They had six children, including Clyde Rudward, Buna Vista, Parker, Guy C., Freda (my grandmother), and Lloyd.

I was 11 years old when my Great Grandma Beam died.  My memories of her are of a old woman perenially in a rocking chair in the corner, her silver gray hair in a tight bun, a shawl around her shoulders and a blanket over her legs.  Her hands were always busy though, shucking peas or stringing beans I think, but I wasn't all that attentive back then.  I know she could be cross with us noisy obnoxious children, but I remember her as mostly quiet.

My sister recalls her making 'the best brown sugar and butter sandwiches' for us as children.

I recall being surprised when I came across these two pictures, the only ones I think I've ever seen of her.  She was young in the first--I think it was from around the time of her wedding, and a bit older in the second, in the prime of her life.

I am reminded by my Aunt Mildred that she was a committed Christian and a regular church goer, though she was unable to attend services in her old age as her health declined, though she remained a faithful reader of the Bible her whole life.

Central West Virginia was largely agricultural in the late 19th to early 20th centuries so I suspect she was born and grew up on a farm in her early days.  The fact that my grandmother's birthplace is listed as Middle Run, in Braxton County, the next county south of Gilmer County, seems to indicate she was raising her family there.  I don't know much about her education or work but expect that she was mostly occupied by raising her family.

Her husband William Henderson Beam was reported to be a skilled carpenter.  He left Laura sometime in the 1930s or so and she moved to Ohio to live with or near her children.  She may have lived in a house on Marcy Street in Akron with her children, taking care of the house and property there for the owner.