Delmarva Peninsula Beebes

The Delmarva Peninsula, consisting of the lower two counties of Delaware and the Eastern Shore Counties of Maryland and Virginia, has been home to a large number of Beebes since at least 1751. These Beebes have not been linked to any earlier American Beebe families and seem to be a separate group which very few researchers have investigated. This article was written by David Beebe who identifies four distinct Beebe families on the peninsula and labels them as: Lewes, Redden, Chincoteague, and Worchester County Beebes. David named the four separate groups of Delmarva Beebes after the original location where they were found. Lewes is in Sussex County, DE Redden is a country crossroad about 15 miles west of Lewes, DE. Chincoteague, VA is in the far northeast corner of Accomac county. Directly across from Chincoteague Bay is Worchester county, MD. The two areas have been linked closely since colonial days when the people lived on the mainland and used Chincoteague as an island pasture for their livestock. Research by David Beebe, Nita Pearce and others has uncovered continuous ancestral lines back to 1741 (Ichabod Beebe) for the Lewes Beebes. The Redden Beebes can be traced back to a John Beebe born approx 1800. The Chincoteague and Worchester Co. Beebes share a common ancestor in James Beebe, born in 1751. These dates are the farthest back that can be conclusively proven. The area encompassed by these four families stretches from the Chincoteague, VA area northward along the Atlantic coast approximately 100 miles to Lewes, DE and seldom ranges inland more than 20 miles. The fact that a group of Beebes sharing the same surname spelling have been living in the same immediate area for at least 200 years, apparently unknown to many Beebe researchers, indicates that there must be a common ancestor, perhaps right on the Delmarva Peninsula. We started looking for similar spelled surnames and quickly found a number of interesting possibilities. Many Beebe / Biby / Bybee / Bibbee, etc. researchers have come across the name of William Bibby, who came to America in 1620/21 on the ship Swan, landing in Accomac county, VA. His descendants have been thoroughly documented by Nita Pearce and others and can be proven without any gaps in dates clear up to the early 1700s and all are in Accomac county, VA. This brings us to the guesswork portion of this article. We realize that most of this is circumstantial evidence, but our hopes are that some of it may ring a bell with those that read this article and lead to that long sought missing link. Starting with the Lewes Beebes, one researcher has complete records going back to Ichabod Beebe, born in 1741. It includes an old record that indicates that his father was named Nathaniel Beebe. This is interesting because Nita Pearce has placed William Bibby’s youngest great grandson Nathaniel Beebe in Salem County, N.J. (literally right across the DE bay from Lewes) in 1742. In addition, another of William’s great grandsons, Edmund, is listed in a Lewes Bible record, along with his wife and children in 1709. So there was an Accomac BIBBY presence in Lewes in the early 1700s and the dates match for Ichabod’s father to be Nathaniel of Accomac County. Admittedly, that’s all we have to go on for the Lewes Beebes, but the absolute lack of any other competing theory is certainly another factor in its favor. The Redden Beebes came to Sussex county, DE in approx 1850 in the person of John S. Beebe who was born in VA in1827. John S. had eight sons all of whom had large families and this is the largest branch of Beebes on the Delmarva Peninsula today. All that is known of John S. Beebe’s parents is their names, John Beebe and Rachael Boughton, and the information that they were born in VA. Nita Pearce and David Beebe have scoured every conceivable VA record to no avail, with the exception of a census record of a female Boughton in Accomac county, VA that matches Rachel’s age. Of John, nothing can be found. Interviews with the oldest members of this family indicate some sort of non-specific relationship with the Beebes of Chincoteague Island (Accomac county), VA. David Beebe’s Great Aunt Ida Beebe spoke of her brothers visiting “relatives” on Chincoteague, and another great grandson of John S. Beebe, Mr. Frank Butler, remembers speaking with Clarence Beebe of “Misty of Chincoteague” children’s book fame, about the origins of the Beebes on Delmarva. Frank says that Clarence assured him that they were related, but he does not remember specifics as this was in the early 1950s. Of considerable interest to the Redden Beebes is the presence of a John Beebe of Worchester County, MD., born in 1784-90, who lived directly across the bay from Chincoteague, and whose census info matches perfectly with what is known about John S. Beebe’s father. There is also an unnamed male child of the correct age to be John S. Beebe in several census records, and this male disappears from the records immediately before John S. Beebe shows up in DE. This John Beebe of Worchester County lived literally on the Worchester County MD / Accomac County VA line. The only problem is that he consistently shows up on MD records, not in VA where John S. Beebe’s father’s should be. It is also interesting that all of his children moved to Chincoteague, VA and were there starting with the 1850 census of Accomac County, VA. The Chincoteague Beebes have been fully documented by Chuck Smith and David Beebe and they can be traced as far back as James Beebe of Worchester County. James was born in 1751, and was the father of the John Beebe of Worchester County in the previous paragraph. James had two sons, John and James, Jr. The Chincoteague Beebes can be shown to have come from John with the exception of a few that descended from his brother James. The Worchester County Beebes descend from James, Jr. who moved north to just south of the DE / VA line. Several of his children went back south to Chincoteague and several stayed in the area. All of them have been traced to the present by Philip Beebe and David Beebe. To summarize: Indications are that three of the four Delmarva Beebe groups can be traced to the area of the Accomac / Worchester County line, and to the time period of the mid 1700s. The other Beebe family, the Lewes one, also has probable roots with the same Accomac Beebe ancestors. At this point pure speculation enters the picture. Consider this. Nita Pearce has proven that William Bibby’s four great grandsons John, Edmund, William, and Nathaniel all lived approx. 50 miles south of the Accomac / Worchester line. Of these, John did not formally marry, but his will left everything to an Elizabeth Benthall and Nita has shown that she had children. John owned property on Hog Island, just south of Chincoteague. One possibility is that an unknown son of John fathered 1751 James Beebe of Worchester Co. The next sibling, Edmund, had one known son named Matthew. No definite link can be proven, however, Nita Pearce has found a Matthew Bibby in Dorchester county, on the Chesapeake side of the peninsula. Next sibling William, owned 450 acres in Accomac county, and seems to have been recently discovered in New Jersey records, along with his sister Frances. Last sibling Nathaniel, seems to have gotten around. Records of him are in Frederick county, VA and Salem county, NJ. ONE of these four men must be the ancestor of 1751 James Beebe. WHY? For several reasons! First, as most Beebe researchers know, the surname has been spelled many different ways throughout history. In the case of William Bibby who came to America in 1620/21, and his proven descendants alone, there have been over 10 different spellings in various records. I base my claim to descendancy from him on the following: Edmond I, son of William Bibby, spelled his own name as BEBEE in his will. The inventory of Edmond I’s son (Edmond II) gives the spelling as BEBBE. On the inheritance document of Nathaniel (son of Edmond II), the spelling is also BEBBE. These spellings are from original documents, and not from census records where someone may have guessed at the spelling. Second, simply the location: William Bibby and his known descendants all lived on the lower eastern shore of VA, in the immediate area where James Beebe b. 1751 lived. James signed his own will, spelling it BEEBE. Third, no other known researcher has been able to link James Beebe b. 1751 of Worchester County, MD to any other database. Indeed, no one seems to even know of this large population of Beebes on the Delmarva Peninsula. Fourth, and the least tangible, is that many LIVE there still. The peninsula has always been somewhat isolated with bridges to the mainland only having been built since WWII. While immigration to the eastern shore in the 1600s definitely occurred, the opening up of land and opportunities further west on the mainland put a very definite halt to people choosing the area as a final destination. The odds of a man named James Beebe, living in the immediate area that other Beebes populated just 50 years earlier, and NOT being related, is difficult to reasonably assume.