Maria Adah Cyrene Bean

Other Events:

• Name: Mace Bean
• Eby ID Number: 00008-995.6

Other Events:

• Name: Biehn Samuel G.
• Eby ID Number: 00008-995
• Residence: 1866, Preston (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Occupation: 1880, Orleans, Jefferson Co., New York; Preacher of the Gospel

Notes:

Samuel G. Bean, "was married three times, first to Henrietta Furry, second to Susan Clegg, and his third wife is Annie M. Wankmiller. He resides in Florida, U.S., where he is engaged in raising oranges and other tropical fruits. His family consists of three children".

^{Eby, Ezra E. (1895). A biographical history of Waterloo township and other townships of the county: being a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin: as also much other unpublished historical information chiefly of a local character. Berlin [Kitchener, Ont.]: [s.n.].}
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The Puzzle Tombstone which marks the graves of Henrietta and Susanna Bean in Rushes Cemetery, near Crosshill, Wellesley Township, Ontario.

Rushes Cemetery is a community burial ground; the earliest recorded burial is 1848. It was originally begun by a group of local Methodists.

Samuel Bean was first a teacher, then a doctor and later a pastor in the Evangelical Association. While practising the medical profession, he lived in Linwood, Ontario, and it was during this period that he erected the puzzle stone. He later married for a third time, lived in New York and Iowa and was lost at sea off the coast of Cuba in 1904. He was clearly a brilliant man with a searching mind who found pleasure in conundrums similar to that found on this gravestone.

Henrietta and Susanna Bean were the first two wives of Samuel Bean. Henrietta Fury was born in Philadelphia in 1842 and married Samuel Bean there early in 1865. She died 27 September 1865, after seven months of marriage. Her funeral card was a puzzle similar to the pictured stone, with 19 letters across and 19 down. The reader started with the middle letter and read outward in a spiral. The card read:

In memoriam Henriettah Furry Bean born in Penn. married in Philadelphia to Samuel Bean, M.D. and went with him to Canada leaving all her friends behind - Died in Linwood the 27th of Sep. 1865 after an illness of 11 weeks, aged 23 years, 2 months and 17 days, she was a model wife, 1 of 1000 - much regretted by her sorrowing husband and all who knew her - Lived a godly life for 5 years and died happy in the Lord - Peace be to her ashes - So mote it be. 1

Samuel Bean's second wife was Susanna Clegg, who had been born between Wellesley and Crosshill in 1840. She and Samuel had a daughter, also named Susanna, before he was bereaved a second time on 27 April 1867.

The two wives are buried side by side. Their husband prepared a cryptogram, similar although not identical to that on Henrietta's funeral card. It was 15 letters across, and 15 down and carved on a white marble stone. The reader must solve the puzzle by reading in a zig-zag fashion. It says (with several spelling discrepancies):

In memoriam Henrietta, Ist wife of S. Bean, M.D. who died 27th Sep. 1865, aged 23 years, 2 months and 17 days and Susanna his 2nd wife who died 27th April, 1867, aged 26 years, 10 months and 15 days, 2 better wives 1 man never had, they were gifts from God but are now in Heaven. May God help me so to meet them there. Reader! meet us in heaven.

The inscription was first decoded by cemetery caretaker John Hammond in 1947. The Victorian stone has weathered badly. Wellesley Township and the Wellesley Historical Society were responsible for the duplication of the unusual marker, this time in durable gray granite. The letters are picked out in black, so that anyone wishing to study and solve the puzzle may do so with ease. The duplicate was erected in 1982.

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BEAN, SAMUEL was born in Wilmot Township on March 24, 1844, the fifth son of Abraham and Susannah Bean. For some years he taught school, and then decided to enter the medical profession. His card appeared in March 8, 1867: "Samuel Bean M. D. Graduate of the Eclectic College of Pennsylvania Is now permanently located in Linwood and prepared to practice Physic Surgery and Midwifery"

He speaks German and English.(1)The Eclectic Medical College of Pennsylvania was a diploma mill owned by a man named Buchanan providing bogus medical diplomas, for which the usual fee was about $75. Bean's name is on a list of the names of Buchanan's "graduates" which appeared in the Philadelphia Bulletin, but does not appear on the Ontario Medical Register.(2) He is said to have practiced in Linwood for a few years, probably not more than two or three as he was licensed as a minister of the Evangelical Church in 1868, and was active in the New York and Iowa conferences.

By 1893 he was listed as practising in Bronson, Florida, where he was also engaged in fruit farming. For a short time he located in Ellzey, Florida, before returning to Bronson. His notice there in 1900 included the fact that he had attended lectures in Syracuse, Kansas.(3) On January 28, 1904, on a return trip from Cuba, the boat capsized and he was lost. It was reported that all efforts to recover the body were unavailing. He is best known for the cryptic epitaph marking the grave of his first two wives, regarding which further details may be found in the W. H. S. report for 1982 -. vol. 70 p. 114. & Vol. 71 pg. 10

(1) Canada Maple Leaf & North Wellington Family Chronicle, Glenallan.
(2) Canada Lancet October 1, 1880
(3) Polk's Medical Directory.

Doctors in Waterloo County

Samuel — Anna Maria Wankmiller. Anna was born 3 Mar 1843, , New York State, USA; died 14 Jun 1904; was buried , Coulter Cemetery, Bronson, Levy, Florida, United States. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Anna Maria Bean
• Name: Maria Wankmiller
• Eby ID Number: 00008-995.3

Other Events:

• Land: Waterloo Township - Biehn's Tract Lot 01, Waterloo County, Ontario
• Eby ID Number: 00008-978

Notes:

Abraham Biehn, " the second in the family, was born February 28th, 1804. He was married to Nancy Latschaw, and after her death to Susannah Graybill who died in Hay Township, Huron County, October 2nd, 1885, aged 75 years, 10 months, and 7 days. They resided in Blandford, Oxford County, Ontario, where he died March 5th, 1858. To them was born a family of eleven children"


Eby, Ezra E. (1895). A biographical history of Waterloo township and other townships of the county: being a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin: as also much other unpublished historical information chiefly of a local character. Berlin [Kitchener, Ont.]: [s.n.].

Abraham — Susannah Graybill. Susannah was born 26 Nov 1809, , USA; died 10 Feb 1885, Hay Twp., Huron Co., Ontario, Canada; was buried , Emmanuel Evangelical United Brethern Cemetery, Zurich, Huron Co., Ontario. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Susannah Biehn
• Eby ID Number: 00008-978.2

Other Events:

• FindAGrave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/41603273
• Name: John Biehn
• Eby ID Number: 00008-976
• Land: Bef 1831, Waterloo Township - Biehn's Tract Lot 01, Waterloo County, Ontario

Notes:

John Biehn, " the eldest son of John and Barbara (Fried)Biehn, was born in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, in 1776. In 1799 he was married to Nancy, daughter of Abraham and Mary (Hoch) Bechtel. In 1800 they with his parents and family, and others moved to Canada and settled in Waterloo County where now is the village of Doon. Here they resided until their deaths. Their family consisted of seven children."

Eby, Ezra E. (1895). A biographical history of Waterloo township and other townships of the county: being a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin: as also much other unpublished historical information chiefly of a local character. Berlin [Kitchener, Ont.]: [s.n.].

Johannes married Anna "Nancy" Bechtel 1799. Anna (daughter of Abraham Bechtel and Mary Hoch) was born CA 1777, , Montgomery Co., Pennsylvania; died , Doon (Kitchener), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• FindAGrave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/67850383
• Name: Anna "Nancy" Biehn
• Name: Nancy Bechtel
• Eby ID Number: 00007-0810

Notes:

Anna Bechtel "daughter of IV Abraham and Mary (Hoch) Bechtel, was married to John Biehn. They resided at Doon, Ontario, where they had a family of seven children".

Eby, Ezra E. (1895). A biographical history of Waterloo township and other townships of the county: being a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin: as also much other unpublished historical information chiefly of a local character. Berlin [Kitchener, Ont.]: [s.n.].