Quick Facts
Biography
William Bean (December 9, 1721 – May 1782) was a Trans-Appalachian pioneer; longhunter; and Commissioner of North Carolina's Washington District.
Personal life
William Bean was born December 9, 1721 in St. Stephens Parish, Northumberland County, Virginia. In 1741 he married Lydia Russell (b. September 29, 1726). They were to become the future Tennessee area's first permanent European-American settlers; William was of Scottish descent and Lydia was of English descent.
Frontier settler
Bean was an associate of Daniel Boone's and a fellow longhunter. In 1769, he built a cabin close to the junction of Boone's Creek and the Watauga River, near what is today Johnson City, Tennessee. Bean may have visited the site with Boone, or Boone and a friend, Richard Callaway, when exploring as agents for Richard Henderson, a land speculator who later played an important role in the early settlement of Tennessee.
Later that year, the first child of permanent European-American settlers born in Tennessee, Russell Bean, was born there.
Later life
Bean's cabin soon attracted other pioneer families, who participated in the formation of the Watauga Association, a semi-autonomous colony.
After its formation in 1776, Bean was named a Commissioner of North Carolina's Washington District.
Death
Bean died in May 1782 at German Creek, Washington County, North Carolina (now Grainger County, Tennessee).
Namesake
Later relatives of Bean established what became Bean Station, in present-day Grainger County, Tennessee.