Captain William "Billy" Bean

Note the handsome and dashing Captain Billy Bean! He is the 7th Great Grandfather of Bill, Laura, John, and Harry Reed. ( John Bright Culbertson's Great Grandfather - in- law)

Captain William 'Billy' Bean (1721-1782) son of William Bean and Elizabeth Hatton was the first recorded permanent white settler in what later became the state of Tennessee. While settled in Pittsylvania (Danville) County, Virginia he traveled to Holston country on hunting expeditions with Daniel Boone. In 1768 he cleared some land and built a cabin on Boone's Creek of the Watauga River in an area where he understood the hunting was good. The next year he brought his family to the lower Watauga. He was soon joined by his brothers-in-law, George and John Russell, and by other relatives and friends from southern Virginia. His son Russell was the first recorded white born in Tennessee. William is said to have been "a man of parts", having been a substantial landowner in Pittsylvania County and a Captain in the Virginia militia. Members of the Bean family were prominent in civil and military affairs in the Watauga Valley for many years. The colony was outside of any governmental control so they founded the Watuaga Association. In the fall of 1775 the Wautuga residents held a conference and decided to side with the American cause. A committee was formed that included William and they declared themselves the "Washington District." In 1776 an ordinance was appended to the North Carolina Constitution appointed William and 20 other individuals as Justices of the Peach for the Washington District. He served in the Revolutionary War from 1776 to1780 as a Captain in the Watauga Riflemen. At the Battle of Kings Mountain, Captain Bean and his man scattered a band of Tories and hanged 9 of them. His last will and testament was signed in 6 January 1782, four months prior to his death.