My father, James G. Francis, received a letter from a relative named Mrs. Nora Collins in 1957. In that letter Mrs. Collins stated that our ancestor John Francis married a "Miss Baity, who was reared on the banks of the Potomac River near where the old White House stands." It is not certain whether Mrs. Collins was intending to write Baity (which would be Beaty/Beatty), or Baily. The belief has been that she was writing Baity (Beatty). John Francis left a will in 1822 in which he gave the first name of his wife. Her first name was Jane. If what I have suggested in reliable then the name of the wife of John Francis was Jane Beatty. Mrs. Colllins stated that Miss Beatty was reared on the banks of the Potomac near where the old White House stands. It is known that there was a large Beatty family in and around the Georgetown, Maryland area. So the statement that Miss Beatty was reared on the banks of the Potomac near where the old White House (President's House)stands could well have been true. However, a letter from Prince George's County, Maryland Genealogical Society states that the reference to the old White House refers, not to the President's House, but to a large white wood frame house as opposed to a log structure, or a brick structure. If this is true then Miss Beatty could have been reared anywhere along the Potomac River. Whatever the case, there was a very prominent Beatty family in Maryland. The family was descended from Susannah Beatty who settled on land received from Daniel Dulany in Frederick County, Maryland. Susannah Beatty was the widow of John Beatty of Ulster County, New York. John Beatty was born in Ireland. By 1691 he was in Ulster County, New York. He married Susannah Ashfordby, daughter of William Ashfordby, 7 November, 1691. He died in 1720. John and Susannah Beatty were the parents of Robert Beatty (born 1692), William Beatty (born 1695), Charles Beatty (born 1698), John Beatty (born 1701), Thomas Beatty (born 1703), Edward Beatty, James Beatty (born1709), Henry Beatty (born 1711), Agnes Beatty, and Martha Beatty. After the death of John Beatty, his widow went to Frederick County, Maryland. 17 July, 1732, she purchased 1,000 acres of land from Daniel Dulany. The land was a land was a portion of the tract known as Dulany's Lot. 21 May, 1733 S
sannah Beatty purchased from John Stoddard 939 acres in the same area of Frederick County. Susannah Beatty died during the early months of 1745. By the time of her death her oldest son, Robert Beatty was already deceased. In her will she included his children, giving to them the portion of their father's inheritance. His children were John Beatty, Maria Beatty, Susanna Beatty, Edward Beatty, George Beatty, Margaret Beatty, and Jane Beatty. Thomas and Charles became the most prominent of the Beatty sons. Thomas remained in Frederick County and Charles went to Georgetown. Three Beatty men settled briefly in Washington County, Tennessee from 1783 to 1813. Their names were Robert Beatty, William Beatty, and John Beatty. John Beatty was killed at the Battle of King's Mountain. These three men entered Washington County from Lee County, Virginia. They were sons of Edward Beatty of Huntingdon County,Pennsylvania. Edward Beatty was the son of Robert Beatty, the oldest son of John and Susannah Ashfordby Beatty. Edward Beatty married Eleanor Anne Martin 6 June, 1751. The children of Edward and Anne Beatty were William Beatty, Robert Beatty, Agnes Beatty, Richard Beatty, Edward Beatty, Patrick Beatty, Martin Beatty, and Thomas Beatty. I can not say with any certainty, but there is a strong possibility that Jane Beatty, the wife of John Francis, may have been a daughter of one of the three Beatty men who settled briefly in Washington County, Tennessee. No records support that theory. But it is still possible. The only record of such a marriage may be locked away in a dusty Family Bible in the bottom of a box of forgotten books in the attic of someone only distantly related to this family.
