Beem, Neely

Neely, second child of Daniel and Mary Beem, was born in North Carolina February 13, 1788. He accompanied his parents from North Carolina to Kentucky, thence to the east fork of White river, where he doubtless participated in the exciting experiences of those days, but I do not now recall any incidents related of him while in Jackson County. He was married to Leah Storm. On the 25th day of March, 1817, Neely Beem, his wife and infant child and Levi Beem, then a boy fourteen years old, joined Enoch Beem and Abraham Henderson in the occupancy of the land on the west fork of White river which had been entered in September before, and began the making of a home for the family. Leah Beem was the first woman settler within the present limits of the town of Spencer. It has often been related how Leah Beem, on the first evening of their arrival here, having put her baby girl to sleep on a pallet near their camp fire, was startled by seeing a large snake, which had been warmed into activity by the fire, crawling out of a hollow log in the direction of her sleeping child. Neely Beem was a live, energetic man, and his activities in affairs appear in the early records of the county. He served as constable and deputy sheriff. He finally settled on land entered in Montgomery Township, but later moved to Spencer, where he died August 15, 1832. Children of Neely Beem and Leah Storm Beem: Lucinda, married first William McNeal, second William McCraw; Cynthia Ann, married to David Mull; Richard Neely, married first Celia Franklin. September 23, 1848; second, Permelia Owen; John Storm, married to Louisa Hartman; Mary (Polly), married to John S. Young; Elizabeth A., married to William Pedigo; William P., married to Louisa Wilson.

Source: David E. Beem, 1917. "Daniel Beem and his descendants"