The following is from Jo Martin's WorldConnect page (database=idahojo.ged)
John Beales III was born in Nottingham Township, Chester Co., PA. He gr ew to adolescence in his parents' homes in Nottingham and Chester Townshi ps in Chester Co., before moving with them in 1733 to the newly formed se ttlement of Friends in Prince George's County (now Frederick Co.) MD. Th is is where he married Margaret Hunt. She was born in Bucks Co., PA the o ldest child of William and Mary Woolman Hunt.
After their marriage, John and Margaret moved across the Potomac to the Hopewell settlement of Friends in Frederick Co., VA. Frederick Co. Deed Book 1, p.58 shows that on March 1, 1743, John purchased 165 acres of land for six pounds from his brother-in-law John Mills. He remained on it at least eleven years before he sold the same tract on 5 Nov 1754 for five shillings to a fellow Friend, Benjamin Thornburgh. John sold at a considerable loss, but it may be that the rumors of the Indian War that did beg in 1755 impelled him to wish to move his family farther south and join his brothers and sisters in NC.
The records of New Garden MM of Friends in Guilford Co., NC show that John Beales and his family were received from Hopewell MM, VA the 27th of the 5th month, 1758, on certificate granted the month before. The same records show, however that John was already living in the area earlier in the same year. Once at New Garden, John, like the rest of the Hunts and Beales and their kin, became active in Quaker affairs, serving on committees and attending quarterly and yearly meetings. This did not preclude an occasional lapse from grace. The New Garden MM Minutes for 27th of 1st Month, 1759, show that "John Beales, having some time ago drunk strong liquor to excess, now signifies his sorrow therefore in a paper produced to this meeting which is accepted for satisfaction and Hurr MIlls is appointed to read it publicly at the close of a first day meeting at Deep River and make report to the next meeting."
The records of Center MM show that John Beals died 17th of 4th month, 1796 in his eightieth year and was buried at New Garden, Guilford Co. NC. Surviving land records from Rowan Co., NC of which Guilford Co. was a part until 1771, show that John Beales took up land in the vicinity of what is now Jamestown in 1756. Later it appears that John and Margaret moved a few miles east to the vicinity of Center Friends Meetinghouse. The log cabin that John build late in the 1750's was still standing and being used as a shed as late as the 1940's. A photograph of it is in the Friends Historical Collection at Guilford College in Greensboro, NC.
