Maj. William Beavers
There appear to have been no Beavers family in Pittsylvania County Virginia before William Beavers married Nancy McDaniel here on February 8, 1790. Nancy was the daughter of Anne McDaniel, widow of Capt. William McDaniel of Halifax County. Anne’s husband owned 482 acres of land on Sandy Creek of Dan River when he died in 1778. Anne and her unmarried children moved to this land northwest of Danville just after the Revolutionary War. Nancy’s oldest brother was killed in 1776 in Tennessee and another brother Capt. William McDaniel, the younger, served during the Revolution. A third brother, Capt. John Clement McDaniel participated in the Battle of Guilford Courthouse and was present at the surrender at Yorktown.

On August 5, 1792, William Beavers bought a 285-acre tract, which was east of and adjoining Anne McDaniel’s land. A short time later, a jury met on September 29, 1792 to view the land where Anne McDaniel who owned land of both sides of the creek proposed to build a water powered grist mill. William, Anne’s deceased husband, built and operated a mill on the Banister River in Halifax County. McDaniel owned 38 slaves, some of which undoubtedly worked at his mill. Anne was a wealthy widow who had the means to buy equipment for the mill, but it is likely that William Beavers oversaw the construction. When the mill was rebuilt twenty years later in 1812, a court document approved and application for William Beavers to rebuild the mill “formerly built by him.” William and Nancy Beavers had two children before she died in 1795, just five years after their marriage. The first child was Mary Beavers who married James Gatewood on July 28, 1800. Their son William Beavers Junior inherited all his father’s lands on Sandy Creek. This tract with a sawmill and gristmill increased to 782 acres (565 acres after a dower for his stepmother) before William Senior died.

In 1802, William Beavers Sr. built another mill and married a second wife. The February Court approved his application to build a mill on the Banister River near Chatham on the land he purchased from Thomas Davis. On March 1, 1802, Beavers married Elizabeth Fontaine (c1762-1851). Elizabeth was young and outlived her husband by 29 years.
William Beavers Junior received ownership of the mill through his father’s will written in 1817 and proved in 1822. This William, who apparently never married, appears to have had nothing but trouble and financial problems with Beavers’ Mill on Sandy Creek. In 1823, James Soyars claimed that William Beavers, the elder, owed him $4,000 for a note “executed in his lifetime.” From the court records it appears that William Jr. was shortly in trouble with the courts. He put up the land and mills as security for loans from several prominent citizens and could not repay them. In 1824, he was “in custody of Sheriff James M. Williams.” Leonard Claiborne, Capt. John Noble, Jeduthan Carter, and William Robertson were asserting their right and claim to “two tracts of land with appetencies heretofore conveyed” (by deed of trust). The tract on Sandy Creek was described as “785 acres with a water gristmill and sawmill.” (one third of the tract was reserved as a dower for his stepmother Elizabeth, leaving 565 acres). He had a clause that he “would have the right to take the profits of the mill for himself until the 14th day of June 1827.” For some reason, the creditors did not get the land, perhaps his half brothers paid off the creditors. In 1826, William Jr. was back in jail and the land was ordered sold for three liens.

The 1792 mill may have been out of service for many years before it was rebuilt in 1812. The old 16-foot wooden water wheel had sunk deep in the water and clay to bedrock either during or after a fire destroyed the mill. Archeological evidence shows that many levels of sand deposit from successive flooding had built up over the remains of the massive water wheel. Each of these horizontal bands of flooded sand was between an inch and small fractions of an inch. This sand was built up about four feet above the remaining part of the water wheel. At this level was a layer of charcoal with a rock floor immediately on top of burned wood. The floor extended our over a portion of the wide wheel. We believe that this sediment built up over much of the time between 1792 and 1812 when the mill was rebuilt. A third mill was then built on the ashes of the second mill. We believe that the remains of the wheel that was recovered are from the 1792 mill. The wood has sharp edges and the wood and wooden pegs in places look much like new wood. The gray clay sediment has almost perfectly preserved the wood and metal. below the water level. Contemporary expert opinion of the 1830’s state that wooden water wheels exposed to daily use and air rarely lasted beyond eight years without extensive repairs. The recovered wood from this wheel shows very little evidence of rot or deterioration. This evidence suggests that the wheel never worked properly or was used only a short time.

Further generations of Beavers and the Mill:

William Beavers Junior received ownership of the mill through his father’s will written in 1817 and proved in 1822. This William, who apparently never married, appears to have had nothing but trouble and financial problems with Beavers’ Mill on Sandy Creek. In 1823, James Soyars claimed that William Beavers, the elder, owed him $4,000 for a note “executed in his lifetime.” From the court records it appears that William Jr. was shortly in trouble with the courts. He put up the land and mills as security for loans from several prominent citizens and could not repay them. In 1824, he was “in custody of Sheriff James M. Williams.” Leonard Claiborne, Capt. John Noble, Jeduthan Carter, and William Robertson were asserting their right and claim to “two tracts of land with appetencies heretofore conveyed” (by deed of trust). The tract on Sandy Creek was described as “785 acres with a water gristmill and sawmill.” (one third of the tract was reserved as a dower for his stepmother Elizabeth, leaving 565 acres). He had a clause that he “would have the right to take the profits of the mill for himself until the 14th day of June 1827.” For some reason, the creditors did not get the land, perhaps his half brothers paid off the creditors. In 1826, William Jr. was back in jail and the land was ordered sold for three liens.

Written by Danny Ricketts.