William Beale was born in Gloucestershire around 1640, moved to Ross, Herefordshire and became a committed Quaker.1 He is often said to be a son of William and Susanna Beale of Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, whose house was a meeting place for Quakers as early at 1655. Since William and Susanna had a son William baptized in 1641 it is easy to see how the William Beale of Ross might fit in their family.2 However the records of Nailsworth Meeting show that William Beale, presumably the son of William and Susanna, married Hannah Carter in 1668 and had three children with her.3 These records overlap with the time when William Beale of Ross was marrying and having children.4

William of Ross had become a Quaker by 1660. In that year at Ross, “James Merrick, Thomas Atkins, John Merrick, William Beale …(and eleven more) were taken from the Meeting, others in the street, and some from their own houses, and committed to the Marshall’s custody: Next day the Oath of Allegiance were tendered them by a Justice of the Peace, who sent them to Prison for refusing it. Six of these were very poor men, having families dependent on their labour, for one of whom, when five persons in compassion offered to be bound, the Justice refused it.”5

Four years later William Beale “of the parish of Tufley county of Gloucestershire”, married Ellinor Bellamy, daughter of Guy Bellamy, late of Ross on second month (April) third day, 1664.6 The marriage certificate was signed by Thomas Merrick, James Merrick, William Fisher and John Caton. Tuffley is a small town about twenty miles from Ross, across the Severn in Gloucestershire. It is unlikely that William moved from Ross to Tuffley and back again between 1660 and 1665. More likely the marriage record showed his birthplace or where he was living before he moved to Ross, not where he was living at the time. In the marriage record William is shown as a cordwainer, a skilled shoemaker. In 1665 William Beale was taxed at Ross-on-Wye for three hearths.7

The general meeting also recorded the birth of three sons of William and Elinor between 1664 and 1669, named Alexander, William, and John.8 In 1670 Elinor died, leaving William with at least one young child to raise. 9 There is no record that he married again. He was still in Ross in 1683 when goods were taken him to the value of £12 7s 10d, along with six other Friends.10 He was an active member of the meeting, serving as a witness to marriages from 1677 through 1693, most of the recorded marriages of Ross Meeting.11 William died in Ross in 7^th month (September) 1694, still a member of Ross Meeting.12

William and Elinor had three known children: 13

Alexander, b. 5^th 11^th month 1664, no further record

William, b. 21^st 6^th month 1667, emigrated before 1685, d. 1714 in PA, m. Elizabeth —

John, b. 18^th 7^th month 1669, no further record

There are no further records of Alexander and John. William born in 1667 is probably the one who appears in Pennsylvania in 1685. He is a Quaker of the right age. He first bought land in Pennsylvania in 1688, when he would have been 21. He named his own sons Alexander and John, matching the names of his brothers. John is a ubiquitous name at the time, but Alexander is uncommon.14