Some of the greatest adventures begin at home. Specifically in a few boxes stored in your garage for too many years without being touched. In my case, those boxes had been in my garage for three years. My dad passed away three years ago and I brought family paperwork home, but never got through it. I finally started the process last August and found a treasure trove of information on my ancestry.
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It started with an old letter. When I carefully opened it I discovered a letter written after the Spanish Flu had gripped the nation. The similarities to the author’s feelings and relevance to our current 2020 experiences completely distracted me from my tasks. I dug deeper and found the letter to tell a mother that her son was killed fighting in the Civil War. Near the bottom of the box, I found information about a treasure hidden by Thomas Jefferson Beale. TJ is an ancestor on my paternal grandmother’s side.
Intrigued I googled the “treasure” with a great amount of skepticism. I found a lot of information. Apparently, this is quite the case for treasure hunters since the late 1800s. The subject of many historical shows and even rumored to be the story inspiring the movie National Treasure. There were a lot of theories about the treasure and TJB himself. Digging deeper I found that he led the militia of businessmen in the Battle of New Orleans. The Library of Congress even houses letters between TJB and President Andrew Jackson.
Intrigued I continued to dig deeper. I found his grandfather was given the title colonel directly after the Revolutionary War by George Washington himself. This was after (grandpa) Thomas Jefferson Beale was considered loyal (and close) to the King of England. Leading me deeper into American history and to Washington’s Culper Spy Ring. That is a lot of history for a family name few recognize, right?
It doesn’t end there, after taking our items to Florida storage, we stopped in Winslow, AZ on the way home. We decided to “stand on the corner” and stretch our legs. In the process, we found a mention of Edward F “Ned” Beale. Ned forged the trail westward via the Beale Wagon Trail by camel (yes, you read that correctly). Much of the trail later became Route 66.
Impressive on its own, but Ned’s contribution to American history did not end there. Ned and Scout Kit Carson crawled through brush to get back up during the Mexican-American War. Reportedly after losing their shoes.
Ned was appointed to positions by five Presidents over his tenure as an explorer/politician/businessman. Due to these positions his name has surrounded me living in the west. I have seen the roads, but assumed they were unrelated as I turned on Beale roads to meetings and saw Beale Library. Ned is a distant ancestor, but definitely related.
Historians have even credited Ned with convincing President Lincoln not to institute a draft for California during the Civil War. Ned feared it would swing the war to benefit the Confederacy since California had sent thousands to fight for them and a mere handful to the Union.
In the research I found that Ned and I have likely grabbed a drink at the same bar in Genoa, NV. Yes, Genoa Bar in northern Nevada is that old. Although it would’ve been new when Ned grabbed his drink, it is the same bar top and same diamond dust mirror behind the bar!
It all sounds crazy, right? I have a lot more research to do, but I invite you along as my husband, dogs and I travel to the locations these people called home in hopes of discovering the rest of the story and dig into the rest of the boxes. That’s right, I haven’t been through all of it yet.
No, I don’t think there is a cave filled with gold at the end of this, but the memories and discovery of my roots will be incredible! But the internet sleuths seem to think my family Bible holds the key to the cipher so who knows!
First stop is New Orleans where Thomas Jefferson Beale owned a gambling hall and fought in the Battle of New Orleans.
You can follow along here or on Instagram Stories.
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