John Beal
YEAR-YEAR
In addition to artists, New Harmony from Harmonist days to the present, has had an abundant supply of artisans: capable people who build and create with their skillful hands. A good representative example would be John Beal.
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Born in 1797 in England, Beal married Roxie Ann Clark in 1829. A cabinetmaker/carpenter, he was recruited by William Maclure and arrived in New Harmony with Roxie and their baby on the "Boatload of Knowledge." He taught cabinet making in the School of Industry from 1827 to 1830. Before building the English-style house, now known as the Beal House, he repaired a number of Harmonist houses. He also built furniture including a cabinet in 1827 to hold a collection of Thomas Say's insects.
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In 1832, Beal bought a farm from Robert Dale Owen about a mile south of town. Sitting atop a hill on the Old Plank Road to Mt. Vernon, Indiana, it was for years known as the Beal Place. Beal's grandson, C.W. Slater, a Posey County newspaper editor, remembered living with the Beals on the farm where the orchard required no spraying and produced fantastic fruit.
His Life
September 2, 1783
Born in either Paris or Lyon, France
June 18, 1799
Marries Joseph Fretageot in Chalamont, France
October 24, 1812
Birth of son, Achille Emery Fretageot, in Paris
1818
Operating a school for girls in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
January 1819
Returns to France after deaths of her parents
January 24, 1820
Receives letter from William Maclure (this is the first surviving letter exchanged between Maclure and Fretageot)
July 1821
Sails again for the United States, leaving Achilles in Paris in a school run by Guillaume Phiquepal, a Pestalozzian-trained teacher
November 1821
Arrives in Philadelphia and organizes a school operated on Pestalozzian principles
1821 onward
Becomes interested in Robert Owen's ideas and serves as the chief promoter for them with members of the Academy of Natural Sciences
November 21, 1824
Meets Owen and attempts to convince Maclure to join forces with him in the New Harmony venture
December 1824
Phiquepal arrives in Philadelphia with Achilles and three other French boys
December 8, 1825
Departs from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as a member of the "Boatload of Knowledge"
January 23, 1826
Arrives at Mount Vernon, Indiana
September 1828
Maclure leaves for Mexico
December 25, 1831
Arrives in Paris and calls on Frances Wright d'Arusmont
February 1833
Arrives in Mexico and joins Maclure at Mexico City
August 24, 1833
Dies in Mexico
Quotations By and About Robert Owen
