Charles Bean Jr. was born in Marion, NY on April 21, 1863 to Charles and Cloa Maria Danford Bean. Charles Sr. was born in England and came to Sodus at the age of 10; eight years later the family moved to Geneva. Charles Sr. supplemented his early education at the Geneva Academy and later attended lectures at the Geneva Medical College after being influenced by his brother-in-law who was a surgeon in the US Army. He moved to NYC and this is where he met and married Cloa Danford. Cloa was the granddaughter of Joshua Danford who was a sergeant in Colonel Reed’s New Hampshire regiment during the American Revolution.

Their only son, Charles Jr., spent his early years in NYC, educated for a short time in Prattsburgh and moved with his family to Geneva in 1874. At age 12, he received his preparatory education for college at the Union School from which he moved to Hobart College to receive his Bachelor of Science. After receiving a Bachelor of Philosophy from Syracuse University and a Master of Arts from Allegheny College, Charles studied law with his uncle Major John E Bean who had been practicing in Geneva for thirty years.

Charles lived most of his life in Geneva, though he maintained family property in Prattsburgh. At the time of his death in 1938, Syracuse University published a piece in their Alumni News Magazine listing all the organizations Charles was involved in, for a total of 28. About half of them were fraternal organizations, his father also being an ardent member of some masonic orders, which may explain a few odd occurrences surrounding him.

Charles was published in all manner of places including legal journals and fraternity publications. He also self-published the Delphian Record through the Genesee Historical Federation (though this also seems to be a Bean original) and then a number of booklets related to history and Geneva including “Four Centennials,” “Historic Homesteads in Geneva,” “The Law of Fraternities and Societies,” “Orations and Addresses on Various Occasions,” “Geneva Historical,” “The SAR and the Sesquicentennial,” and more. His publications included his own “Reminiscences” which went through at least four editions.

Charles never married and died with no children to pass on his biography. However, many "histories" that Charles told contained untruths and exaggerations. For a full biography, please download the finding aid or visit the links included with this collection.