Thank you for that information, Diane. I'm sorry to hear that both Tricia and Elizabeth are no longer with us.
Well I can at least provide some information in their memory. I've been delving into the Beans for the last week or so as part of my own research. To be honest, I didn't even know there was a connection to Custer until last night. Still, this is what I've been able to find due to Tricia and Elizabeth's leads here.
First off, according to Mark Katz' book on Custer images, this is Custer and Libbie in a photograph with Cora Bean taken on October 23, 1864:
Katz found a version of this image in the New York Public Library where it is attached to some other Custer images:
Now, as part of my own research, I've been researching a woman named Cara L. Bean. Her unique name caused a lot of confusion. She was often called Carrie and sometimes Cora. Complicating things future was the fact that she had a second cousin named Cora L. Bean. When I first found this image, I assumed it was the cousin of my subject. However, the cousin Cora was only born in 1858. If this picture was taken in 1864 as claimed by Katz, this couldn't have been Cora as she was only 6 years old at the time. The person in the photograph is definitely older than that. So, I believe that this is actually Cara Bean. Elizabeth's post saying that Custer called her Cara fits perfectly and even the notation at the bottom of the NYPL montage looks like it might actually say Cara.
Cara Louise Bean was born on December 22, 1842, in New York. She often lied about her age to the census takers over the years to appear younger, which really threw a wrench in my research at times. She was the daughter of Aaron Hook Bean and Maria Louise Remer. Her father was a New Hampshire native who moved to New York where he and his brother Moses Dudley Bean were engaged as liquor dealers. They also had their hands in other business ventures which found them success and wealth. The Bean brothers traveled a lot, often visiting Washington D.C. where their cousin, Moses Hook Bean, operated a hotel that Aaron had part ownership in. During the Civil War, Aaron Bean had made enough money that he essentially retired and moved his family to a large estate across the Hudson River from West Point. Since the family had plenty of money, young Cara Bean quickly became a known socialite. In 1861, she traveled from New York to Washington and attended Abraham Lincoln's inaugural ball. A drawing of "Carrie Bean" in her ball dress appeared on the cover of Frank Leslie's Illustrated magazine:
She was a common visitor in D.C., staying for long periods of time in the capital sometimes accompanied by her mother. She often stayed at the National Hotel where she rubbed elbows with the likes of Vice Presidents, Senators, Generals, and their families. I still don't know where or how Cara became acquainted with Libbie or Custer, but from the photograph, it's clear they became close.
While often assumed to be sisters, Fanny Ellen Bean was actually a cousin of Cara's. Fanny was the daughter of Moses Dudley Bean and his wife Mary Curtis. Fanny was born in about 1843, making her and Cora practically the same age. With their fathers in business together, the cousins had grown up together. Cara and Fanny Bean are shown living in the same home with the rest of their families in the 1850 and 1860 censuses. Neither woman married and the two later lived together for many years at The Albany apartments in New York City. When Fanny Bean died in 1899 she left a good chunk of her estate to her cousin, Cara.
From Leckie's book, we learn that Custer took Fanny and Cara out to see actress Maggie Mitchell while she was performing at Niblo's Garden in March and April of 1866. I can confirm that she was performing in the city during that time. Leckie also described how the trio attended a Bal d'Opera at the Academy of Music on April 5, 1866. This was essentially a masquerade ball. Custer later wrote to Libbie noting that his caricature had been drawn by noted cartoonist Thomas Nast and was published in Harper's Weekly. Custer stated he was dressed as, "the Devil, the only one". If you look closely at
Nast's drawing of the masquerade ball in the April 14, 1866 edition of Harper's Weekly, you can see what appears to be a single devil.
I imagine this must be Custer.
The only other reference that I have found between the Beans and the Custers is when Custer was buried at West Point in 1876. Cora Bean is noted among the funeral attendees as one of the people who cared for the grieving Libbie. In the 1870 census, Cara was shown living at her father's estate across the river from West Point, so her attendance makes perfect sense.
To be honest, I'm not a Custer expert and know very little about the man. I'm actually a researcher of Lincoln's assassination. My dive into Cara Bean came from a reference that states that John Wilkes Booth ate breakfast at the National Hotel with "Miss Carrie Bean" on the morning of April 14, 1865. It was in trying to determine who this Carrie Bean was that I stumbled upon this Custer connection. I'm working on a full post about Cara Bean for my blog (LincolnConspirators.com) but keep finding more interesting stuff like this Custer connection that I want to know more about. In addition to knowing the Custers and John Wilkes Booth, Cara Bean also attended the wedding of Robert Todd Lincoln and Mary Harlan in 1868. Cara had befriended Harlan through their shared residence at the National Hotel.
If anyone knows any other references to either Cara/Cora Bean or Fanny Bean in the Custer scholarship, I'd love to know.
Thanks,
Dave Taylor
