My great-grandfather, Otto Beu, is the fellow on the right with the mustache. His sister Freida is the second woman from the left and his brother Adolph is the third fellow from the left. The other two fellows on the left are Otto's brothers, Rudolf and Oscar, though I'm not certain which is which. . The older woman is thought to be their mother, Johanna. Otto was the second oldest son and married Elizabeth Thomas when he was about 25 years old. His brother Rudolph was about 6 years older and married Sophia Edmondson. Perhaps one of the women is Sophia.

As far back as I can be certain, my Beu lineage started with a fellow by the name of Otto Beu who was born in Philadelphia in 1880, according to a copy of his marriage license. His wife's name was Elizabeth Thomas. He and she were my my father's paternal grandparents. There is also a passenger list of the ship Australia that lists a 10 month-old Otto Beu as a passenger sailing from Hamburg, and arriving in the United States in 1881. I believe that that listing is when he was returning from Germany with his mother, sister Frieda, and brother Rudolph, after those members of the family went to Germany to show off the new-born Otto.

My great grandfather Otto's dad's name was Oscar Hubert, according to my great grandfather's death certificate, and his mother's was Johanna. They were both from Germany. Oscar Hubert's father, Anton, was from Benrath, just outside of Dusseldorf. My great grandfather's funeral book has notations indicating that flowers were sent by brothers Rudolph and family, brother Adolph J. (d. December 9, 1950), and brother Oscar J. (d. March 2, 1950). I have been in touch with Rudolph and Adolph's descendants, and welcome info from the others.

Otto and Elizabeth would have only one child, a son, who was my grandfather, Otto George Beu I. In my grandfather's early years, they lived at 4222 North 7th Avenue in Philadelphia. I don't know if they actually would have liked to have had more, but I'm certain that my grandfather kept them plenty busy and challenged.

My grandfather, Otto George Beu I, was born in 1906 and went to Temple at a young age. He graduated with a degree in book keeping in 1922 and was alumni number 9 in Temple's School of Business. In his adult life, he worked for Campbell's Soup and RCA in Camden, NJ, as comptroller for both companies.

As time went on, my grandfather married Myrtle Chisum. They had two children, Otto Bruce, my father (b. March 15, 1929 d. December 30, 1988) and Virginia (b. December 10, 1930, d. April 5, 1997.) Around 1936, Grandpa and Myrtle divorced and he married Mildred Battersby, from Upper Darby, PA, near Philadelphia. They lived in the Haddon Heights area of New Jersey until their deaths, his in 1977 and hers in 1999.

My aunt Virginia married Alan Gooderum and they had four children: Steven, Carole, Karen, and Laura. My father married my mother, Barbara Joy McCafferty and they had three children; me, Otto "George", Katherine Dean, and Frances Elizabeth.

My father, known as Bruce, met my mother, Barbara Joy McCafferty in San Francisco, shortly after his being discharged from the U.S. Navy, and in September of 1949 they married there. To pick up their story click here. They moved to Tacoma, Washington where I was born October 6,1950. I was the first born grandchild of Otto George I and shortly after my birth we moved to the Haddonfield/Audubon/Haddon Heights, NJ area where my father had grown up.

My sister Katherine Dean Beu was born in 1952 in Camden and we lived around Audubon, Haddonfield, Collingswood, and Lindenwold for several years. I attended Audubon Elementary for the first few months of kindergarten and we left Audubon in November of 1956 right after the birth of my sister Frances Elizabeth, November 2nd of that year. The reason for the move was so we could live with my mother's grandfather, William E. Callahan, at 613 South Oakes Street in Tacoma, to care for him during his declining health.

Another line of Beus that I've learned a lot about are the descendants of Henry Beu (b. November 7, 1855 d. 1944), who I believe arrived from Germany at the Port of Philadelphia in 1881. He is known to many in his family line as Grospop. He was a sculptor/potter who was born in Germany and lived in Philadelphia as well as Barrington and Trenton, NJ. He also lived in Wheeling, WV for a very long time, apparently from 1890-1944 or so when he died. The above link takes you to an exerpt from a book written in 1906 about the history of Wheeling and some of its citizenry. He apparently was very involved in his community. Several of his grandchildren are alive and well. In fact, one of them is named George Herbert Beu, and he lives near Sturbridge, Massachusetts. He and his wife, Rita, have been very helpful in compiling information on that line of the Beu family.

Though Wheeling is considered to be his home during his adult life, there is a quite a bit of documentation and anecdotal information that indicates that he traveled quite a bit and had homes in other areas, particularly Barrington, NJ. His connection to me appears to be that his brother Oscar Hubert was my great great grandfather. I have a note from one of Grospop's grandchildren, Sam Frimmel, son of Martha Beu, that says that Grosop lived in Barrington, NJ in a bungalow next to his brother Oscar.

And now for the interesting part-Grospop's first wife Elizabeth died in 1909. In 1913, a few months after her husband Frank Hochmuth, died, Grosop married his former sister-in-law, Anna Meinel-Hochmuth!