I found an article or two about Jacob Hubert Henry Beu in my grandfather's (Otto George Beu I) papers after he died. Following is some info I was able to put together by researching and talking to lots of folks, many direct descendants of Jacob Hubert Henry Beu.

I've spoken extensively with Eric Ritter, grandson of Bertha Beu-Ritter daughter of JHHB; corresponded by email with Sam Frimmel, son of Martha Beu-Frimmel daughter of JHHB; visited a couple of times in Fiskdale, MA with George H. Beu, son of JHHB's son Frank Charles; spoken by phone and met with Michelle Beu, grand daughter of Charles Frank Beu, son of JHHB. I was lucky enough to visit with Michelle's brother, Ricky, before his death in 2003. I've also met with Roy Johnson, Jr., son of Alma Beu-Johnson, daughter of JHHB.

On June 4, 1881 Jacob Hubert Henry Beu married Elizabeth Meinel (b. August 16, 1858 d.1906.) His obituary says that he had twelve children: Mary E., Annie S., Harry O., Charles F., Frank C., Elizabeth, Hugo, Bertha, Clara, Martha, and Alma. Yep, I know that only adds up to eleven but those are the only names listed in the article below. Also, I've heard that there were actually 13 children he fathered. I believe that he had all of these children with Elizabeth.

Now for the juicy 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, who was living in Philadelphia! It gets better......the rumor was that the children of Henry and Elizabeth didn't like the idea of their aunt becoming their step-mother. Well, it appears to be true, as by looking at the death certificate of Mr. Beu, his daughter Bertha listed Elizabeth as Mr. Beu's spouse, even though Elizabeth had died nearly 35 years before Mr. Beu! Stubborn, eh? Revenge is slow but sweet! The children referred to their aunt/step-mother as "tauntinina." She didn't care so much for them either and moved back to Philadelphia.

Though Wheeling is considered to be his home during Henry Beu's adult life, there is a quite a bit of documentation and anecdotal information that indicates that he traveled quite a bit and had homes and property in other areas. Toward the later years of his life, Grospop traveled among several cities in the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and West Virginia area.

His children and their families were living in Wheeling, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia and he had a brother and various nieces and nephews in New Jersey.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. I believe that Jacob Hubert Henry Beu (the sculptor known as Grospop) was a brother to my great great grandfather, Ocscar, father of my great grandfather, Otto. In fact, I have a note from a grandson of JHHB, Sam Frimmel, that says that Grosop lived in Barrington, NJ in a bungalow next to his brother Oscar and Grospop would go next door to have dinner with Oscar and his wife Anna.

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From "History of Wheeling City and Ohio County, West Virginia and Representative Citizens," by Hon. Gibson Lamb Cranmer, 1902. Typed by E.J. Heinemann p. 631

JACOB HUBERT HENRY BEU, an expert modeller of chinaware, enjoys the reputation of being one of the best workmen in his line, not only in the city of Wheeling, West Virginia, where he resides, but in the United States as well.

He was born in Germany, November 7, 1855, and was educated in private institutions of learning. He served in the German army during 1876-1878, being enlisted in the 2nd Hanover Infantry Regiment No. 77. He learned the modeller's trade under the tutelage of his father and other noted modellers of the old world, and in 1881 left his native soil to seek a home in the United States of America. He located at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, subsequently in New York City and Trenton, New Jersey, the pottery center of the East, and thence came to Wheeling, West Virginia, where he has since resided in the first ward. Soon after his arrival, his ability as a modeller of chinaware was recognized and his services sought by many of the leading potteries of the country. His designs were so unique and original that he is now employed exclusively by one firm, the Wheeling Pottery Company, of Wheeling, West Virginia.

On June 4, 1881, Mr. Beu was joined in marriage with Elizabeth Meinel, who was born August 16, 1858, and is a daughter of Jacob August Meinel, born in Mecklenburg, and Maria (Buckholtz) Meinel, born in Lauenburg, Germany. Mr. Meinel learned railroad engineering, which he followed on the Berlin & Hamburg Railroad for a period of twenty-five years without an accident. He finally discontinued railroading and went into a cement factory at Luneburg, which proved a most unfortunate change for him. January 21, 1875, while about his work, he was caught in the machinery and killed, having attained the age of forty-eight years. Henry Buckholtz, the maternal grandfather of Mrs. Beu, remained in Germany, where he conducted a jewelry store, which has been in the family and has passed from father to son for a period of seven hundred years.

Mr. Beu's paternal grandfather, Wilhelm Beu, was a farmer by occupation; the King of the Prussia served as the godfather at the baptism of the latter's seventh son. Twelve children have been born to Henry Beu and his faithful wife: Mary E.; Annie S.; Harry O.; Charles F.; Frank C.; Elizabeth; Hugo; Bertha; Clara; Martha; and Alma. The family belong to the St. John's German Independent Protestant church of Wheeling.

Mr. Beu is not unmindful of his duties as a citizen and entered upon his political career, January 26, 1901, when he was elected on the Republican ticket, a member of the second branch of the city council. He is now serving on the important committees of finance, water and real estate, being chairman of the latter. He has distinguished himself by his zealous work for the new electric town clock and the wiring of the city building for the use of electricity. Mr. Beu is a prominent member of the German Reading Society of Wheeling, an organizer of the German American Soldiers' Association, and belongs to the Royal Arcanum.