I wondered why there was a notarized copy of a will from 1782 in the file cabinet we retrieved from my wife’s family home.  At least I know who William Bean, Sr., was:

Notes for William Bean, Sr.:
William Bean, Sr. was born in St. Stephen’s Par., Northumberland Co., VA on 9 Dec. 1721. His parents are believed to be William Bean and Elizabeth Hatton. He was known to be living on the Dan River in Virginia, however, between 1746 and 1753. From “Complete Book of Emigrants” by Peter W. Coldham, a William Beane is shown living at the Eastern Shore as early as 1624.

William Bean, Sr. and Lydia Russell were married in 1739 and probably in Virginia. William had helped found Bean Station about 1760 [near present-day Rogersville, Tennessee, where Davy Crockett’s grandparents are buried]. He sold his property in Halifax, VA on 26 Aug. 1766 and moved to Tennessee (or the Wautauga District of North Carolina) in 1769. There they built a cabin between Boone’s Creek and the Wautauga River. They were the first permanent settlers of this new country and their first son Russell was probably the first white child born in this region. William Bean, Sr. was Captain of the Wautauga Riflemen during the Revolutionary War.

Lydia’s brothers John and George Russell soon settled near them. Lydia was captured by Cherokee Indians while riding horseback and was tied up and set fire before an Indian friend, Nancy Ward, rescued her.

William Bean, Sr. died in Washington Co., TN in early 1782 (his will was signed 6 Jan. 1782 and proved 2 May 1782). His wife Lydia died sometime after 1818 in TN.

[from: http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/h/e/n/Michael-K-Hendrix/GENE1-0033.html, retrieved 13th Feb 2013]