This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Bean Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/GMB.2ACE/219.225.1.1 Message Board Post: Dona, I checked various resources I have and do not find what the initials stand for. I did find an interesting tidbit on a Leroy Bean, if it is the same one. The county of Buchanan, just north of Bean Lake, bought 140 acres from a Leroy Bean in 1857 for the purposes of a poor farm. This is where the first county "lunatic asylum, poor house and farm" was built. It was then moved to another location in 1871 where it eventually became the State Lunatic Asylum No. 2, the first being at Fulton. I have driven through Bean Lake for a number of years myself. I know that a few residents stayed and rebuilt their homes. I believe the road still circles the lake. I do not know if the State has built anything inside that area. I don't get to the north part of the county much. This was probably your Leroy as I see by your online info on the family that Leroy was married in Buchanan. In a seperate reply, I will send an article from Paxtons Addendum to the Annals of Platte. It is mostly about the town of Iatan but makes reference Benj. Bean and his lake property and also about a grave marker near the home. I am not familiar with a Clarksdale, MO. I know of a Clarksville, MO in Pike County as that is where my immigrant ancestor settled. Sorry not much help. Chuck