Dr. Alexander Archer Beville was born July 11, 1841, in Amelia County, Virginia, the son of Alexander and Catherine Walthall Beville.¹During the Civil War, Dr. Beville enlisted as a private on July 20, 1861, at Wytheville, Virginia. A member of the 51^st Virginia Infantry Regiment, Dr. Beville served as a clerk for the brigade commander, and on August 16, 1864, he was wounded in the foot by a bullet.^{2, 3}After the Civil War, Dr. Beville married Margaret Jane Keister in Blacksburg, Virginia, on December 24, 1867,⁴ and they later moved to Waco, Texas, in 1870.⁵ According to several sources, he was the first dentist in Waco.⁶ After Dr. William R. Clifton arrived in Waco circa 1871, he and Dr. Beville formed a dental partnership which lasted one year.⁷ In 1876, Dr. Alexander A. Beville’s office was located at 49 Austin Street. After his graduation from the Dental Department of the University of Maryland in 1892, Dr. Alexander Jacob Beville joined his father in the practice of dentistry in Waco.

Their office was located at 401 Austin Avenue.

On September 1, 1873, Dr. Alexander Archer Beville was elected secretary of the Texas Dental Association.⁸ One of the organizers of the Texas Dental Association, Dr. Beville served on its executive committee. In May 1887, Dr. Alexander A. Beville was elected second vice-president of the Association and served on its finance committee.⁹ In 1894, he was elected president of the Texas Dental Association.¹⁰Active in the community, Dr. Beville was a charter member of the Austin Avenue Methodist Church of Waco, and was a member of the Pat Cleburne Camp. Dr. Beville died at his residence, 1712 Austin Avenue, on October 16, 1930, and was buried in the Oakwood Cemetery of Waco.¹¹In May 2007, Miss Jane Katherine Beville [Dr. A.A. Beville's grand-daughter] estate sale was held in Waco. The author purchased Dr. A. A. Beville’s photographs; his remaining mother-of-pearl dental instruments made by S. S. White; his 1897 Texas dental license; and his 1870 diary which includes names of patients and their dental treatment, and office expenses.In 2008, the author obtained a granite grave marker from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and it was erected at his gravesite.

Mrs. Jennie Beville
Funeral Notice

Mrs. A.A. Beville
Card

Dr. A.J. Beville
obituaries
1
2
3

Dr. H. Black's bill
for birth Dr. Beville's child in 1870

BBQ at Dr. Alexander Jacob Beville's East Waco Farm

Dr. A.J. Beville's Dental School

1892 Graduation class

Cradle Roll Certificate for
Alexander Henry Beville
grandson of Dr. A.A. Beville

Caroline Madison Beville
5 Nov 1874 - 27 Aug 1912
daughter of Dr. A.A. Beville

Dr. A.A. Beville
Veteran's Administration
Marker Application

Dr. A.A. Beville Obituary

Jane K. Beville Obituary

From the Family Bible presented to M.J. Beville
by her husband, Dr. A.A. Beville:

Dr. A.A. Beville of Wytheville, Virginia and Miss Jennie Keister of Blacksburg, Virginia on the 24th day of December 1867 were married at Blacksburg in the Methodist Episcopal Church South by Rev. William A. Wade.
witnesses: Tom Fell and Brook Lawson, Mark Jones and Julie Thomas.

Caroline Madison Beville and Cecil J. Montgomery were united in marriage on 20 August 1910 in St. Louis, Missouri.

Alexander Jacob Beville and Jennie Frances Luedde were married 26 April 1917 at the First Presbyterian Church in Waco, Texas. Rev. C.T. Caldwell officiated at the marriage.

Alexander Archer Beville, born 11 July 1841, Amelia County, Virginia
Margaret J. Beville, born 4 March 1844, Blacksburg, Virginia
Alexander Jacob Beville, born 15 September 1868, Blacksburg, Virginia
Caroline Madison Beville, born 5 November 1874, Waco, Texas
Nannie Patton Beville, born 25 February 1876, Waco, Texas
John Archer Beville, born 20 January 1882, Waco, Texas

Nannie Patton Beville, died 22 July, 1877, Waco, Texas
John Archer Beville, died 21 April 1882, Waco, Texas
Margaret J. Beville, died 6 February 1893, Waco, Texas - that night, 12 pm

Caroline Madison Beville, died 27 August 1912, St. Louis. I went after her and brought her to Waco, Texas and buried her in Odd Fellows Cemetery where her mother is buried. We arrived in Waco on 31 August 1912

Alex Archer Beville, died 30 September 1930

Alexander Henry Beville, died on 11 January 1944. He was 1st Lt. in US Army. 77th TAC, Battalion D. He was killed in action in Italy.

Alexander Jacob Beville died 22 December 1957, Waco, Texas.

References

¹ Texas State Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Standard Certificate of Death 49851, Alexander Archer Beville, 1930.

² James A. Davis, 51^st Virginia Infantry (Lynchburg: H.E. Howard, 1984), 55.

³ Mary B. Kegley, Wythe County, Virginia A Bicentennial History (Marceline: Walsworth Publishing, 1989), 388.

⁴ Heart of Texas Records, 50 (Winter 2007): 13.

⁵ Waco Times-Herald, 17 October 1930, 9.

⁶ Waco Times-Herald, 23 December 1957, 11.

⁷ B.B. Paddock, ed., A History of Central and Western Texas (Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1911), 826.

⁸ Walter C. Stout, The First Hundred Years A History of Dentistry in Texas (Dallas: Press of the Egan Company, 1969), 28.

⁹ Waco Daily Examiner, 4 May 1887, 3.

¹⁰ Walter C. Stout, The First Hundred Years A History of Dentistry in Texas (Dallas: Press of the Egan Company, 1969), 291.

¹¹ Waco Times-Herald, 17 October 1930, 9.

Acknowledgements