Some details about David Beaver's life and family history can be found in I. M. Beaver's History and Genealogy of the Bieber, Beaver, Biever, Beeber Family.

David was raised in the Massanutten area of the Shenandoah Valley, and like his siblings, he had a complex relationship with several of the pioneering families of that region of Virginia. By marriage, he was connected to the massively documented Strickler family of Egypt, and he was a witness of his father-in-law's will along with a half brother-in-law, Daniel Strickler.

David Beaver also appears to have had a long relationship with the Kauffman family. He was one of the witnesses of Martin Kauffman's will and had been an early member of Kauffman's faction of the Mill Creek Primitive Baptist Church which met in the White House on Kauffman's property. It is also highly likely that he held the same beliefs as Kauffman concerning pacifism and the rejection of slavery. David also appears to have followed Kauffman's son, Martin Coffman, to Ohio, when he split from the Mill Creek Church over the slavery issue in 1805. David and Martin Coffman then worked together to establish the Beaver Meeting House as a Primitive Baptist Church in Licking County, Ohio. David's sister-in-law, Barbara Kauffman Beaver, is listed as being a member of Coffman's Pleasant Run Church in Fairfield County, Ohio in 1809. David's cousin, Daniel Beaver, also appears to have remained in Virginia (and immigrating to Illinois instead) and was a member of John Koontz's Mill Creek Church after David had left for Ohio. Several other Kauffman family members also left Virginia for Licking County. In fact, one sees many of the pioneer Massanutten family names in Licking County.

From Elder Robert Webb, Carthage Primitive Baptist Church minister, historian, and church webmaster:

[from 15 Nov 2003] Thank you so much for these links. How very interesting to me, for several reasons. I am myself descended in one line of my family from the Lionbergers, who were descended from Elder John Koontz, of the Shenandoah region, where many Mennonites were converted to Baptist, in the days of Koontz and Kaufman . Many of these families were the nucleus of Primitive Baptist churches in various states, including this part of Illinois, and the part of Ohio which you mentioned. The Pleasant Run church is believed to have organized in Virginia and moved to Fairfield Co., Ohio as a body.

I posted the sketch history of Licking church to our forum, and found that this is not actually the present site of the Licking PBC. I am still hoping to learn more, but it appears this must have been the original site of the church, and perhaps a division occurred here, as it did in so many places all across the country, in the Baptist church, in the 1820's and 1830's, and the site may now be a modern Baptist church, as some of the forum members tell me that Licking PBC meets in the downtown area of Hebron.

If I can learn more about this I will let you know. The cemetery proves the original site of the PBC was nearby...

[from 16 Nov 2003]I'm still checking on Licking church history, but I have learned that the picture you have is the original site of the Licking PBC, but there was a division in the early 20th century (I'm told) and the PBC now meets in the middle of town. I'm not sure what kind of Baptist the group is which now meets at the original site. I will try to find out more about that.

The website for The Primitive Baptist Library of Carthage, Illinois also maintains a page devoted to the history of the Primitive Baptist Church in Licking County, Ohio.

David's son, Henry was a messenger of a Primitive Baptist Church founded in Santa Rosa, by Thomas H. Owen.

From a recorded discussion with Ross Williams, June 24, 2001:

There are documents... that David's nephew, Daniel [built] brick edifaces which are still standing in the Shenandoah valley. David is credited with building some buildings which are still standing in Ohio. David's generation of brothers must have known this trade fairly well because they passed it down. I don't know if they learned it from Conrad but from Conrad down we have two or three generations of evidence of how to do brick work.

Henry Beaver's name is not listed in I. M. Beaver's genealogy as one of Henry's sons. As Ross Williams points out, if Lydia Beaver had passed away as an infant, why is it written on David's stone that ten children are left "to deplore their loss"?

Ross Williams has traced I. M. Beaver's source of information for David's genealogy to a Ralph Porter who lived in Hebron. There is a letter which Ralph Porter wrote in 1977 to a Mrs. Moody, in response to a newspaper article which she wrote in a local, Licking County newspaper about the Beaver family.