I was born and raised in OK/TX.  This dish (w/pinto beans) was a staple around our house.  We had it with potatoes, fried okra, and green onions--Heaven.

I would try it, as it looks inviting. But I have never really enjoyed beans. Never ate them growing up, except in Campbells veg soup. As i got older I decided to try chili and I liked it. SO I do chili and I will do fresh green beans certain ways, occasionally I will do a small amount of baked beans, if we go to a BBQ place I may try them. If the first spoon full doesn't taste good, I am done. I have one or two places that I will eat them occasionally.

Never really thought of it as soup.  Not as much liquid in it as it must appear, when you put it in a bowl, it is pretty much pinto beans and meat.

I never thought of this as ham and bean soup.

Interesting perspectives.  At what point does soup become so thick that it's something else?  Stew?

My mom's dish was thick like Bentley's—we called it soup.  Some of her other "soups" were so thick with barley that we might have been able to stand a spoon up in it.

Cruising memory lane again.

Bent's looked like soup with the liquid.  Mom's had very little liquid and was primarily just cooked beans with some bits of ham in it. I guess I think of a soup as having a fair amount of liquid and a stew having more of a gravy like consistency.

YES! All day long. With raw onions and cornbread.

Looks delicious.  Not quite cold enough here in California, high of 79 today.  But Senate Navy Bean Soup is sounding very good.  With extra ham in it of course.

The Senate Navy bean is the recipe my Mom used.  I still like bacon instead of ham, chicken stock instead of water, and I like celery & carrots...also like to add heavy cream to mine to finish!

Most of the time when a recipe says water I see stock and if it says milk I see cream.  Found a great recipe for ham and chicken stock  http://ansonmills.com/recipes/521
I add a ham hock and smoke the ham first.  Never tried it with bacon.

Growing up dried beans were a staple and simply called beans.  Usually Great Northern's, sometimes Pinto's, and rarely Navy's.  Always had some type of smoked pork to season them.  Sometimes had some chopped onion in them.  Always cornbread to go with them and nearly always raw, sliced onion too.

I do the same with beans but up the amount of ham and add sliced carrots to make more of a soup.