William J. Beeks, 1824-1910

BEEKS, ROBINSON

Posted By: Clay County IAGenWeb Coordinator (email)
Date: 10/20/2010 at 15:26:40

The ranks of Civil war veterans are fast being decimated. Year by year many respond to the last roll call, and it is fitting that while some of the boys in blue survive they should be honored by their fellow townsmen for the service which they rendered to the country during the darkest hour in all its history. Mr. Beeks is among those who for three years or more did active duty on southern battlefields, and in days of peace be has been equally loyal to his country and is now numbered among the public-spirited citizens of Everly. At the present time he is living retired, but for many years was a progressive farmer of Dickinson county and is numbered among the oldest settlers of the state, dating his residence here from 1840. Iowa had not yet been admitted to the Union when he took up his abode within its borders. He had been born on the frontier, in Dearborn county, Ohio, on the Indiana line, June 28, 1824. His father, Samuel Beeks, was a native of Virginia and, following his removal to the Buckeye state, was there married to Elizabeth Lambden, who was likewise born in the Old Dominion. Mr. Beeks was a miller and millwright by trade. He became a factor in the pioneer development and progress of western Ohio and eastern Indiana and in 1840 again took up his abode on the frontier by becoming a resident of Linn county, Iowa. He worked at his trade in Cedar Rapids and other towns and continued his residence in this state until he passed away in Dubuque county.

W. J. Beeks was reared in Linn county and in his youthful days learned the carpenter's and millwright's trades. He also engaged in farming for four or five years in Jones county, and it was in that county, in October, 1847, that he was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Jane Robinson, a native of Virginia. About 1840 he had gone to Dickinson county, where he had secured a homestead claim of one hundred and sixty acres. Following his marriage he gave considerable attention to the development of his farm.

At the time of the Civil war Mr. Beeks put aside all business and personal considerations and offered his aid to the government, enlisting at Anamosa in June, 1862, as a member of Company K, Sixth Iowa Cavalry. The regiment was assigned to duty in the west among the Indians, and out on the plains he participated in many skirmishes, continuing in the service for three years and eight months. He had a horse killed from under him and at that time sustained injuries from which he never recovered. At the close of the war he was mustered out and was honorably discharged at Davenport late in the year 1865.

Following his military experience Mr. Beeks was connected with various industrial pursuits. He followed carpentry and other business interests in different places, and in Dickinson county he homesteaded and opened up a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. Upon the place he built a good house, barn and sheds and also divided his farm into fields of convenient size by well kept fences. He likewise planted a grove and cultivated an orchard, and altogether made a nice place of his property. Year after year he capably and successfully tilled the soil, until 1906, when he rented his farm and removed to Everly, where he purchased a home and has since lived retired in the enjoyment of the fruits of his former toil.

In 1908 Mr. Beeks was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who passed away in Everly in December of that year. They had traveled life's journey together for more than sixty years, their mutual love and confidence increasing as time passed on. They were the parents of the following three sons and three daughters: Christopher, who is a stone mason and lives in North Dakota; John T., a farmer of Dickinson county; Charles R., a carpenter and farmer, who is connected with building interests in Everly and who was married here in August, 1890, to Miss Ida Schulz, a native of Germany, who came to the new world when a maiden of nine summers and by her marriage has one son, George H. Beeks, who is now a young man; Elizabeth, the wife of J. B. Grapes, of Delaware county, Iowa; Nancy J., the wife of Nelson Frederickson, of North Dakota; and Levina, wife of James Gilmore, of Killum, Canada. Mr. and Mrs. Beeks were also called upon to mourn the loss of three of their children. Their first-born, a daughter, Mary Jane, died at the age of seven years, while William J. passed away at the age of six months. Katie died in Jones county, Iowa, at the age of nineteen years.

Mr. Beeks gives his political fealty to the democracy and two of his sons are supporters of the same party, while his son Charles is a republican. There are few residents of Iowa who have so long resided within the state; for throughout sixty-nine years Mr. Beeks has made his home within its borders and has been an active and helpful factor in improving and developing a number of counties. His life has been at all times honorable and well spent and he now receives the veneration and respect which should ever be accorded to one of his years, whose leading characteristics have been the sterling qualities of upright manhood. His memory goes back to the time when in certain sections of the state there were many log cabins, while in other regions sod houses were to be seen. The most far-sighted could not have dreamed of the changes which were to occur and were to make this one of the leading states of the Union, with advantages in some directions superior to those of any other district. In his youthful days the homes were lighted by candles and heated by fireplaces and the winds swept over the prairies unbroken by forest or buildings. Rich in its natural resources, the state has responded readily to the labors of its people, especially in agricultural lines and Mr. Leeks has lived to see every section of the state settled by a contented and prosperous people.

Source: A History of Clay County, by W. C. Gilbreath, 1889.