Fred A. Beckett passed
virtually his entire life in Clayton county, as he
was an infant at the time when his parents became
pioneer settlers of the county, and here it was his
to achieve definite independence and success through
his effective association with the basic industries
of agriculture and stock-growing and to win and
retain the confidence and good will of all with whom
he came in contact. He was one of the representative
farmers of Clayton township at the time of his death,
which occurred on the 24th of April, 1908, and his
widow still resides upon and has the general
supervision of the affairs of the fine homestead
farm, which comprises one hundred and five acres and
which is most pleasingly situated in section 34,
Clayton township.
Mr. Beckett was born at
Belvidere, Illinois, on the 13th of September, 1858,
and is the only deceased member of a family of four
sons born to Peter B. and Charlotte A. (Wayman)
Beckett. His parents were born and reared in England
and immigrated to America in 1852. They were
residents of Ohio about one year and thereafter
maintained their home at Decatur, Illinois, until
1854, when they removed to Rock county, Wisconsin,
where the father initiated activities as a farmer, of
which line of enterprise he became an exponent a few
years later in Boone county, Illinois, where the
birth of the subject of this memoir occurred and
whence soon afterward the family came to Clayton
county, Iowa, where Peter B. Beckett eventually
became one of the substantial and prominent farmers
of Clayton township and where he continued to reside,
a sterling and honored citizen, until his death,
which occurred in 1901, his devoted wife having
passed away in 1894.
Reared to maturity upon the
farm of his father, Fred A. Beckett early learned the
valuable lessons of practical industry and availed
himself simultaneously of the advantages afforded in
the public schools of the locality. He was a young
man when he initiated his independent career as an
agriculturist and stock-grower on the fine farm upon
which his widow still maintains her home and which he
developed into one of the model places of Clayton
township. Here he continued his well ordered
activities until he was called from the stage of
life's mortal endeavors, a few months prior to his
fiftieth birthday anniversary, and he left as a
gracious heritage the untarnished reputation and the
record for worthy accomplishment that indicate the
finest sense of personal stewardship, his mortal
remains having been laid to rest in the cemetery at
Clayton. He was a loyal and publicspirited citizen,
was a Democrat in his political allegiance and was a
member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as is also
his widow.
In the year 1881 was
solemnized the marriage of Mr. Beckett to Miss Bessie
Robinson, who was born in England and who came with
her parents to the United States and became a
resident of Clayton county in the year 1873. She is a
daughter of William and Elizabeth (Drake) Robinson,
both representatives of fine old English lineage, and
her parents continued their residence in Clayton
county until their death, their five children still
surviving them. Mr. and Mrs. Beckett became the
parents of ten children, concerning whom brief record
is made in conclusion of this memoir: Cora E. is the
wife of August Saacke and they maintain their home at
McGregor; Hettie May is the wife of Percy Anderson,
of McGregor; Bessie is the wife of James Duval and
they reside in South Dakota; Albert drowned at the
age of 9 years; Anna R. is the wife of John
McWilliams, a representative farmer of Clayton
county; Beatrice is the wife of Frederick Sibell, of
Madison, Wisconsin; Peter F. and George remain with
their widowed mother and are associated in the work
of the home farm; Lucile likewise remains a member of
the home circle; and the tenth child died in infancy.
source: History of
Clayton County, Iowa; From The Earliest Historical
Times Down to the Present; by Realto E. Price,
Vol. II; pg. 31-32
-OCR scanned by S. Ferrall
