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| Benjamin Beckett |
The name of Benjamin H. Beckett is indelibly inscribed upon the pages of Worth county's history, for he was the pioneer merchant of Northwood, opened the first abstract office in the county and for many years was extensively engaged in the real estate business and in banking. He became one of the large land owners of the county and at all times his business affairs were of such a nature as to contribute to general progress and improvement as well as to individual success. He ever felt a deep interest in Northwood and this section of the state and his aid could be counted upon to further any measure that promised to benefit the community.
Mr. Beckett was a native of the middle west and possessed the spirit of enterprise and progress which has ever been a dominant factor in the rapid and substantial upbuilding of the Mississippi valley. He was born in Warren county, Indiana, November 21, 1829, his parents being William F. and Experience (Call) Beckett, who were natives of Ohio. Following their marriage they removed westward to Indiana, where the father died about 1837 at the age of thirty-four years, survived by his widow and son Benjamin, their only child. Mrs., Beckett afterward removed to Rockford, Winnebago county, Illinois, where she became the wife of David Jolly, and to them were born four children. About 1843 Mr. Jolly removed with the family to Lafayette county, Wisconsin, where he resided for twenty-two years, or until 1865, when he went to California. Mrs. Jolly died in Omaha, Nebraska, while they were en route for the Pacific coast, passing away at the age of sixty-five years, and Mr. Jolly afterward returned to Wisconsin.
Benjamin H. Beckett spent his boyhood and youth in Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin, attending school in the various localities in which he lived, and in the spring of 1857 he left his Wisconsin home to seek a favorable location west of the Mississippi. He traveled quite extensively through Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, but finally returned to Iowa and concluded to locate at Northwood, in Worth county. In June, 1857, he contracted for the erection of a store building at that place and in the fall of the same year took the first stock pf goods into Northwood and Worth county. As there were no railroads through that section of the state, all goods and supplies had to be hauled by teams from
McGregor, Iowa, a distance of one hundred and twenty miles. Mr. Beckett hauled his first load himself, and in many places had to carry the goods across sloughs, for there were no bridges or turnpikes at that time. He came to Worth county with but little capital and although the financial crisis of 1857 caused him to lose what he had brought to the country, owing to the fact that he could not collect from those who were indebted to him, he did not allow discouragement to overtake him nor dwarf his efforts. By hard work and close application to business he recovered everything, although he suffered extensive losses during the widespread financial panic. He then continued in business until 1865, when he sold out, feeling fully compensated financially for the hardships and privations which he had undergone. In 1869 he opened the first abstract office in the county and began to invest and also to deal in real estate. Success attended him in his undertaking and he became the owner of extensive landed possessions, which were increased to two thousand acres, of which he had one thousand acres under cultivation. In 1871 he purchased a banking business, which he conducted until 1874, when his health failed, and his interests were then conducted under the name of the Northwood State Bank, which he founded and promoted and of which he remained the president until about two years before his death. As a banker he was very successful and contributed much toward the development of the county through the aid which his institution rendered to many who needed financial help, in order to carry forward or stabilize their interests
On the 26th of February, 1866, Mr. Beckett was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Wardall, a daughter of Charles and Sarah (Hewitt) Wardall, who were natives of England, but Mrs. Beckett was born in Wisconsin. By her marriage she became the mother of three children. The son, Charles H., who was employed in his father's bank and became vice president at his father's death, was a very prominent figure in financial circles in Northwood and this section of the state to the time of his demise, which occurred in 1914. His son is now a bookkeeper in the same bank, and thus three successive generations have been represented in the institution. The second of the family was Minnie, who died in April, 1916. The surviving daughter, Ida, is the wife of Lieutenant Colonel White of the United States Army, now located in Washington, D. C.
During the World's Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago, Benjamin H. Beckett built a fine residence on Kimbark avenue, near the Chicago University, having gone to that city with his daughter Ida, who was a student in the university. There he lived for four years. His health again failing, he left the middle west for California, where he remained during the winter of 1897, and on the return trip in the spring of 1898 he passed away in Chicago.
In his political views Mr. Beckett was a stalwart democrat, believing firmly in the principles of the party as factors in good government. He was an exemplary member of the Masonic fraternity and a consistent member of the Baptist church and in those associations were found the rules which governed his conduct and guided his life in all of its relations. He was a man of generous spirit and gave freely where aid was needed, but any man of generous impulses and broad views can give money to worthy objects, so while his contributions to charity were real and creditable, his signal service was in the vigor he lent to the pioneer era in making this region habitable, in bringing its resources to light and in stamping his intensely practical ideals upon its development. The possibilities of high position afforded in the United States through industry and fidelity are well illustrated in his career. Starting out for himself in early manhood and dependent upon his own labors for whatever the world was to bring him of enjoyment and honors, he died possessed of substantial wealth and of high social position. In a word, he started with nothing and ended with almost everything that men covet as of value, and he won it all by his own unaided exertions. He also found time for the finer things of life which our self-made men are too prone to overlook, and he was interested in all things which have cultural value or which work for moral progress.
Transcribed by Gordon Felland, January 9, 2006
