Beach Family
The genealogy of the Beach family of Madison County runs through ten generations since coming to America. Moses Perkins Beach, of 309 Fifth avenue, New York City, son of the late Moses Yale Beach of the New York Sun, in his arrangement of our genealogy, refers to our earliest ancestor in America, as "ye pilgrim Thomas, of Milford," Conn., in contradistinction to "ye pilgrim John," of Stratford, Conn., the original Beaches who came to this country in the early days of emigration. My great-grandfather, Amos Beach, born at Wallingford, Conn., in 1724, was a great-grandson of "ye pilgrim Thomas;" and he married December 24, 1746, Sarah Rice, or Rays, as it was then spelled. To them were born twelve children, eight sons and four daughters, as follows: Chloe, born in 1747; Chauncey, born in 1748; Ambrose, born 1750, was a soldier in Captain Titus Watrous' company, in the Revolutionary army, and died July 8, 1776, of camp distemper; Amos, born 1751; Brewer, born 1753; Abraham, born 1755, died June 5, 1777, at Milford, Conn., on his way home from British prison ships; Esther, born 1757; Obil, born December 27, 1758; Sarah, born 1760; Isaac, born 1762; Roswell, born in 1764, and died May 1st, 1858, in Belmont County, Ohio; Sarah, born 1766. Of the eight sons above named, all were soldiers in the Revolutionary army. The mother of these children died in 1820, at the home of her son Brewer, in Goshen, Conn., aged ninety years. Of the above children, Obil Beach, born in Goshen Conn., December 27, 1758, was my grandfather. In October, 1777, when two months less than eighteen years of age, he entered the Revolutionary army, under Capt. Chapman and Col. Swift; and was present and witnessed the surrender of Burgoyne, at Saratoga, October 17, 1777. He served for three years, and was mustered out in New Jersey in October, 1780. On the 27th day of June, 1782, he married Miss Elizabeth Kilbourne, or Kilborn, of Litchfield, Conn., born June 9, 1765. She used the Quaker dialect; but I think she was a Presbyterian at the time of her marriage. She is said to have been of Scotch descent. They each had small interests in real estate, the one in Goshen and the other in Litchfield; but soon after marriage they moved to the township of Poultney, in Rutland County, Vt. By a deed, now in my possession, it appears that one Ebenezer Hyde, of Poultney, County of Rutland, for and in consideration of the sum of twenty-three pounds and ten shillings, "lawful money," sold to Obil Beach, of Goshen, Conn., seventy-five acres, "in said Poultney," on the 8th day of March, "in the sixth year of American Independence," Anno Domini, 1782. And on the 7th day of November, 1782, he also received a deed from Jason Bell, of the Township of Poultney, County of Rutland, for fifty acres; for which he paid sixty pounds. On the 10th day of September, 1783, Joseph Ballard, of Fairhaven, County of Rutland, State of Vermont, for the sum of thirty pounds, sold to Obil Beach, "of the Township of Poultney," one hundred acres; so it would seem probable that he moved to Vermont in 1782, the same year of his marriage, or early in the spring of 1783. He subsequently moved to New Haven Gore, Addison County, Vt.; and on the 5th day of December, 1788, Oliver Strong, of Poultney, deeded him seventy-six acres "in a gore of land called New Haven Gore," in the County of Addison, State of Vermont, for sixty pounds, "lawful money;" and also, with even date, fifty acres for forty pounds at the same place, to Elizabeth Beach, his wife. So that, in the absence of better proof, it is presumable that he moved to New Haven Gore in 1788. To him and his wife Elizabeth were born twelve children, as follows: Susannah, born September 20, 1783; Amos, born July 9, 1785; Marova, born April 18, 1787; Uri, born December 7, 1789; Ambrose, born March 17, 1792; Rhoda, born June 24, 1794; Sarah, born June 9, 1797; Lorenzo, born November 7, 1798; Roswell, born August 3, 1801; Irene, born February 19, 1804; Obil and Oren, twins, born March 19, 1807. Of the above twelve children, the three first were born in the township of Poultney, Rutland County, Vt., and the nine last were born at New Haven Gore, Addison County, Vt. In the year 1812, Uri, the third son and the fourth child, when he was twenty-three years of age, determined upon emigrating to Ohio. He met with great opposition from the family; but he arranged his "pack," and, swinging it over his shoulder, started alone and on foot. He first came to Cleveland, near where he stopped for three days to replenish his purse by working. He worked for three days for a farmer, in helping to build a mill-dam, where he had to work all the time in water, sometimes waist-deep. For this he received $1 a day; but as he had to pay the tavern keeper 75 cents a day for his board, he found that he was only 75 cents better off for his three days' hard work. He then struck a "bee line" for Marietta, Ohio, which had then been settled for twenty-four years. There he made four barrels of cider, for a farmer, on the halves; and taking his two barrels down to Marietta, sold it out of his skiff, at a lively rate, to the United States soldiers quartered there, at 12½ cents a quart. Returning up the river with his skiff, he washed out of the pomace, at the cider mill, about three pecks of apple seeds, which, adding to the weight of his original pack, he swung over his shoulder and took another bee line for Worthington, Ohio, directing his course through the wilderness as best he could, and strapping himself in the tops of trees at night to save himself from being devoured by wolves while trying to obtain his needed rest. In the spring of 1813, he rented a small piece of ground, at Worthington, and planted a part of his apple seeds for a nursery. In the spring of 1814, he came to Madison County and bought ninety-two acres of land of Walter and Ann May Dun, in Darby Township, and planted more of his apple seeds on it; and on the 1st day of September, 1816, he married Mrs. Hannah (Noble) Gorham, of Worthington, Ohio — a widow with two children — daughter of Rev. Seth and Hannah (Barker) Noble, born at Kenduskeag Meadow (Bangor), Province of Maine, September 11, 1789. He brought her to his home in Darby Township, and they both remained citizens of Madison County until the time of their death. He died at Amity, Canaan Township, January 11, 1832, aged forty-three years; and she at Amity on the 17th day of November, 1854, aged sixty-five. To them were born seven children, four daughters and three sons, as follows: Elizabeth ("Eliza"), Mary, Hannah, Noble, Malona Case, Uri, John Noble, William Morrow. In 1813, Lorenzo Beach came to Ohio, and joined his brother Uri at Worthington; and in 1814 his brothers, Amos and Ambrose and his sister Sarah (Ketch) and her husband, came to Madison County. In 1815, Ambrose went back to Vermont and married Joanna Perry; and in 1817, Obil, their father, came on with all the remainder of the family, reaching their destination on the Darby Plains on the 25th day of October of that year. Of what they wrought in Madison county, it is presumable that sufficient reference has been made by the historians of Darby and Canaan Township, and will appear elsewhere in the history of these townships. Brief biographical sketches of some of the individual members of the family will be found elsewhere in this work also. Of this family, Obil died at the home of his son Dr. Lorenzo, in Darby Township, September, 1846, aged eighty-eight; Elizabeth, his wife, in Canaan Township, at her son Uri's, in September, 1826, aged sixty-one; Susannah (Hallock), in 1856, aged seventy-three; Amos, in Plain City, Ohio, February 25, 1875, aged ninety; Marova, in infancy; Uri, January 11, 1832, of pnuemonia, at Amity, aged forty-three; Ambrose, in Brown Township, Franklin county, Ohio, September 20, 1870, aged seventy-eight; Rhoda (Hallock), on the Darby Plains in Canaan township, of milk-sickness, September 23, 1823, aged twenty-nine; Sarah (Ketch-Converse), at Plain City, Ohio, January 16, 1876, aged seventy-nine; Lorenzo, at Fairbury, Ill., August, 1878, aged eighty; Roswell, still living, at Centerville, Iowa; Irene, September, 1824, aged twenty; Obil, still living at Bucks Grove, Kan.; Oren, died in Kansas (or Missouri) November 4, 1863, from fatigue in being chased by rebel guerrillas, aged fifty-six. The descendants of "ye pilgrim Thomas, of Milford," Conn., are scattered through Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, California, Texas, Georgia and elsewhere. Joseph Perkins Beach, our genealogist, in a recent personal communication, says: "For over thirty years, I have been gathering in the Beaches, from every 'original record' I thought likely to yield returns; and I am not ashamed of any record of them I have yet found. They are a good race, enterprising, brave, of average longevity, average piety, full of energy, and in all respects worthy of a history."
A large family of brothers and sisters came to Madison County in the year 1817, following Uri Beach, who came in 1814. The brothers constituting the family were: Ori, Ambrose, Amos, Lorenzo, Roswell, Obil and Oren Beach; the last two named were twins. They were natives of Vermont. They first settled in Darby Township, but subsequently most if not all of them became settlers of Canaan. But of these, their marriages and families will be more fully written of in another part of this work, while here we desire to speak of them or of such of them as have been intimately connected with the development of the business interests and moral progress of this township and people.
Uri, when he first came from Vermont to Ohio in 1812, worked for a short time near Marietta; thence he came to Worthington, Ohio, where he married Then he settled in Madison County, on land now owned by Solomon Cary, in Darby Township, residing there until 1819, when he removed to Big Darby and settled where Amity is now located. Like all new countries, the great majority of the settlers followed agricultural pursuits. But time soon developed their wants and necessities. Consequently, some must turn their attention to other occupations in order to supply the demands and wants of the people. Among the first to make this sacrifice and labor for the good of the people in building up the country in which he lived was Uri Beach. The first enterprise that attracted his attention was the erection of a saw-mill. There was but one mill of this kind in this part of the county, which was the Saeger Mill farther above on the Darby, near the border of Union County. At that time, the people were compelled to live in houses with puncheon floors; some, however, had no floors except the mother earth. In view of this condition of things, he determined upon the erection of his mill, and though remonstrated against by his "better half," yet he proceeded, selected a site on what was called "Finch Run," which crosses the lower pike just above Jacob Taylor's, and here he built the mill which proved such a blessing to this community. For a further description of this mill and its usefulness, the reader is referred to the subject of "Mills," on another page. Mr. Beach soon saw another great want, to facilitate the domestic operations in clothing the families and render them comfortable during the winter months. Among the early settlers, the manufacture of woolen goods for the family was a tedious operation, especially in preparing the wool of the sheep for spinning. Before this latter operation could he performed, the wool must be carded into roils, which then had to he all performed by hand, with what was called a pair of "hand cards."' This operation was exceedingly slow and laborious. Something to facilitate the labor of carding was the great want of the people. The operation of spinning and weaving was only a secondary consideration; for a woman that did not know how to spin and weave was not considered at all qualified for matrimony. To supply this want came forward Uri Beach.
Although the obstacles to overcome and the difficulties in the way were great for putting up machinery of any kind, the principal of which was the great distance and the difficulty of transportation of materials necessary for enterprises of this kind. Mr. Beach was in possession of the Yankee ingenuity so peculiar to the New Englanders, which gave him some advantage in an undertaking like this. The site was selected for his carding machine just below his saw-mill, not for the purpose of using the water of Finch Run for power, but because it was convenient to his other works The building was erected, the machinery obtained, and all brought into running order. For a few years the machinery in operation in this establishment was a picking, carding and fulling machine, to which he afterward attached two small spinning jacks This factory was in operation for fifteen years or more, yielding quite an income to the proprietor, and equally beneficial to the people of this community, and for the people far away, as its patrons were drawn from thirty to forty miles distant. It is believed that the first frame house. buill in the township was the one standing on the hill, at the foot of which stood the factory.
About 1825, Mr. Beach erected a large frame house for his own residence. This house was then considered a very imposing structure and a fine residence, and is still standing, though not now used as a residence, and is shown on page 69 of Caldwell's Atlas of Madison County. In the view it stands to the left, opposite the residence of Jacob Taylor. Uri Beach, in company with his brother Lorenzo, purchased of Dr. Comstock a tract of land from which they laid out the town of Amity, and here Mr. Beach passed from earth to heaven, from works to rewards.
Ambrose Beach, the next son in age to Uri, purchased a farm on the Plains, just east of his brother, in the same year they came to Ohio. This place, for several years, was his home. He having had some experience as a clothier, finally consented to connect himself with his brother in the factory, where for several years he was engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods. The weaving in this factory was all done by hand, with what was called a spring-shuttle loom. Subsequently he sold his farm on the Plains and purchased in Brown Township, Franklin Co., Ohio, and there he remained for many years, superintending the management of his farm. The industry and economy of his early life gave him a sufficiency in the evening of his days, and many years ago he passed away from earth, highly respected as a citizen and pioneer of the county.
Dr. Lorenzo Beach, the fourth son of this family was born in Vermont in 1797. and came to Ohio as early as 1813, and settled at Worthington, having no worldly effects other than a small bundle which he carried in his hand. His early education was only such as could be obtained by a farmer's boy of the Green Mountain State, where time was almost wholly taken up in a struggle with the sterile soil for subsistence. He studied medicine with Dr. Carter of Urbana, and commenced practice at Amity, about 1820, being, it is believed, the first practicing physician ever located in that place. During the sickly seasons of 1822-23, he and Dr. James Comstock, who was associated with him, attended nearly all the sick of the smitten district, which extended over many miles in extent, but the center of virulence was between the two Darbys, on land now owned by William D. Wilson's heirs. His field of practice must have been very extensive, as old people of Georgesville, fifteen miles distant from Amity, still speak of him as the physician of that neighborhood half a century ago; and from their testimony, he was an exceedingly popular and successful physician. But it is believed that he lacked confidence in himself and in his remedies, to a degree that prevented any enthusiasm in his profession, and that the responsibilities attached to the life of a physician became to him exceedingly irksome. Hence his inclinations led him to abandon the profession for the more lucrative and to him agreeable life of a merchant.
For several years subsequent to 1833, he was actively engaged in merchandising, and later in real estate operations. Seeing an opportunity for the better employment of capital and his abilities, he removed, in 1853, to Livingston County, Ill., where he continued to reside till his death. He entered largely into real estate operations in the West, and was successful. In person, he was of medium height, and up to middle life was slight and spare. He was quick and active in his movements, of a remarkably cheerful disposition. His energy in the prosecution of business was untiring, and he had a stock of physical and mental health that never failed him up to within two years of his death. He was a thoroughly honest man, who went through life doing thoroughly and earnestly whatever his hands found to do. He died in Fairbury, Livingston Co., Ill., in August, 1878, in the eighty-first year of his age. His death was caused by structural disease of the heart.
Roswell Beach, who purchased land in Darby Township, where Solomon Cary now lives, observing the prosperity of his brothers in the woolen mill, and the population round about Amity rapidly increasing; that there was a growing demand for greater and more extended facilities to meet the demands and wants of the people, in order to meet these requirements, he, with his two younger twin brothers, Obil and Oren, selected and purchased a site on Big Darby, below Amity, on what was known as the Stone farm now owned by Francis Nugent. Here they built a dam and erected a building for a factory, purchasing the machinery of the older one of their brothers, also a new set of cards and other machinery necessary for an extensive operation in a new country like this. In connection with this factory, Mr. Fulton, a son-in-law of Roswell Beach, put in operation a pair of buhrs for grinding corn. It was expected by the proprietors of this enterprise that large profits would be realized as a recompense for their outlay and labor. But here was a striking illustration of how soon the smooth sea of life may be milled with her rolling billows, ready to dash in against the reefs and rocks of adversity. For a few years only was this factory in operation.
Amity had greatly increased in population, and with each returning autumn the inhabitants of this little town suffered greatly from malarious diseases. It was suggested that the stagnant water produced by the erection of the factory dam across the Darby was the existing cause of the sufferings of the inhabitants of Amity; consequently a petition was circulated and signed by many citizens of this place, asking the court to declare this property a public nuisance. Every effort was made by these petitioners to substantiate the claims set forth in said petition. This was the first case of the kind ever brought before our courts of justice. It was evidently a question of science, and the burden of proof rested upon scientific researches. There were three leading questions to be settled in the controversy. First, "What is malaria?" second, "Will stagnant water produce malaria?" and the third, "What are its effects on the human system?" After hearing all the testimony in the case, the court declared this property to be a public nuisance; consequently this obstruction across the Darby was torn out in the early part of the summer. The facts are that during the autumn of that year there was more suffering from sickness than in any previous year. The effect upon the proprietors of this factory, can well be imagined. But there were a few citizens interested in the financial welfare of these men, who gave them something to relieve their embarrassments. They however became disheartened and discouraged, sold their effects and removed to the West, where, by industry and frugality, they recovered from this financial shock. Roswell settled in Iowa; Obil and Oren settled in Kansas. In 1863, the latter died.
From HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY - W. H. Beers [Chicago, 1883]