HECK FAMILY. Among the German immi-
ij grants who left their homes along the I^hine
during the great migration of German Protestants
to Pennsylvania in the last century was Johann
Thomas Beck. He came from the Duchy of
Hanau, and embarked from the port of Rotter-
dam, in Holland, in the year 1752, with his wife
Esther, his son Henry and his daughter Margaret.
He did not live to see the New World, for he
died on the voyage and the Atlantic became his
burying place. His widow and children reached
Philadelphia, from whence they went to Berks
county, Penn., where they settled, and where the
widow subsequentl}' married one McMullen.

Henry Beck, the son of Johann Thomas Beck,
was born in the Duchy of Hanau about the year
1748, and was four years of age when he came
to Pennsylvania with his mother. He grew up
in Berks county, and in the year 1775 married
Margaret Wolfgang. Like almost all the Penn-
sylvania Germans, he was engaged in farming,
which he varied occasionally by superintending
the wood-cutting for one of the local furnaces.
The Revolutionary war came on shortly after his
marriage. In the militia companies which were
formed from time to time for short terms as the
war progressed, and were composed chiefly of
the farming population who attended to their
farms in the summer and went into the army in
the winter, he went out three different times,
first as orderly sergeant and subsequently as
lieutenant, and was in one of the commands that
failed to cross the Delaware at the time when
Washington captured the Hessians at Trenton.
He remained upon his farm in Berks county until
his removal to a farm near Pottsgrove, in North-
umberland county, Penn., where he died in the
year 1824. Both he and his wife Margaret are
buried in the old Lutheran graveyard at Milton,
Pennsylvania.

Henry Beck, by his wife, Margaret, had seven
children, all of whom were born and reared in
Berks county, on their father's farm. They were



Henry, George, Thomas, Sophia, Elizabeth, Mary
and Catharine. Henry Beck, the eldest son, was
born July 10, 1776, and was married to Hannah
Ludwig, of Berks county. George Beck was
married to Mary Greiner, and had the following
children, William, Susan, Jeremiah, Henry and
Mary Ann; he remained in Berks county until his
death in May, 1854; his son, Henry Beck, with
his family, resides at the present time at Potts-
town, Berks county. Thomas Beck removed to
Fayette, Seneca county, N. Y., where he resided
until his death. Sophia married ^'illiam Gross.
Elizabeth married David Kaufman, who settled
in Union county, Penn. Mary married Steph
Glaize, who settled in the northern end of
Northumberland count}', Penn. Catharine mar-
ried John Hill, and resided upon the homestead
near Pottsgrove until her death. After his mar-
riage, Henry Beck settled upon a farm in Earl
township, Berks county, where he followed farm-
ing and tanning. In the year 18 13 he removed
with his family to a farm adjoining (and now a
part of) Lewisburg, Union Co., Penn., which
place he had previously visited with a view to
settlement. Here he built a new tannery, which
he carried on in connection with his farm. The
large brick house at the upper end of Second
street in Lewisburg was built by him in 1823,
and was occupied by him and his family. By
his wife, Hannah, he had si.x children, one of
whom, named Daniel, died in infancy. The
others were Samuel L. Beck, born April 6, 1802;
Rebecca L. , born November 30, 1807; Isaac L. ,
born May 5. 181 1, died May 20, 1856; Mary
Ann, born October 19, 181 5; Lydia L., born
April 12, 18 1 8. Hannah Beck died November
I9> 1839, aged fifty-seven years. Henry Beck
died January 2, 1846, aged sixty-nine years.
Both are buried in the cemetery at Lewisburg,
Penn. Henry Beck was a member of the Luth-
eran Church at Lewisburg, while his wife, Han-
nah, belonged to the German Reformed Church.
He took an active part in town affairs, and in
politics was a Democrat.

Samuel L. Beck, his eldest son, was eleven
years old when his parents moved to Lewisburg,
and here he grew up on his father's farm. He
had little taste for farming, but a great apti-
tude for study. One of his tutors was Samuel
Kirkham, the author of the famous old English
grammar. Mathematics and surveying were
taught by his uncle, Daniel Ludwig, who resided
near White Deer Mills, in the same county. For
a short time he taught school and kept his fa-
ther's books. Having decided to take up the pro-
fession of medicine, in which his uncle. Dr.
Michael Ludwig, of Berks county, had won con
siderable reputation, he studied for some time
in the office of Dr. VanValzah. of Lewisburg.
In 1825 he entered, as a student, Jefferson Medi-
cal College, Philadelphia, where he remained
until he graduated in 1828, having, as a class-
mate, Dr. Samuel Gross, the famous surgeon.
After his graduation he returned to Lewisburg,
where he settled permanently and look up the
practice of his profession. On April 12, 1842,
he married Anna Stitzel, the youngest daughter
of Adam Stitzel (whose father, Johannes Stitzel,
came to America in June, 1735), and his wife,
Sarah (Levan), of McEwensville, Penn. Anna
Stitzel was born October 3, 18 14.

Of the other children of Henry Beck, Rebecca
L. married John K. Housel, and died near Free-
port, III., in 1892; Issac L. married Mary Dreis-
bachjuly 7, 1839, and died at Mifflinburg, Penn.,.
in 1856, leaving two children, Henry and Kate;
Mary A. married Thomas Reber, and died at
Lewisburg in 1896; Lydia L. married Daniel
Zeller, and still resides at Lewisburg.

Dr. Samuel L. Beck was a Whig in politics
until the disruption of that party, when he be-
came a Republican. He died at Lewisburg No-
vember I, 1882, and was buried in the Lewis-
burg cemetery. His wife, Anna, died in Lewis-
burg March 2, 1885, and was buried by the side
of her husband. By his wife, Anna Stitzel, Dr.
Beck had five children: William H., born Feb-
ruary 28, 1843; Samuel L. , born September 14,
1844; Valeria R. , born July 29, 1846; Thomas
Romeyn. born March 17, 1848; Mary, born July
28, 1849.

Of these Willi.m H. Beck, the eldest son,
received his education at the University of Lew-
isburg, Penn., where he graduated in the class of
1862. He entered the army during the Civil
war, and was a member of Company C, 131st P.
V. I. He was admitted to the Bar as a lawyer
in Lewisburg in 1865, and since that time has re-
sided in Winchester and Alexandria, Va., New
Orleans, La., and Washington, D. C, which
last place is his residence at this writing.

Samuel Ludwig Beck, the second son, married
Miss Susan Case, of Trenton, N. J., and has a
printing office in Philadelphia, where he resides.
Valeria R. Beck married David Myers January
3, 1 87 1. They resided for some years on his
plantation near Talladega, Ala., whence they re-
moved to Lima, Ind. , and thence to Lewisburg,
Penn., where she now resides. Thomas R. Beck
resides in Lewisburg, Penn. Mary Beck mar-
ried J. N. McCoy, the son of Col. DeWitt Clin-
ton McCoy, of the 83d Penna. V. I. She now
resides with her husband in Reading, Pennsyl-∼Aged 74 years 6 months 23 days