| Summary: | This contains brief biographical sketches of members of the Beckwith family.Biographical sketches of some of the Beckwith Family
Dr. Jonathan Beckwith (1799-1856) (He was the eldest of fourteen children born to Richard Marmaduke Beckwith (1775-1820) and Elizabeth Scott Buchanan Beckwith (1780-1834) of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Jonathan Beckwith came to Florence in 1823 to seek his fortune and married an heiress, Dolley Coles Winston.)
Dolley Coles Winston Beckwith (1789 -1849) (She was a first cousin of Dolley Payne Todd Madison, and a second cousin of Patrick Henry. She was the daughter of Isaac Winston (1745-c. 1820) and Lucy Coles Winston (1741-1823) of Culpeper County, Virginia, and a sister of Martha Henry Winston Armistead (1782-1870). Dolley lived with Martha and her husband, Peter Fontaine Armistead (1778-1866) on their plantation in western Lauderdale County until her marriage to Dr. Jonathan Beckwith (1799-1856) in the early 1820s. She and Dr. Beckwith had three children: Isaac Winston Beckwith, Elizabeth Buchanan Beckwith, and Alexander Winston Beckwith (who is said to have changed his name from William Beckwith to Alexander Winston Beckwith).
Isaac Winston Beckwith (c.1824-1857)
Elizabeth Buchanan Beckwith Conner Beckwith (Lizzie) (c.1828-1912) (Elizabeth apparently attended Locust Dell Academy in Florence. She married James M. Conner in 1860, and was granted a divorce from him in 1871. During the Civil War she and her husband lived on her family’s home plantation (located south of Canaan Methodist Church in the Bend of the River farming area), which was owned by her brother, Alexander W. Beckwith. She also maintained her own plantation, called the Johnson Place, which was located south of the Wright community, near the Tennessee River. In 1897, Elizabeth Beckwith was the Superintendent of the Methodist Day School at Gravelly Springs. In 1910, she lived at 424 North Walnut Street in Florence.)
Alexander Winston Beckwith (c.1830-1905) (He was educated at St. Joseph College in Nelson County, Kentucky. In 1861 he enlisted in Company C, 27th Alabama Regiment as a first lieutenant. In 1863 he was described by A. H. Rice, Commanding Company of 2nd Regiment of Roddey’s Alabama Cavalry, as being “34 years of age ... of ruddy complexion, blue eyes, light hair, five feet eight inches in ‘hight,’ and by occupation when enlisted a planter.” In 1865 he received a pardon from President Andrew Johnson for “taking part in the late rebellion against the Government of the United States.” In 1866, he sold his Lauderdale County plantation to his bride, Mollie Mason Beckwith, for the dowry of “greenbacks” that she brought to their marriage, and operated a plantation near Helena, Arkansas until 1874. He and Mollie then moved to Spring Hill, Tennessee, where they had a small farm and raised stock.)
Mary Mason Beckwith (Mollie) (1846-1908) (She was a descendant of George Mason of Virginia through her grandfather, James Mason. She lived in Athens, Alabama, before her marriage to Alexander Beckwith on November 14, 1866. She and Alexander had two children who survived infancy: Alexander Winston Beckwith, Jr. and Jonathan Fontaine Beckwith.)
Alexander Winston Beckwith, Jr. (Zander, Xander) (1867-1924) (He was married to Mrs. Macon Bostick Johnson on December 5, 1892. She was the daughter of John Bostick and Sarah J. Reaves? He and his wife had no children.)
Jonathan Fontaine Beckwith (John, Jonnie) (1878 - 1955) (He attended the Military Academy in Columbia, Tennessee. He married, on January 20, 1909, Louise Ayres, the daughter of Haynes Ayres and May Thomason. Jonathan lived in Florence, had the Beckwith Furniture Store, and once worked as a salesman at Rogers Department Store. Louise Beckwith was very active in the First Methodist Church of Florence, where she was the organist. At one time Jonathan and Louise lived at 424 N. Walnut Street, along with other Beckwith relatives. They had no children.)
Hugh Mercer Beckwith (1817-1890) (He was a brother of Dr. Jonathan Beckwith. He left his home in Fredericksburg, Virginia, lived in Lauderdale County for a period of time, then went out west. He married Refugio Rascom, the sixteen-year-old daughter of Jose Maria Rascom and Josepha Saiz, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, on 22 December 1849. According to a book on New Mexico, provided by his descendant, Florence resident Harold Beckwith: “At Seven Rivers, Mr. Beckwith made his home in true Virginia tradition. His large adobe house, with pitched roof extending over verandas all around, was the epitome of comfort, with plenty of servants, cottonwood shade against the sun, and fireplaces to mitigate the winter’s chill. Hospitality was boundless; every passerby was welcome.”)
Andrew Buchanan Beckwith (1805- ) (He was a brother of Dr. Jonathan Beckwith.)
Rebecca Beckwith (1819 - ) (She was a sister of Dr. Jonathan Beckwith. She came to Lauderdale County and married a wealthy widower, Henry Smith of Sweetwater (1789-1846),
Laura Brokenbrough Beckwith (1818 - ) (She was a sister of Dr. Jonathan Beckwith. She
married a Mr. Greves and was living at Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1870.)
Sir Jennings Beckwith (1764- ) (He is said to have been the father of Jim Beckwith (1800- ), a famous “mountain man.”)
Walter Coles Winston (He was a brother of Martha Henry Winston Armistead, hence an uncle of Elizabeth Beckwith. He moved from Culpeper County, Virginia to Columbus, Mississippi, in the 1840s, along with other Virginia relatives. Elizabeth and her mother, Dolley Coles Winston Beckwith, sometimes visited with Walter’s family in Columbus.)
Ellen Armistead Smith (She was a daughter of Martha and Peter Armistead, and was married to the Rev. J. B. T. Smith, an episcopal rector.)
William J. Beckwith (c.1819-1897) (He was a first cousin of Dr. Jonathan Beckwith.)
References:
Interviews with Harold Beckwith of Florence, Alabama. Letters and papers belonging to Mr. Beckwith
1975 letter to Ronald Pettus from Mrs. W. J. Cheairs of Spring Hill, Tennessee
Documents provided by Lois Henderson: “Head Quarters 2nd Regt Roddey’s Ala Cavalry - A. H. Rice, Commanding Company. Camp Pond Creek, Near Tuscumbia, Ala, Jany 29th, 1863.”
“Pardon to Alexander Beckwith by President Andrew Johnson”
Letters written to Alexander W. Beckwith. Genealogical information compiled by Marie Rauschenberg Rice
Waterloo Tribune, May 21, 1897 (From Natchez Trace Traveler, Vol.24, Jan-Dec 2012).
Lauderdale County legal records
Letters from the Manuscript Section of the Tennessee State Library and Archives
“American Turf Register & Sporting Magazine,” Vol. 5th. Edited & pub. by J. S. Skinner, Baltimore 1834. “Sir Jennings Beckwith, of the old school.” “Sir Jennings Beckwith was born in Richmond county Va. 10th February 1764. His father, Jonathan, was son of Sir Marmaduke Beckwith Baronet, the first clerk of the county under the crown - his mother, Rebecca, was daughter of Richard Barnes, Esq. Sir Jennings is six feet high, muscular, without many gray hairs & can crack a walnut with his teeth. The family have been devoted to the turf, and all kinds of hunting & fishing - laboring in search of amusement, but never known to do anything to bring a penny to the pocket. When fortune throws anything useful in the way of this old man, he is uneasy so long as ‘a shot is in his cocker.’ He moved to Frederick County, Md., & on losing his wife, to the ‘far west,’ in 1805? where he stopped in the forks of the Ohio & Mississippi. He made two trips to New Orleans in open, & twice visited his native county (country?). He delighted in joining the Indians in excursions to their hunting grounds. In 1810? he left the District? ? ? with a servant, & an Indian to guide them thru the wilderness, when, becoming bewildered by high waters, lost them four months & six days, during which time Sir Jennings was ? dogs on the ground from an attack of paralysis. They were out of provisions three days, when the Indian shot a fox giving ....”
1994 letter from T. Dudley Cramer to Orlan K. Irons in reference to his book, The Pecos Ranchers in the Lincoln County War, published by Branding Iron Press of Oakland, California, in 1996. “This story is about the Pecos ranchers who participated in the Lincoln County War, and particularly the Hugh Beckwith family.”
Page 171: John P. Meadows spoke of the circumstances under which Pat Garrett allowed Hugh M. Beckwith to escape from his custody in 1881: “Meadows said that Beckwith was a real gentleman, well-educated, and spoke good English.” Beckwith was killed in his general store in Texas in 1890, when he was seventy-three years old.
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