William Green Beck
Submitted by Yvonne Smith-Callaway
HON. WILLIAM GREEN BECK, farmer and millman of Beat No. 2, was born in
Wilkinson County, Ga., in 1815. He was a son of John and Mary (Strong)
Beck, the former of whom was born in Barnwell district, S. C.; in 1792,
and the latter in
Virginia about 1797. They were married in South Carolina and moved
to Georgia in 1818. They removed thence to Montgomery county when there
were but one or two stores there. In 1835 they removed to what is now Bullock
county, but what was then Pike county, and in 1840 they removed to Covington,
where Mr. Beck died about 1878, and Mrs. Beck about 1860. Mr. Beck was
a member of the Primitive Baptist church and Mrs. Beck of the Missionary
Baptist church. He was a farmer all his life and quite a successful one,
and though uneducated was generally well informed. With reference to public
matters he was very conservative and reticent. He was hard working, industrious,
honest and liberal. He was one of the first settlers of Alabama and one
of the first in Covington county. His father, Elijah Beck, was a native
of South Carolina and came to Montgomery, Ala., where he died in 1821,
He was probably a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and was certainly a
soldier in the war of 1812. Grandfather Strong was an Englishman, and died
in Virginia when Mrs. Beck was small. The subject of this
sketch was the second of ten children, of whom three sons and two daughters
are living. Three of the sons were in the late war; Washington, served
in the latter part of the war, and died at Montgomery; Charles, of Baldwin
county, and Wilson, of Brewton. William G. Beck, was reared on a farm,
principally in Montgomery county, with but a common school education. He
began life for himself at twenty years of age, farming in what is now Bullock
county, where he was married in 1835 to Louisa, daughter of John Smith,
who removed from Georgia to Alabama. Mr. Smith died in Tallapoosa county
in 1839, and Mrs. Smith in Florida about 1874. Mrs. Beck was born in Georgia
and died in Covington county in 1846, leaving six children, viz.: Oliver,
who died in Mobile in January 1863, in the army from Choctaw county; Mary
Ann, wife of Reuben Diamond; Sarah J., wife of Henry Williams, of Texas,
Washington, deceased; Robert J., died in 1891; William, died young. Mr.
Beck was married, the second time, to Mrs. Sarah Tane, nee Johnson, who
was born in Covington and had ten children, as follows: Elizabeth, wife
of James M. Smith; Wilson; Eliza, wife of W. Brooks; Annanias, wife of
William Cobb; Nancy, wife of George Cooper; Charles; John W.; the rest
dying in infancy. For the first five years after marriage Mr. Beck lived
east of Andalusia engaged in farming, and then below on the river, and
for the past twenty-three years upon his present farm of 126 acres, where
he has a small grist mill, which he built in 1854. He has worked a good
many years at blacksmithing, woodworking and mill building. In 1844 he
was elected revenue commissioner of Covington county, holding the office
four years. In 1882 he was elected to the legislature and served on the
committee on local legislation, and on public printing. He is a member
of Dean lodge, No. 182, F. & A. M., at Conecuh. He and his wife have
been members of the Missionary Baptist church for many years. Although
Mr. Beck had but very limited advantages for obtaining an education when
young, yet he is one of the most cultured and best informed men in the
county. He is universally esteemed and his superior abilities are recognized
by all.
Additional Comments:
from "Memorial Record of Alabama", Vol. I, p. 746-747
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