Biographical Memoirs of Wells County, Indiana, 1903. pp. 344-345.

JOHN M. BECK.

John M. Beck was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, May 17, 1839. His father, Mathias Beck, was a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, and the son of a furrier. He had received only a common German education, as his father was unable to give him the advantage of the higher training. Being a cripple, he was not compelled to serve in the army, as was his more able bodied associates, and was thus nurtured in a less hardy but purer atmosphere. He was married to Miss Rosanna Haley, and in order to secure a better home sold his possessions and came to America in 1830, settling in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, where he purchased a small farm. He remained in Pennsylvania eight years and then came to Indiana, settling at Fort Wayne. About 1841 he came to Wells county and bought two hundred and forty acres of land in the woods where he built one of the finest houses in this part of Wells county. This home, which was then considered little less than a mansion, was a large hewed-log house of three rooms below and one above. Mr. Beck was a man of energy and was among those to encourage improvements, lending his aid to all movements for the benefit of his community. He was a Democrat and a member of the German Lutheran church. He was the father of eight children, four of whom grew to maturity. John M.; and Anna M. wife of Henry Foreman, at one time a furrier of Adams county, but now a retired farmer, are the only ones living.

John M. Beck came with his parents to Wells county when he was two and one-half years old and has since spent his entire life in this section. He received a common education in the country schools and spent his hours out of school working for his father, whom he assisted until he was twenty-seven years old. In December, 1866, he married Miss Mary Miller, whose parents came from Stark county, Ohio, and established a home of his own. This lady died in 1874 and the following year he married Miss Melissa J. Bennet, of Washington county, Iowa. She was educated in the Washington Academy, had been a teacher in Iowa and also in Wells county. Mr. Beck worked his father's farm for some years and two years later bought the old homestead, containing one hundred and forty acres, in the northeast part of Wells county. Being a careful manager and a progressive farmer, he has made money, being now considered one of the successful farmers and stock raisers of the community. By his first wife he was the father of four children, viz : William M., who married Miss M. N. Snarr, is a farmer in Jefferson township; Charles M., who married Miss Anna Bowers, is engaged in the hardware business at Fort Wayne; Rosa E. is the wife of Fred Tracy, of St. Joseph county, and Mary L. is the wife of M. E. Spencer, of Ossian. The present Mrs. Beck is the mother of two children, viz: Nora C. is the wife of Prof. I. C. Hamilton, a graduate of the State University at Bloomington and a student of the Chicago University, both having taught in the Wells county schools; Ira D. W., who is assisting his father on the farm.

The subject of this sketch was formerly a member of the Democratic party and in his younger days he was an active worker in its ranks, though he now holds warm sympathy for the principles of the Prohibition movement, which he supports with his ballot. He is one of the most progressive and influential farmers in Jefferson township and is known far and wide as an honest, upright, honorable citizen.

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