Edward Beck – a quiet, earnest man

We hear a lot about Paul Beck, who with his son, Guy, are credited with being the first white settlers in Fayette County, entering the dense virgin forest as early as 1805.
There is another Beck – John Beck – who deserves a moment in the spotlight of history. He was Paul’s younger brother, and also came to Illinois before statehood, settling in neighboring Montgomery County.
John was a married man with young children when he made the trek northward from his home in Kentucky. His wife was Fanny Askew, and she died about 1817 – leaving several small children, including a son, Edward.  
John married a second time to Nancy Blair, and they had a large passel of children.  He died in Montgomery County in 1844, and Nancy died in 1851.
John and Fanny’s son, Edward Beck, is the subject of today’s voyage into history.  
Edward was born in Tennessee on April 11, 1806, and was just a tot when his parents made the trip to the Illinois Territory, settling in the Shoal Creek area of Montgomery County.
The Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Illinois, published in 1910, provides a biographical sketch of Edward in their "People of Note" section.
Edward grew to maturity on Shoal Creek and married Richard and Ellen Freeman’s daughter, Mary Anna. Anna, as she was known, was born in Tennessee on Jan. 24, 1811, and was 9 years old when her family moved to the Shoal Creek area.
In 1832, Edward and Anna moved to northern Ramsey Township, where they were considered pioneer settlers. They settled on land in Section 21, and it is there that Edward built the home that would shelter his family for the next century.                                                                   
A photograph of his double log home and its hearth, which was the center of the home, along with that of his wife, Mary Anna, are included in this valuable work. The cabin was standing in early 1900, and was at that time the oldest known structure in that part of the township.
According to the 1910 history, Edward and Anna’s third child was born in the cabin,  and there Edward died in 1857, at the age of about 50 years.
Edward and Anna were parents of a large family, including Lucinda Brown (Mrs. James); John Beck, who died at age of 50; Rebecca Jackson (Mrs. Thomas), who died in Missouri at the age of 40; Birtha Beck (Mrs. Elisha); Sina Dodson (Mrs. Moses M.); Fanny Little (Mrs. James); Drusilla Curtis (Mrs. Moses) and Lewis Beck, who died at the age of 35.  
The author of Edward’s biographical sketch wrote of his kind disposition and of his willingness to help others. “He was a good man, quiet, earnest, just, unassuming, aiming to live day by day in the simple discharge of his duties to God and man.”
Gravestones for the couple and some of their children stand in Beck Cemetery in North Ramsey Township near their former home.