Los Angeles
County
Biographies
MARTIN
BEKINS
Martin
Bekins represented the enterprise, thrift, and progressive spirit typical of
the west. During his interesting and
varied experiences in life he encountered and endured vicissitudes and faced
seemingly insurmountable difficulties, but with a courageous and indomitable
spirit overcame all obstacles and by persisting in a course of straightforward
dealing in all his business transactions gained a gratifying degree of success
and financial prosperity. The Golden
Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” was ever his motto
and during his life span of three score and ten years he never lost his faith
in mankind. Mr. Bekins was the founder
of the Bekins Van and Storage Company in Los Angeles and San Francisco, which
grew to such proportions that it became the largest business of its kind in the
world.
Martin
Bekins was born at Beaverdam, Michigan, on January
26, 1863, a son of Sjoerd and Tiertje
(Berkumpas) Bekius (as the
name was originally spelled), who were born in Holland and upon coming to
America settled in the timber region in Michigan, where they developed a
farm. The son attended the common
schools of his locality while growing up on the home farm and when he was about
eighteen years old he left home to make his own way and went to Lincoln,
Nebraska, and soon after entered the employ of a transfer company. Later he entered college at Orange City,
Iowa, preparatory to entering the ministry of the Dutch Reformed Church but was
not ordained. He returned to Lincoln and
in January, 1889, purchased the Lincoln Transfer Company, which consisted of
about forty vehicles of various kinds with horses and other equipment to carry
on the business. While engaged in
business here he built the first covered vans used in the Middle West to
protect the goods transported from the storms.
Under his capable management he built up a fine business until he decided
the city was too small for his scope of operations and he then moved to Sioux
City, Iowa, in 1891, and there continued operations with two of his brothers as
partners. One year later Mr. Bekins went
to Omaha, Nebraska, and began to build up a transfer business in that city until
1895, when he outgrew that city and began to look about for larger
opportunities, and went to New Orleans seeking a milder climate. From there he came to Los Angeles, then a
city of about seventy-five thousand inhabitants. Here he could foresee the wonderful
possibilities of future development and cast in his lot with the
southland. He shipped his equipment from
Sioux City and in 1895 organized the Bekins Van & Storage Company in Los
Angeles. Soon he established a branch in
San Francisco and in other cities in the United States made valuable
connections. Mr. Bekins was the
originator of the “less than carload lot” shipments from various parts of the
country and also got out maps of various cities in California, which were
mailed to people throughout the country and in these ways helped materially in
bringing people to southern California.
The name of Bekins Van & Storage Company was as well known in
Chicago and New York as it was in San Francisco and Los Angeles. In later years Mr. Bekins established the
Bekins Co-operative Association in order that his faithful employees would be
enabled to share in the profits of the business which he maintained until the
sons took over the business in 1918. He
was active in civic and philanthropic work and was accounted one of
California’s most representative men. He
remained the active head of his organization until 1918, when he retired to
spend some time in travel, of which he was very fond. He and his wife made two trips around the
world and he spent some time in India investigating existing conditions there.
On
April 13, 1889, Mr. Bekins was united in marriage with Miss Katherine Cole, a
daughter of Meno and Jacobina
(Bolhuis) Cole, natives of Holland, who came to
America in the early sixties and later settled down to farming near Fulton, Illinois,
where their daughter was born. Her
mother died in 1909 and her father in 1919.
Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Bekins four children were born: Ruth Mabel, who became the wife of Herbert Brayton Holt, who is connected with the Bekins Van &
Storage Company and saw two years’ service in Europe with the engineer’s corps
during the World War. Mr. and Mrs. Holt have
three children: Martin Bekins, Patience
Katherine, and Sarah Ruth. The oldest
son, Milo William Bekins, married Miss Dorothy Eloise Watson and they have four
children: Barbara Eloise, Virginia
Louise, June Ellen, and Milo William, Jr.
Mr. Bekins is also associated with the company established by his father
and during the war did active service in all the allied drives that helped win
the war. Floyd Raymond Bekins is also
connected with the Bekins Van & Storage Company. He served in the World War in the heavy
artillery until transferred to the transportation department. He married Miss Dorothy Barton and they have
two children: Floyd R., Jr., and Kathryn
Louise. The youngest son, Reed John
Bekins served in the World War as an instructor in the air services in
England. He married Miss Ida Raney and
they have three children: Theodore
Austin, Donald, and Janet Helene. Mr.
Bekins is also connected with the Bekins Van & Storage Company. Martin Bekins died on September 17, 1933,
when in his seventy-first year. He was
essentially a home loving man and his pleasantest hours were spent with his
family. He was a Democrat in politics
but never an aspirant for official honors.
His widow resided in their beautiful home on Hill Drive in Eagle Rock
and was prominent in civic and club life.
She held membership in the Ebell, the Friday Morning (of which she was a
life member), the Women’s Athletic and the Twentieth Century Clubs and was well
known throughout California for her kindness of heart and broad
sympathies. She was much interested in
and was a trustee of Redlands College.
She and Mr. Bekins built the first girls dormitory there. She was an able assistant to her husband and
helped to build up the business from the time Mr. Bekins began working for himself and was always an able adviser in all of their
business transactions. She died May 11,
1935, leaving the following bequests:
Temple Baptist Church; University of Redlands Scholarship Fund; Y. M. C.
A. of the University of California at Los Angeles and at Berkeley; Children’s
Home Society of California; Spanish-American Seminary; University Religious
Conference at Westwood; the Los Angeles Y. M. C. A.; and the balance of the
trust to her four children.
Transcribed
by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. V, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 537-540,
Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V.
Gerald Iaquinta.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES
BIOGRAPHIES