San Joaquin County
Biographies
HENRY WILLIAM BECKMAN
HENRY WILLIAM BECKMAN, a
rancher of Douglass Township, was born in Prussia in 1851, a son of William
Francis and Louisa (Remnart) Beckman. The mother died in Germany in 1866, aged
forty; the father, born in 1821, came to this country in 1881. He is a tailor
by trade, but is now too old to work and spends his time in visiting his five
children, three of whom are farmers in this county, and two are married
daughters in San Francisco, which gives him an agreeable change from country to
city life, as inclination prompts. Grandfather William Beckman, a farmer, was
at the battle of Waterloo, on the side of Napoleon, being opposed to him until
the conquest of Westphalia. He was in America from 1852 to 1866, and died in
his native land about 1870, at the age of eighty. Two of his sons are ranchers
near Lodi, in this county.
H. W. Beckman came to this country at the
age of thirteen, with an uncle, who is a rancher at Lodi, then on a visit to
Europe. He worked on his uncle’s ranch until 1866, and on other ranches until
1872. He then rented land and did fairly well, making some money, besides
getting together some stock and implements. In 1880 he bought 305 acres on the
plains, raised four crops and sold at an advance. In 1884 he bought his present
place of 240 acres, on the north bank of the Calaveras, of L. L. Rumrill, which
has advanced about fifteen per cent on the purchase price. It is all
first-class wheat land, with a small orchard chiefly for home use. It reaches
the river at one corner. In 1889 he had 190 acres in wheat yielding twenty
bushels to the acre. He raises a few head of cattle for the market annually. He
has made one visit to Germany, in 1881, and brought out his father.
Mr. Beckman was married in 1881 to Miss
Henriette Bohne, a native of Germany, who had come to this country that year.
The father died in Germany in 1888, aged sixty years, and the mother, Mrs.
Louisa (Kohomore) Bohne, born about 1839, is still living in Westphalia. Mr.
and Mrs. Beckman are the parents of two living children, having lost their
first born, twins, and one since. The living are: Louisa, born December 18,
1884, and Henrietta, born October 2, 1888.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Page 290. Lewis Pub. Co.
Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2008 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Genealogy Databases