San
Joaquin County
Biographies
THEODORE H. BECKMAN
The name of Theodore H. Beckman is
engraved on the pages of San Joaquin County’s history, for through many years
he has been an important factor in the agricultural and financial interests of
this section of the state. With a mind
capable of planning, he combined a will strong enough to execute his well
formulated purposes, and his energy and perseverance have resulted in the
accumulation of a handsome property, which places him among the substantial
citizens of the county. He is a native
son of San Joaquin County, having spent practically all the days of his life
within the environs of his birthplace, and when ready to enter upon the active
duties of life he took his place among the men of progress and public spirit
who in the last two decades have been the leading factors in the recorded
advancement of the agricultural, business, social and institutional interests
of this section of the state. His
birthplace was the Beckman ranch on Kettleman Lane southeast of Lodi and the
date May 3, 1871, a son of Henry and Margaret (Toni) Beckman, who figured
prominently in the county’s history.
Henry Beckman was born in Prussia,
near Bremen, March 13, 1834, his parents being William and Wilhelmina
Beckman. William Beckman, the
grandfather of our subject, was a farmer by occupation, and one of Bonaparte’s
soldiers, and after he was captured he fought for Blucher. He died in 1868. Henry Beckman was reared on a farm in
Prussia. His mother having died when he
was only three years old, he was put out among strangers until fifteen years
old. In 1848 with his brother
Christopher, he came to America, sailing from Bremen and landing at Baltimore;
together they went to New Haven, Pennsylvania, thence to Illinois, where they
remained a year, working most of the time on farms for sixty-five dollars a
year and board and then they were for a time engaged in lumbering and farming
in Wisconsin. In the spring of 1853 they
came to California, crossing the plains with ox teams, arriving in Stockton
after a journey of six and a half months.
After being here a year they settled on land in Elkhorn Township where
they remained, making improvements, and in 1859 they divided up the land. That year Henry Beckman purchased his ranch,
located about twenty miles from Stockton, and two miles from Lodi. He was one of the enterprising farmers of the
township, and came to own about 1,000 acres of land which was well improved
with substantial buildings. In 1868 he
married Miss Margaret Toni, a native of Switzerland, and four children were
born to this worthy pioneer couple: George
V., Theodore H., of this sketch, Frank W., deceased, and Eva M., Mrs. Harry T.
Bailey. Mr. Beckman was a member of the
Masons of Woodbridge and a charter member of the Woodbridge Grange. Politically he was a Democrat. He passed away in October, 1910, while Mrs.
Beckman is still living at a good old age.
Theodore H. Beckman was reared in
the county and received his education in the public schools, supplemented by
three years at San Joaquin Valley College, an excellent educational institution
no longer in existence. In 1900 Mr.
Beckman inherited 300 acres of his father’s ranch, sixty acres of which is in
vineyard, sixty acres in orchard, and the balance in pasture land.
The marriage of Mr. Beckman on
January 30, 1900, in Lodi, united him with Miss Grace Diers,
a granddaughter of that old pioneer, Jacob Brack, whose history will be found
on another page of this work. She is a
daughter of William H. and Mary (Brack) Diers and was born and reared in the Lodi section and
received her education in the Turner district school, supplementing with a
course at West’s private school in San Francisco. Mrs. and Mrs. Beckman are the parents of two
sons, Earle Brack Beckman and Stanlee
Theodore Beckman.
Mr. Beckman is the senior member and
president of the firm of Beckman, Welch & Thompson, brokers,
dealing in loans, buying and selling farm lands, city property, grain and fruit
and is among the most substantial business firms of Lodi. In 1921 this firm disposed of their store to
Pearson, Knutsen & Minnihan
of Stockton, and the Stockton Hardware Company bought the hardware department,
but Beckman, Welch & Thompson retained their brokerage business. Mr. Beckman is an independent fruit packer
and shipper, having two packing sheds of his own to take care of his abundant
fruit crops each season. One of his
packing sheds is at Brack’s station on the Western
Pacific, four miles west of Woodbridge, and the other at Lodi. He ships through the Pacific Fruit Exchange,
of which he has been a stockholder for many years; he is also a director of the
Lodi National Bank and a member of the finance committee and owns considerable
stock in the Lodi Investment Company. He
is a Republican in politics, but the honors and emoluments of public office
have had no attraction for him, as he prefers to devote his attention to
business affairs, wherein he has met with well merited success. He has served as a trustee of the Henderson
school district for eighteen years and of the Lodi Union high school for the
last six years. In 1896 Mr. Beckman was
patron of the Eastern Star Chapter of Woodbridge; in 1900 was the master of the
Masonic Lodge No. 131 at the same place; he is also a member of the Stockton
Chapter, Stockton Commandery, and Islam Temple A. A. O. N. M. S. of San
Francisco, and belongs to the Native Sons of the Golden West of Lodi and of the
Elks of Stockton.
Mr. Beckman has installed a very
complete irrigation system for his vineyard and orchard, having concrete pipes
for carrying water to all parts of his ranch; there are three wells on his
ranch having an eight-inch, a seven-inch and a six-inch pump with thirty,
twenty-five and fifteen horsepower motors for power. Mr. Beckman employs about fifty people to
take care of his fruit during the busy season and his payroll in 1921 amounted
to $20,000. He is vice-president of the
Woodbridge Vineyard Association. Mrs.
Beckman inherited 200 acres of the Brack estate eight miles west of Lodi, 140
acres of which is in vineyard and sixty acres in grain land. She is an active member of Woodbridge Chapter
O. E. S., a past worthy matron and is past grand district deputy of the
fourteenth California district for this order and has attended almost every
session of the Grand Chapter. She is
very active in all civic affairs and a member of the building board of the Lodi
Woman’s Club. Mrs. and Mrs. Beckman have
accumulated a gratifying amount of worldly possessions through their own industry
and thrifty management, and the esteem of their fellow citizens is deservedly
accorded to both of them.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
508-511. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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