W. J. BECKWITH.
The subject of this sketch was born in Kent County, New Brunswick, British North America, on February 8, 1826, where he was educated. His father was a farmer, owning sawmills and manufacturing lumber; and at an early age Mr. Beckwith chose the occupation of a lumberman, that region of country abounding in forests of fine timber, which, being manufactured into lumber, rolls to market like an endless tide. In 1849, Mr. Beckwith moved to the State of Maine, and on July 5, 1851, left Calais and came via the Isthmus of Panama to this State, landing in San Francisco on August 19 of that year. He remained in the city until September 15, then came to this county and settled near Sonora, and mined on the South Fork of the Stanislaus River. In the Spring of 1852 he started for the Northern Mines, but went no farther than Stockton, where he remained for two years, then went to the American River, and mined at Rattlesnake Bar. He returned to this County in the Spring of 1855, and settled on the farm he now owns, near Mountain Pass, where he has maintained a continuous residence. Mr. Beckwith married, for his his first wife, Martha Wadsworth, a native of New York State. His second wife was Elizabeth Agnes Dunn, and was born in Dublin, Ireland. By this union they have: Robert B, Bertha C., and Elizabeth A.
“A History of Tuolumne County, California” Pub’d by B.F. Alley, 1882. Pg. 338-339.
Submitted by: Nancy Pratt Melton