3/19/1787 to 4/10/1857
Mr. Beck was born in Maryland and his parents settled in Wilkinson County, Georgia. He married Bonita Hicks. In Wilkinson County, he served as sheriff between 1811 and 1816 and was Tax Receiver in 1815. He was one of five Commissioners of Irwinton, Georgia when it became a town 12/4/1816. He served as State Senator from Wilkinson County in 1819 and 1821.
Mr. Beck came to Henry County in 1831. He lived on the eastern outskirts of McDonough and had a very large plantation. His land was bounded by the Covington
Road and Keys Ferry Road and went as far as Johnson’s Hill to the east. He had a blacksmith shop and cotton gin on the place. His home had to be torn down to build the Henry County High School building in 1938. His son built a house on Cedar Street which became known as the Benjamin Harper place. It burned in 1929.
Mr. William Beck was an ordained minister and was Pastor of the McDonough Baptist Church in 1842. He began selling his property in 1847. Mr. Beck lived his last years in McDonough and is buried with his wife in Griffin, Georgia. He was taken there because most of his children had moved there due to the railroad.
Among his children were Lewis Beck who married Elizabeth Manson daughter of Dr. Francis Manson. They went to Griffin to live. Mary Beck married Andrew Cloud son of Ezekiel Cloud of McDonough. Erasmus Beck became a lawyer and Congressman from Griffin. John Beck married Josephine Hardin daughter of William Hardin and Nancy Cloud former citizens of McDonough. They can be found in the history of Cass County or Bartow County.
References:
1. Mother of Counties, Mrs. Rainer, 1971.
2. The Henry Weekly, 1851, 1842, 1847.
