In the early 1800's, there were several pioneer Beckett and related families that moved to the Belmont County area. This short biography is to present information and to discuss a little of what is known about the two families and first generation descendants of my ancestor, John Beckett.
John Beckett, farmer, was born about 1770 probably in either Frederick County or Berkeley County, Virginia. The earliest record found about him was when he married Hannah Potts on March 27, 1794 in Berkeley County, Virginia. According to census records, tax records and several write-ups ["The Household Guide and Instructor" by T. F. Williams (1882)] about his son, George N. Beckett, John and his family lived in Berkeley County, Virginia until about 1811, when they moved to Richland Township in Belmont County. The first official Ohio record found about him is a listing in the 1820 Richland Township, Belmont County Census. They lived in Richland Township until 1827, when he and his family moved to Goshen Township in Belmont County, where they lived until 1832.
In the 1830 Belmont County tax records for Goshen Township, he was not listed as a property owner, so he paid no property taxes. For Personal Property Tax, he had 4 horses valued at $40 each for $160 and 3 cattle valued at $8 each for $24. Total taxable value was $184 and the total tax on that was $1.31.
In 1832, he and his family made a final move to Green Township in Monroe County, where he, at an age of over 60, purchased 160 acres of farm land. Hannah, his first wife died in about 1836 and he married a second time on Dec. 14, 1837 in Monroe County to Rachel Fowler. He died Jan. 14, 1850 at the age of 80 and is buried in the Beckett-Ott cemetery in Green Township, Monroe County.
There are six known children from the first marriage and three from the second. His known children were determined from a Monroe County Court document titled "Sale of John Beckett real estate by administrators in June 1852". They are:
(1) Mary (b. 1803 in Virginia), married Jeptha Duvall in Belmont County. They lived on a farm in Monroe County and had nine children.
(2) William (my gggrandfather) was born 1807 in Virginia. He married Margaret Gossett of Wheeling Township in Belmont County. He was a farmer. They moved to Noble County in the early 1850's. Their five children lived in Noble and Guernsey Counties.
(3) Isaac (b. 1809 in Virginia), married Nancy Wilkinson in Belmont County. He was a farmer and they lived in Belmont County until 1850, when they and their ten children moved to Illinois.
(4) George (b. 1812 in Ohio), married Margaret Clingan and was both a farmer and a dry goods merchant. They lived in both Belmont County and Guernsey County. Their only son, John C. Beckett was a very successful Cambridge banker and businessman in the 1880 to 1900 time frame. John's daughter, Emma married Thomas Amos of the Amos family which owned the Cambridge newspaper, The Jeffersonian.
(5) Margaret (b. 1815 in Ohio), married Robert Hyde, a farmer in Wills Township, Guernsey County. They had seven children.
(6) Elizabeth (b. abt 1818 in Ohio), married Thomas Ferrell, who was a farmer. They lived in Monroe County and had five children. Their son, James fought in the Civil War.
(7) Elijah (b. 1839 in Monroe County, Ohio), fought in the Civil War. In 1862, he was mortally wounded in the Battle of Camp Allegheny in western Virginia and is buried in the Beckett-Ott cemetery, Green Township, Monroe County.
(8) Wesley (b. 1842 in Monroe County, Ohio), married Delilah Lantz. He was a farmer in Perry Township, Monroe County. They had twelve children, most of whom lived in Monroe County. Several of his children moved to Wetzel County, West Virginia.
(9) Sarah (b. 1843 in Monroe County, Ohio), married Matthias Fox, who was a farmer in Monroe County. They had five children. She died in 1875 at the age of 32. Her husband remarried and moved the family to Wirt County, West Virginia in the late 1870's.
Bill Beckett [[email protected]]