Wilcox County AlArchives Biographies.....Beck, Franklin King October 14, 1814 - October 12, 1864
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Carolyn Golowka http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00012.html#0002972 February 26, 2006, 3:33 pm

Author: "Alabama:  Her History, Resources, War Record, and Public Men From 1540 to 1872,: by Willis Brewer, 1872, page 580

Franklin King Beck resided in this county.  He was born in Dublin County, North 
Carolina, May 21, 1814.  His father, Hon. John Beck, after serving in the 
legislature of North Carolina, settled in Alabama about 1819, and subsequently 
represented Wilcox in the general assembly.  His mother was a sister of Hon. 
Wm. R. King.  The son spent his boyhood in the county, and was matriculated at 
our State University, but finished his course at Georgetown, D.C., and then 
attended the law department at Yale College.  Licensed in 1841,he located in 
Camden, and in 1843 was elected solicitor over Hon. T. J. Judge of Lowndes, but 
served only one term.  In 1851 he represented the county, and again in 1855.  
He was a member of the constitutional convention of 1861, and soon after was 
elected Colonel of the Twenty-third Alabama.  He participated in the privations 
of this regiment, leading it into Kentucky, and at the battle of Port Gibson 
and Baker’s Creek.  The day after the latter battle the regiment was left by 
accident (failure to receive the order) at Big Black bridge, and Col. Beck held 
Gaant’s army in check for twelve hours with his single regiment.  He shared in 
the disaster at Vicksburg, and just after being paroled had his leg fractured 
by the kick of a horse.  This disabled him for some time but he rejoined the 
command and began the march with Gen. Hood into Tennessee. At Resaca, October 
12, 1864, while making a reconnaissance, a cannon ball struck the limb of a 
tree, glanced downward, passing through his thigh, and killed his horse.  He 
fell, (his beast rolling over the leg fractured at Vicksburg,) and expired in a 
few moments.

Col. Beck, besides being a lawyer and advocate of established reputation, was a 
wealthy planter.  Enterprise and public spirit were marked features in his 
character.  Hospitable, talented, and popular, his loss was severely felt by 
his county, and the entire State.  His wife was a sister of Messrs. Robert and 
Felix Tait, and he left two sons and a daughter, who now reside in the county.  
Hon. Thomas K. Beck, who represented Wilcox in the legislature, was a brother 
of Col. B.


Additional Comments:
A monmument in the Camden Cemetery, Camden, Wilcox County, Alabmam reads:

Sacred to the memory of 
Franklin King Beck 
CO. I. 23 Ala. Regt. C.S.A. 
Born in Duplin Co. N.C. 
May 21, 1814 
Killed in battle at Resacca, Ga., 
October 12, 1864. 
Aged 50 years 4 months and 21 days. 

Franklin King Beck was married to Martha Jefferson Tait, daughter of James A. & 
Caroline E. Tait.  Martha was born October 25, 1828 and died January 6, 1859. 
Their children were:  
William R. King Beck, born April 5, 1849, died December 5, 1885; married Mary 
Tait on February 8, 1885; her tombstone lists two sons, Franklin & William who 
were born July 1885 according to the 1900 Census, Wilcox Co., AL.
James Tait Beck, born February 26, 1851, died May 6, 1906 and was probate judge 
of Wilcox County; married Charlotte Vass Tait;  children were James Tait Beck, 
Jr., born March 1899, and Helen Louise Beck, born September 7, 1900, died March 
17, 1910.
Mary "Mollie" Beck, born July 20, 1853(she married Col. Edward Nathaniel Jones)
and died October 20, 1904.  They had another son, John, born September 12. 
1845, died May 16, 1848.  

Franklin's uncle, William Rufus de Vane King, became Franklin Pierce's vice 
president and took the oath of office on March 24, 1853 in Havana, Cuba where 
he had gone because of his ill health.  King died on April 18, 1853, was buried 
on his Dallas County, Alabama plantation.  His remains were later moved to Live 
Oak Cemetery, Selma, Dallas County, Alabama.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/wilcox/bios/beck724gbs.txt

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