Wilkes-Warren County GaArchives Biographies.....Thomas J  Beck December 5 1805 - September 2 1862
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Meredith Clapper http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00012.html#0002801 October 15, 2003, 3:59 pm

Author: Compiled for Christian Index 

History of the Baptist Denomination in Georgia, compiled for the Christian 
Index; Jas. P Harrison & Co. printers & publishers, 1881, Atlanta, GA. p 30-
32. 

Thomas J. Beck, Sr. 
Thomas J Beck, Sr. who first saw the light December 7th 1805, in Buncombe Co., 
North Carolina, was a man of humble origin and talents, and almost entirely 
uneducated, yet it pleased God to use him for the accomplishment of great and 
good ends. In building up and strengthening churches, and in winning souls to 
Christ, he was very successful.  As was said of Barnabas, so might it be said 
of him; "he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, and much 
people was added unto the Lord;" for his work is following him in the 
consecrated lives of hundreds converted through his instrumentality. 

His parents, James and Nancy Beck, were plain, pious people, who were able to 
afford him but the most meagre educational advantages. 
On attaining his majority, he moved from North Carolina to Wilkes county, 
Georgia, where he was converted, baptized by Rev. Enoch Calloway and received 
into the Rehoboth church in 1833.  He was ordained at the call of New 
Providence Church, Warren county, in 1835, when thirty years old.  From that 
period until his death, a term of twenty-seven years, he was a most earnest 
and diligent minister, serving various churches in Greene, Taliaferro, Warren, 
Wilkes and Columbia counties, being remarkably successful in building them up 
and in establishing and utilizing the membership. Always avoiding, extremes, 
he was conservative in spirit, yet sound in his doctrinal views, sparing 
neither time nor pains to ascertain the truth. From his entrance on the 
ministry, almost without any education, he became a hard student of God's 
word, devoting all his time and talents to the acquisition of a  correct 
knowledge of the Scriptures. With very little of that polish of diction and 
oratorical grace, on which the world lays so much stress, he was, 
nevertheless, a very effective speaker; for he delivered what he had to say in 
an earnest, hearty, straightforward manner that seldom failed to produce a 
good impression.  He was not what is called a talented man, and owed little of 
his success and usefulness to natural gifts; his prevailing qualities being 
good common sense and sound discretion. In himself he saw nothing 
trustworthy.  He put his whole dependence upon God, never appearing to think 
of himself while working for his Master, but hiding behind the cross of 
Christ, and esteeming himself as nothing and as able of himself to do 
nothing.  He gave his Heavenly Father an undivided faith and trust, and always 
appeared before his congregations as though he had just come from the presence 
of God; consequently they heard him gladly and many were converted. He 
preached by example, too; he shared the honorable distinction of Chaucer's 
parson, "That first he wrought and afterward he taught." 

In his life we have a striking illustration of the truth that in obedience to 
God, and in dependence on Him, not in superior natural endowments, lies the 
secret of ministerial success and usefulness.

In person he was about five feet ten inches in heigh, well proportioned, and 
always wore a neat black suit. His eyes were blue, with an expression of 
kindness, good nature and intelligence. He had classic features and his hair, 
which was nearly white at the time of his death, was always combed straight 
back. 

His chief traits of character were firmness, boldness, modesty, et al. 

He married Miss Nancy Burdett, of Wilkes county, in 1831, and had six 
children.  It was in the midst of his own family that his Christian life shone 
most brightly, and there his walk with God appeared most intimate. Perhaps in 
all the experiences of home-life, no one ever preserved a more uniform and 
exemplary Christian character.  He was exceedingly solicitous for the 
salvation of his children; and, before his death, had the pleasure of 
baptizing them all, except the youngest, who was then ten years old, and that 
one also was baptized at the age of fourteen. Though very kind and 
affectionate, with broad and tender sympathies, he was "one that ruled well 
his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity." Never was 
he known to do or say anything that compromised his dignity, or in the least, 
lowered him in the estimation of his family. 

He died of typhoid fever, (contracted in Virginia, while caring for his sick 
and wounded sons in the army), in Warren county, September 2d, 1862 at the age 
of fifty-six. During a long illness, he bore his great sufferings in the most 
meek and patient manner. All who were present at his death witnessed a 
remarkable display of triumphant faith. When fully conscious that his end was 
at hand, he called together the members of his family, and took a very 
affectionate leave of each, giving to every one appropriate words of counsel, 
comfort and encouragement. A heavenly unction seemed to attend every word that 
he uttered; and, when he had concluded, he fell asleep in Jesus. 

 


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