Bio of Beck, Peter (b.1841) Wabasha Co., MN ========================================================================= USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. If you have found this file through a source other than the MNArchives Table Of Contents you can find other Minnesota related Archives at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm Please note the county and type of file at the top of this page to find the submitter information or other files for this county. FileFormat by Terri--MNArchives Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Barbara Timm and Carol Judge ========================================================================= This bio comes from "HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY" 1884. Check out Barbara's site for more great information on this book: http://www.rootsweb.com/~mnwabbio/wab1.htm There are also some pictures and information from descendents for some of the bios on her pages. Beck, Peter, (page 1332), farmer and brewer, was born in 1841 at Luxemburg, Germany, and was the fourth child of John and Catherine Beck. When four years old, Peter came with his parents to the United States, settling in Cook county, Illinois, on a farm, where they remained till 1854. Our subject then removed, with his parents, to Dubuque, Iowa, where he helped his father in a store. In 1869 he came to Lake City, remaining till 1877, when he moved out on a farm near town, where he now resides. Mr. Beck deals in barley quite extensively: in 1883 he shipped 30,000 bushels. He has been married twice. His first wife's name was Margaret Pals, and by her had four children, all of which are dead. In 1876 he married Margaret Pontzlet and she has borne him two children - Henry and Anthony. Contact Fellow Genealogist: Larissa Notes from fellow genealogist Cecilia (Poncelet) Merk: Concerning Peter Beck and Margaret Ponzlet/Poncelet: she is part of my family tree and the last name should be spelled Poncelet. In my history I have Peter Beck and Margaret Poncelet's marriage date as July 25, 1877 (I have copy of marriage record) and I believe they had six children rather than the two mentioned in the biography. They are Henry (Harry P.) born September 1878; Louis born in 1880 and died in infancy; Anthony, mentioned in the biography, born in Feb 1883; John born Feb. 1885; Charles born July 1887; and Clara Beck, born Nov. 29, 1891 and died Feb. 1989. I have included Peter and Margaret' obituraries. They give some of the same information that I stated above. I was unaware that he had been married before. Obituary ~ Mrs. Peter Beck Mrs. Peter Beck, highly respected old resident of Lake City, passed away at 5:30 o'clock, Sunday Morning, May 1 at her home on Dwelle Street. Death was the result of heart failure. She had been suffereing for some time but only the last three weeks was she confined to her bed. Mrs. Beck, whose maiden name was Margaret Ponceley (sic), was born in Luxembourg Germany, in November 1853. At the age of 12 years she came to America with her parents and settled at Brownsville, Houston county. A year later the family moved to Bellechester where fifty years ago the decesed was united in marriage to Peter Beck of Lake City, well known business man and grain buyer. To this union six children were born, Harry of Lake City, Loius, who died in infancy, Anthony at home, John wo is farming near Lake City, Charles who died in France during the war and Clara at home. She is also survived by seven grandchildren. Mr. Beck passed away in 1919. Funeral services were held at St. Mary's Church at 10 o'clock Tuesday morning, May 3, Father Cunningham officiating. Burial in St. Mary's Cemetery. The pall bearers were Mike Scott, Sylvester O'Brien, D. C. McKenzie, Mike Meaney, Frances Kemp, Herry Horrigan. Obituary ~ Peter Beck The many friends of Peter Beck were shocked to learn of his demise, for though many had know that he was in poor health, few knew that the end was so near and the news of his passing was learned with universal sorrow. Peter Beck was a pioneer grain buyer of Lake City and until two years ago, when he retired, had been for the past half century engaged in the grain buying business here. He was one of the best known men in this section. Mr. Beck was born in 1841 in Luxembourg, and had he lived until Friday of this week he would have been 78 years of age. He was the son of John and Catherine Beck and with his parents came to America and lived with them in Chicago till 1854 when moved to Dubuque, Iowa where they remained until 1869 when Mr. Beck came to Lake City, just fifty years ago. where he had since resided. He was united in marriage with Margaret Ponzlet who with four children to mourn the loss of a loving kind husband and father, counselor and campanion. He was an honest, enterprising man in business as well as out. The firm of Peter Beck and later Peter Beck & Sons, was known through this section as standard to bank on. With the wife, the surviving children are Harry P, Anthony, John who is farming near Lake City, Clara, all of this city. One son Charles, who was in the service, died in France a year ago last September. The funeral services were held at St. Mary's church Tuesday morning at 10 o'clock and were largely attended by sorrowing friends. Rev. J. A. Cummiskey officiated. Those from out of the city who attended the funeral were C. J. Collins, Great Falls, Mont. Mr. and Mrs. N. Frank, Great Falls, Mont; Mrs. John Dvoracek, Minneapolis, and Miss Mary Burns, Tacoma, Wash.