Monmouth County NJ Archives Biographies.....Beekman, George C. 1839 - [1922*]
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  Author: Mary Depue Ogden, Editor  (1917)
  
  BEEKMAN, George C.,
  Lawyer, Antiquarian, Historian.
  
    George Crawford Beekman was a descendant of Maarten Beeckman, who died at
  Albany, in 1676. His father, Jacob T. B. Beekman, graduated at Union College,
  Schenectady; entered Theological Seminary at New Brunswick, New Jersey, and was
  licensed as a minister of Reformed Dutch church in 1826. He was called the same
  year as pastor of the Dutch church then located in what was the old township of
  Middletown, Monmouth county, but afterwards taken off to form what is now
  Holmdel township. Here he served ten years, content, as he once remarked to his
  friend, Rev. Garret C. Schenck, with "stipends sufficient to pay the board of
  myself and my horse." He also did considerable missionary service through
  Monmouth county, which then included the county of Ocean. He rode about on
  horseback, preaching in school houses and sometimes in barns. In 1836 he severed
  his connections with the Holmdel Dutch church and took up his permanent
  residence in the village of Middletown, where he resided the rest of his life.
  The first Baptist church in what is now the State of New Jersey had been
  organized in this place. The population of English descent were strong believers
  in baptism by immersion. Even in the coldest winters they would cut holes
  through the ice of the nearest mill pond to baptize their converts. The Dutch
  church at Holmdel, then called the Middletown Dutch Church, was five miles
  distant by the public road from Middletown village. With the good will of four
  or five farmers of Dutch descent, named Hendrickson, Luyster and Couwenhoven,
  residing on farms over a mile west from Middletown village, it was resolved to
  purchase a lot and erect a church in this village. Many people ridiculed the
  idea of building a church when there was no congregation to fill it or support a
  minister; others said, "the people here are all Baptists and they will not
  attend a church where people are sprinkled with a few drops of water."
  Undisturbed by the clamors, Mr. Beekman went on. A lot was bought and a church
  was built. He gave freely of his time, labor and means. He even borrowed $500 on
  his individual note, to pay some of the final indebtedness. When the edifice was
  completed, Mr. Beekman gave public notice that he would preach every Sunday, and
  invited the people to attend, assuring all of a welcome. Attracted more by
  curiosity than piety, a large number of people attended, for there was nothing
  to pay. Not only on that Sunday but for nearly three years following, he
  preached without any salary or other perquisites. In that time he had gathered a
  congregation able and willing to support an unmarried man as pastor. Mr. Beekman
  secured a young and single man named Crawford to serve as their first regularly
  installed pastor at a stated salary. During the three years Mr. Beekman
  preached, he had the care of conducting a farm and other business. In the year
  1837 he lost an infant daughter. Three years before, his first born, a son,
  named Edwin, died. The graves of those two children, with headstones giving
  their names and dates of death, may be seen to-day in the yard behind this
  church. They were among the first interments in this burying-ground. Air.
  Beekman's funeral was held in this church, and was the only thing he ever
  received for his sacrifices and services. It was, however, now too small to seat
  the crowd of people who turned out to pay their last respects to the memory of
  "Dominie Beekman," as he was generally called. Mr. Beekman, later in life,
  preached many years at Port Washington, as Oceanic was then called. He also
  preached at one time for a church in New York City and elsewhere. He never
  refused to preach the funerals of the colored people when requested.
  
    He married, February 12, 1833, Ann (born February 22, 1801, died May 18,
  1876), daughter of George Crawford and Eleanor Schanck, his second wife.
  
    George Crawford Beekman was born July 2, 1839, in the same dwelling where his
  mother was born and had always resided, at west end of Middletown village; this
  house was accidentally burned down in 1892. At age of fifteen he entered the
  freshman class of Princeton College, and graduated in 1859, receiving the
  degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in course. He entered as a
  student of law in the office of Joel Parker, of Freehold. His first vote was
  cast the same year for the Douglas electors on the presidential ticket, erasing
  four electors who represented the ultra-southern pro-slavery Democracy and the
  "Know Nothing" party. He did this without knowing that a majority of the New
  Jersey Democrats would vote the same way, and was therefore surprised that these
  three electors were the only ones chosen. When South Carolina passed her act of
  secession, he wrote an article for the Republican paper at Freehold, now known
  as the "Monmouth Inquirer," signed "A Jackson Democrat," and expressing his
  views as to the result if they were permitted to dissolve the Union peaceably.
  This article attracted considerable attention, and evoked a savage criticism
  from James S. Yard in the "Monmouth Democrat."
  
    Mr. Beekman was licensed by the Supreme Court of New Jersey in 1863 as an
  attorney at law, and three years later as a counsellor. Joel Parker, elected
  Governor of New Jersey in 1863, permitted Mr. Beekman to use his law office and
  library at Freehold during his term. In the winter of 1869 the Legislature
  passed an act authorizing the appointment of a "law judge" for Monmouth county,
  with an annual salary of $1,800; the act prohibited the incumbent from, practice
  of law during his term. Mr. Beekman was the first judge to occupy this position
  in Monmouth county. The first two years he was fully occupied in the trials of
  the accumulated cases and such new business as came in, the third year he had
  only the new business, and this did not occupy the courts over two months of
  continuous time during the year. As he was debarred from practice of law and had
  no other business, he spent considerable time searching the records of Monmouth
  county and gained considerable information, showing where the first settlers in
  Monmouth came from, how the early courts were constituted and who were the
  judges, etc.; also the disputes between the Scotch and English settlers, and
  other facts of interest. Some of these researches he gave to James S. Yard, who
  published them from week to week in his newspaper. This was purely a labor of
  love as Mr. Beekman received no compensation and expected none. At a later date
  Mr. Yard had these articles, with others written by Hon. Edwin Salter, and some
  compiled by himself, bound together in books, entitled "Old Times in Old
  Monmouth," and put on the market at five dollars per copy.
  
    During the three years Mr. Beekman served as judge he tried many civil and
  criminal cases; few were carried to the higher courts for review; none was
  reversed or modified, but were all affirmed. Becoming weary of the idleness of
  this office, Mr. Beekman resigned in the winter of 1873. He at once resumed the
  practice of law at Freehold. During his forty years of practice at Freehold, he
  tried many civil and criminal cases, some of which attracted great public
  interest and involved important interests. The New Jersey Law and Equity Reports
  show some of these cases, but the great majority were never carried out of the
  county courts of Monmouth. In 1876 Mr. Beekman was a delegate to the
  presidential convention of the National Democratic party held at St. Louis. He
  considered the convention as characterized by want of deliberation, stifling of
  discussion, and unfair management, which changed Mr. Beekman's opinions on the
  subject of "Democracy." Then and there he resolved never to take part in another
  Democratic convention in the county or State under party call. All his former
  ideas of Democracy were revolutionized and upset. In 1878 he took part in a
  county convention in Freehold, and by which he was nominated for State Senator,
  and he was also nominated by the Republican convention, which was in session at
  the same time. After organization, on motion of Edward Hartshorne, a committee
  of seven were appointed to draft resolutions expressing the views of the
  conventions. Mr. Beekman was named as chairman of this committee, and drew the
  resolutions, which were reported and unanimously adopted. Mr. Beekman was
  elected by a majority of over five hundred. For the first time since 1850, the
  regular nominee of the Democratic party in Monmouth county was defeated. The
  senate journal of New Jersey and other legislative documents for years
  1879-80-81 show that he faithfully carried out to the best of his ability the
  platform of the convention. He was invited by representatives of both parties to
  take part in their caucus, but he refused to enter either. Mr. Garret Hobart,
  who served as Senator from Passaic county and was afterwards elected
  Vice-President of the United States, wrote to some of his Republican friends in
  Monmouth county some years after Senator Beekman's term had expired, that no one
  during his term could have determined by his votes what party he belonged to.
  
    In 1879 bills were introduced in the Legislature to give the justices of the
  Supreme Court and Secretary of State a fixed yearly salary instead of fees. This
  was the beginning of that legislation which finally did away with the fee system
  in New Jersey. It was opposed bitterly, and nearly twenty years passed before it
  could be extended to all the State and county offices. The fight was hard and
  bitter. Mr. Beekman was obliged to draw himself all the reform bills he
  introduced. The first year he got through an amendment to the bribery act,
  allowing one of the parties to the crime to testify against the other, and if he
  told the truth granting him immunity. He also introduced a bill to repeal the
  act requiring the session laws to be published in the newspapers of the State,
  at an annual expense of some $70,000 to the taxpayers. Another bill Senator
  Beekman introduced, to repeal act requiring sheriffs sales of land to be
  published in two newspapers, and expense of the printing paid out of the
  property of the debtor, who is sold out. Mr. Beekman also introduced several
  bills, concerning his own county, which became laws, such as the act creating
  the "Township of Neptune;" and the act to appropriate $10,000 toward erecting a
  monument on the battlefield of Monmouth, which also passed. It was the first
  monument erected in New Jersey to honor the memory of our Revolutionary fathers.
  He also voted for the law, giving justices jurisdiction of civil suits to amount
  of $200; also the law forbidding suits on bonds in law suits, when mortgage
  given to secure the same, was being foreclosed in the Court of Chancery. He also
  drew and introduced a bill cutting down costs of the foreclosure of mortgages
  one-half, when the amount due did not exceed five hundred dollars.
  
    In 1880 Mr. Hobart, president of the Senate, appointed Mr. Beekman chairman of
  the joint committee of the two houses on State library. He carefully examined
  the books and found it was almost wholly a law library and used principally by
  the Trenton lawyers and judges. He drew a report recommending the purchase of
  standard works useful to other professions and occupations, also the collection
  of all local histories, pamphlets, etc., relating to any part of New Jersey.
  This report was agreed to and signed by the other members. (See "Report of Joint
  Committee on State Library for year 1880," among the legislative documents). Mr.
  Beekman's term as Senator ended in 1882. Mr. Murphy served in the lower house
  one term. In 1882 the partnership of Beekman & Murphy was amicably dissolved,
  after an existence of eight years. From this time until he removed from Freehold
  to Red Bank, in 1903, Mr. Beekman conducted the law business alone. For forty
  years he practiced law at the county seat of Monmouth and during this time, as
  the court records will show, he never sued any one on his own account. If his
  clients failed to pay, he let the claim go. During those years he contributed to
  the "Monmouth Democrat" and "Monmouth Inquirer," then the only newspapers
  published in Freehold, many articles on political questions, some tales founded
  on local tradition, and also facts relating to the early history of Monmouth
  county**. These last he gathered from the old records in the county clerk's office
  and from old documents and papers which had been treasured up in some of the old
  families of the county. James S. Yard, owner and editor of the "Monmouth
  Democrat," included part of these contributions in the book compiled and
  published by him entitled "Old Times in Old Monmouth." This work was purely a
  "labour of love," Mr. Beekman never asked or expected any compensation. At a
  later date the "Freehold Transcript," a third newspaper, was established at
  Freehold. A series of articles on some of the "Early Hollanders" who settled in
  Monmouth county was published in the weekly issues of this paper, and extending
  through some two years. The owner and editor of the "Transcript" also issued one
  hundred and twenty-five copies in book form, for which he charged five dollars
  per copy; he generously turned over one-half of these receipts to the compiler.
  This was the only pecuniary reward Mr. Beekman ever received for his literary
  efforts.
  
    Mr. Beekman married, at Freehold, November 6. 1877, Laura B. Alston, a
  descendant of the Alstons who resided at or near Woodbridge, Middlesex county.
  New Jersey, prior to the Revolutionary War. During the war or after one of this
  family resided on Staten Island. His son, David Alston, with his wife and two
  sons, removed from Staten Island, by way of Tottenville, over to New Jersey, in
  1815. He took up his residence at Spotswood. Here he remained several years,
  having two more sons and three daughters born at this last place. From here he
  removed to Juliustown. Burlington county, New Jersey, where he lived the
  remainder of his life. One of his sons. Abraham D. Alston, married, in 1839,
  Caroline Bareford, and had ten children—five sons and five daughters. His
  fourth daughter, Laura B., was born March 2. 1852. and married Mr. Beekman. as
  above stated. Three sons—Alston, Jacob Ten Broeck and Edwin Laurens,—and one
  daughter, named Anne Crawford, were born. The last died December 16. 1902. at
  Freehold, was buried in Beekman plot, at Fairview cemetery. The eldest son
  married Matilda, daughter of John Craig, and engaged in practice of law at Red
  Bank. The second son, Jacob Ten Broeck, resided with his parents. The third and
  youngest son, Edwin Laurens, resided on Beekman's farm, at Middletown. This farm
  has been in the family over a century, and is generally considered one of the
  most productive in that vicinity. The railroads from New York to Red Bank-pass
  over the north end of it.
  
    Mr. Beekman was a member of Olive Branch Lodge, No. 16, Ancient Free and
  Accepted Masons, at Freehold, New Jersey. He served four years as worshipful
  master, and at his death was the oldest past master of this lodge. Mr. Beekman
  removed from Freehold to Red Bank in 1903, taking up his permanent residence at
  No. 54 Shrewsbury avenue, on the banks of the Shrewsbury river.
  
  
  
  Additional Comments:
  
  Extracted from:
  
  MEMORIAL CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY
  
  UNDER THE EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF MARY DEPUE OGDEN
  
  VOLUME III
  MEMORIAL HISTORY COMPANY NEWARK,  NEW JERSEY
  1917
  
  [*NOTE: Beekman, George C. died Apr 10, 1922, 82 years old.
  Buried Fair View Cemetery, Middletown, Monmouth County, NJ]

  Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/nj/mercer/photos/bios/beekman-george1922.jpg
  Picture of Mr. Beekman from book below.

  [**NOTE: EARLY DUTCH SETTLERS OF MONMOUTH COUNTY by Mr. Beekman also in these archives.]

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