Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/78

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

ried a daughter of John, Lord of Methley. Their son. Sir Hercules, married Lady Beckwith Bruce, daughter of Sir William Bruce, and heiress of an estate named Beck- with. Sir Hercules retained the Malebisse escutcheon, but took the name of his wife's estate. His son. Sir Hercules de Beckwith, married a daughter of Sir John Ferrers, of Tamworth. Nicholas de Beckwith, son of Sir Hercules, married a daughter of Sir John Chadworth, and was the father of Hamon Beckwith, who dropped the particle de (signifying of). He married a daughter of Sir Philip Tydney. and was the father of William Beckwith, who married a daugh- ter of Sir Gerard Usfleet. Their son, Thomas Beckwith, resided at Clint, and married a daughter of John Sawly, of Saxton. Adam Beckwith. son of Thomas Beckwith, was the father of Sir William Beckwith. who married a daughter of Sir John Baskerville, a descendant of English and French royalty traced to Charlemagne. Sir Thomas Beck- with, of Clint, son of Sir William Beckwith. died in 1495. ^^^ married a daughter of William Heslerton. John Beckwith, third son of Sir Thomas Beckwith, married a daughter of John Radclilif, of Mulgrave. Robert Beckwith, son of John Beckwith, was living in 1468 at Broxholm, and was the father of John ESeckwith, living in i4C)q, Robert Beckwith, son of John Beckwith. made his will October 6, 1536. and died be- fore the following March. He was the father of Alarmaduke Beckwith, of Dacre and Clint, Yorkshire. He was twice mar- ried, and had nine children by the first mar- riage. It has been claimed by some author- ities that he was the father of Matthew Beckwith, mentioned below, ancestor of the American family of that name. If so, he must have been a child of the second wife. Matthew Beckwith, first of the family in America, was born about 1610, probably in Yorkshire, England. He appears in Hart- ford, Connecticut, as early as 1645, i" which year he purchased a homestead. A few years later he was at New London and Lyme, his land lying in the two towns, and provided well for all of his sons. He was killed by a fall in the darkness of night over a ledge of rocks, October 21. 1680. His widow Elizabeth married Samuel Buckland, and died before 1690. Matthew (2) Beckwith, son of .Matthew (i) and Elizabeth Beck- with, was born 1637, and was a freeman of

Waterford, Connecticut, in 1658, one of the founders of the church at Guilford, residing there and in the adjoining town of Bran- ford, and died at New London, June 4, 1727. His wife's name was Elizalieth, and their son, John Beckwith, born Tebruary 4, 1669, in llranford, lived in New London, wnere Ii4 married. August 12, 1700, Naomi de Wolf, born 1676, in Waterford, died in Lyme, 1736. Their son, John (2) Beckwith, born 1703, in Waterford, died in Lyme in 1768; married, November 8, 1744, Elizabeth Dart, born .\ugust 30, 1716, in East liaddam, Connecticut, died in Lyme. Their son. John (3) Beckwith. born October 19. 1754, in Lyme, died in Poughkeepsie, New York, September 12, 1834. He was a Continental soldier of the revolution, and married, Jan- uary 27, 1780. Chloe Bosworth, born No- vember 5, 1759, in Washington, Connecti- cut, died at Poughkeepsie, October 9, 1834. Their son, John (4) Beckwith, born July 31, 1785, in Poughkeepsie, was a prosperous ]3hysician, locating in 1808 at Newbern, Ncjrth Carolina, later at Raleigh and New- ton, same state. He was a soldier of the war of 1812, and practiced many years at Petersburg, Virginia, dying in 1870, in New York. He married Margarette Stanley, and they were the parents of Thomas Stanley Beckwith, their eldest child, born 1814. in Raleigh, practiced medicine in Petersburg. \'irginia. where he died in 1884. He mar- ried Agnus, daughter of Edmund Rufifin. Sr.. a native of \^irginia. Their eldest child, Julian R.. was a Confederate soldier, killed at the battle of Seven Pines, June i. 1862: the others were : Margaret Kate. Matilda E.. Thomas S., Edmund R., a druggist of Petersburg, married Mary J. White, of Warrenton, North Carolina : John, married Kate, daughter of J. E. Edwards, of Charles- ton, South Carolina ; Susan, married R. Gil- lam, of Petersburg; .\gnus, married J. R. Carv, of ( doucester, Virginia, and Charles M. '

Thomas Stanley (2) lieckvvith, second son of Thomas Stanley (i) and Agnus (Ruffin) Beckwith, was born in North Caro- lina, and came with his father to Petersburg at an early age. I'rom the age of fifteen years he was engaged in the stationery trade in that town, and has conducted a store on Sycamore street for many years. He was a soldier of the Confederate army, and made a prisoner. He married Emma