BECKEMEYER OLD FAMILY PICTURES AND INFORMATION 

Last Updated 24 September 2003

Our Father's Side Of The Family:

Left: A xerox copy of a xerox copy of a photograph of our paternal Great Grandfather, August Beckemeyer, from  "The 1913 Commercial History of Clinton County, Illinois.  Beckemeyer: A Progressive Village".  I xeroxed this page from a copy in the Case-Halstead Library in Carlyle, Illinois, in July, 2003.  If a printed copy could be found, the picture quality could be much improved. 

Below right is a version of the same picture after some processing:

Left: The farm house of the Meyer family, representing our paternal grandmother's lineage.  Peter Meyer and his wife, Mary Margaret Winterman, immigrated from Hanover, Germany around 1857 (according to family tradition).  This house was built in Clinton County, Illinois, near the town of Beckemeyer.  Peter and Mary Margaret Meyer were our Great Great Grandparents.  Pictured are (left to right): Mary Margaret Meyer, Lenora Wilson (daughter of Mary Meyer (granddaughter of Margaret?), Ursula Meyer, daughter of Margaret, and William Meyer, son of Margaret.  Below are close-ups enlarged from the picture, which was generously provided by Nancy Johnson, daughter of our father's sister, Juanita Beckemeyer Starks, who, with her sister Reba,  was raised by Mary Meyer in Arkansas after the death of their mother and disappearance of their father.  

The 1870 census for Clinton County, Illinois, lists Peter Meyer, age 40?, a married farmer who had been born in Holland.  His wife, Mary, 32, was from Hanover.  All the children had been born in Illinois: Frederick, 16, John, 14, Peter, 13, Dorothy, 11, Margaret, 10, Eliza., 9, Joan, 8, Christian, 6, Mary, 5, and Henry, 1, were all living at home, and a farm laborer was also living with the family.  If all the children were indeed born in Illinois, they would have had to emigrate to the USA by 1854.  It is interesting that Peter's name does not ever appear in the census entries for following years (1880, 1900, 1910).  Instead, Mary M. or Margaret is listed as head of household, but is always listed as married rather than as widowed.  Don't know what had happened.  Family lore has it that Peter was from Hanover, and was born 19 March, 1828, died Sept. 30, 1904, and Margaret Winterman was born in Hanover 19 June 1837 and diede Oct. 10, 1917 (dates obtained from Nancy Johnson). 

Left: Click to see a plat map of Wade Township from 1892 with some of the properties of August  Beckemeyer and Peter Meyer shown with gray shading.  On the Right is a later plat map (early 1900's - post 1905 - probably 1913) on which Margaret Meyer is listed as the owner of the Peter Meyer quarter-section and August and his wife Elizabeth Beckemeyer are the owners of a number of properties.

Left: This rather formidable looking woman is Mary Margaret Winterman Meyer, a paternal Great Great Grandmother, from whom was descended our dad's mother.  (She is also seen in the above pictures with some of her family members.)  This picture was also provided by our cousin Nancy Johnson.  The 1880 census listed Margaret Meyer, aged 44, keeping house as head of household (not as a widow) in Wade Township, Clinton County.  It lists her as having been born in Hanover, of parents from Hanover.  There is no mention of Peter Meyer in the census record.  Living with her were son Frederic, 26 years old, born in Illinois to a father who had been born in Holland and a mother born in Hanover (the same information was enterered for all her children who were listed).  Also living at home were: John, 23, Peter, 22, Johannah, 21, Maggy, 20 (our Great Grandmother), Elizabeth, 18, Christina, 14, Mary, 12, a son whose name I could not decipher on the census sheet, age 9, Ursula, 6, Louis, 4, and William, 1. (Ursula and William are seen in the above photo which would date it around 1900 or so, I expect.)

The 1900 Wade Township census lists her as Mary M. Meyer, still head of the household, age 62, born in 1837, married for 46 years (not shown as widowed, although Peter is not listed here, either), and having had 16 children, of whom 11 were still living.  It also says she immigrated to the US in 1847.  Living with her were son William, born Jan. 1879, age 21, daughter Ursula, born May 1874, age 26, grandson Oscar Meyer, born Nov. 1881, age 18, granddaughter Flora, born Jan. 1889, age 1.  In the 1910 census, she is listed as Margaret Meyer, head of household, age 72, living with Ursula, 37, William, 31, and granddaughter Flora, 11.

Right: Our Great Grandmother, one of Margaret Meyer's children, Margaret Meyer.  She married William Ackman in 1881.  He died at a young age, and she remarried, wedding William Heidel in 1889.  She was living with August Beckemeyer, Jr., and his wife, Cora Ackman Beckemeyer (Margaret's only child), in 1910, according to the census of that year.  She raised six of the Beckemeyer kids after the death of our grandmother Cora, and disappearance of our grandfather, August,  in the 1920's.  A Great Aunt, Mary Lang, of Arkansas, raised the other two siblings, the youngest daughters, Reba and Juanita.

Left: Our other Great Grandfather on the Beckemeyer side of the family, William Ackman, father of our paternal grandmother, Cora Ackman Beckemeyer.  This picture from our cousin, Nancy Johnson, daughter of Juanita Beckemeyer Stark, our father's sister.  Their family traditional history lists his birthdate as 20 Sept. 1853, and date of death as 5 Oct. 1886.  He died when our grandmother was just a child, and his wife remarried in 1889.  The 1880 census for Wade Township lists a William Ackman, aged 24, farmer, living with his sister, Annie, 19, brother Henry, 21, and a boarder, Christian Beckemeyer, 68.  The dates are off a few years (the latter's birthdate would be 1856), but this might be the same person, I suppose.

Right: Our paternal Grandmother, Cora Ackman, daughter of William Ackman and Margaret Meyer, as a small child.  Photo supplied by Nancy Johnson.

We have few photos of our dad and his family when they were kids, as their parents died when dad was a child.  At left is a wedding photo of our grandfather and grandmother, August Beckemeyer, Jr. (son of the August Beckemeyer pictured above) and Cora Ackman.   In 1910, August Beckemeyer, Jr. [sic], 29 year old farmer, lived in Wade Township with his wife, Cora, aged 28.  They had been married 6 years (census enumeration date was 26 April, 1910), and had 3 children, all living with them: Hazel, 4, Kenneth, 1, and Grace, 1 month [presumably they called Audrey G. by her middle name].  Living with them was Cora's mother, Maggie Heidel, 49 year old widow who had borne 1 child and had been born in Illinois to German parents.  The 1920 census lists August Beckemeyer, head of household, living in Carlyle, Illinois, 38 years old, and the proprietor of a garage.  Married to 38 year old Cora, with children, Hazel B., 13, Keneth [sic] L., 11, Audrey G., 9, Olive M., 7, Roy, 4, Gilbert R., 2, and Reba (5 months).  At that time,  their maternal grandmother, Maggie Heidel, lived alone in Beckemeyer (60 years old, born in Illinois, father born in Holland (German speaking), mother born in Germany).  Another daughter, Juanita, was born March 7, 1921.

Left: Reba Beckemeyer, second-last of August and Cora Beckemeyer's children.

Right: Hazel Beckemeyer, first-born child of August and Cora Beckemeyer, as a baby.  We have as yet not found a picture of Hazel as an adult.

Left: A group picture that has Hazel and Kenneth on it.  They are 3rd and 4th from the left in front row.  Right: a close up of Kenneth (left) and Hazel (right) enlarged from the group photo.  This picture duplicated by Elaine Beckemeyer from photos in the possession of our cousin, Nikki.

Left - A unique photo - The Carlyle High School Basketball Team.  Roy Beckemeyer's dad is in the center back row, and Pat Means Beckemeyer's dad is 2nd from the left in the front row.  In the 1930 census, our dad, aged 15, his brother Gib, 12, and two sisters, Hazel, 23, a public school teacher, and Olive, 18, were living with their maternal grandmother, Margaret Heidel, in Beckemeyer.  Their mother, Cora M. Ackman Beckemeyer, died in 1921, just days after the birth of Juanita, and perhaps of complications of childbirth,  and August Beckemeyer was dead or missing, circumstances unknown (see below).

Right: August Beckemeyer, our grandfather, in 1925, as mayor of Carlyle, Illinois.  I took this picture of a photo that hangs in City Hall in Carlyle.  It is interesting to note that my wife, Pat's grandfather, J. Arch. Means, was City Clerk at the same time.  Also, Pat's Great Grandfather, J. W. Means, was mayor of Carlyle 1897-1900, and August's brother, H.J.C. Beckemeyer, was mayor from 1919-1922.

In late August of 1926, August Beckemeyer disappeared.  A note in the Carlyle Union Banner on 10 Sept. 1926 reported that he had not been seen for two weeks.  It also implied that he might have run off with some public monies from the Wade Township school district, and that his financial dealings had gone bad.  We don't know what happened to him, and have found no other information on his whereabouts.

Left: Four of the Beckemeyer brothers and sisters and their spouses.  From left, Olive Beckemeyer List and her husband, Juddy,  "Gib" Beckemeyer and his wife Ann Knebler Beckemeyer, our dad and mom, Roy Stanley and Loretta Beckemeyer, and Audrey Beckemeyer Puckett and her husband Harry.  We never knew any of our fraternal grandparents, both of them having died while our father was still a young man.  

Right: The two youngest Beckemeyer sisters, Juanita (left) and Reba (right) at high school graduation, around 1937.  The sisters were sent to live in Arkansas with a great aunt after their mother, Cora, died in 1921.  Thanks to Juanita's daughter, Nancy Johnson, for providing the picture.

Left: Olive Beckemeyer as a young girl, probably in high school.

Right: From left the siblings are Juanita Beckemeyer Stark, Olive Beckemeyer List, Kenneth Beckemeyer, Reba Beckemeyer Brown.  The kids from left are Judy List (?), Nikki List, Theresa Brown (on Reba's lap), and Nancy Stark (?).

Left: Great Aunt Mary Lang, who took in Juanita and Reba.  

Right: The six living Beckemeyer siblings at their attendance at Reba's funeral in Arkansas (1949 or 1950): Back row, left to right, Roy, Kenneth (Zev), Gilbert (Gib); front row, left to right, Olive, Juanita, Audrey.  

Left: A high school portrait of Juanita Beckemeyer.  This photo and the ones of Mary Lang, the six siblings at Reba's funeral, the picture of Kenneth at right, and the baby picture of Hazel were provided by Shelly Beckemeyer Brown Weeks, daughter of Betty Starks Brown and granddaughter of Juanita Beckemeyer Starks.  Thanks to Betty Brown for letting me know about some errors she caught on this family history.

Right: Kenneth ("Zev" or "Zeb") Beckemeyer, the oldest son of August and Cora.

Left: From left, our cousin, Judy List, uncle Kenneth Beckemeyer, Nikki List, and Olive Beckemeyer List.

Here are some reminiscences written by Juanita and provided to us by her daughter, Nancy Johnson:

Left: Page 1

Right: Page 2

Left: Page 3

Right: Page 4

Left: Page 5

Right: Page 6

Return to Top of Page