MILTON W. BECK
CONTRACTOR/BUILDER
Bio-Pen Pictures
SURNAMES; GORDON, DIAMOND,
Milton W. Beck, contractor and builder of Santa Clara, came overland by wagon train to California in the summer of 1852. Locating first at Placerville, he worked in the gold diggings till the fall of 1854, when he went to San Francisco and worked at his trade, that of mason and plasterer; and, making that city his headquarters, he worked there and prospected through the State, until 1861, when, tiring of roaming over the State, he permanently located at Santa Clara, and engaged in contracting as a plasterer and mason.
Mr. Beck was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, July 4, 1830. He is a son of Henry and Margaret (Gordon) Beck. When he was eight years of age his parents removed to Licking County, Ohio. He lived with them there, and afterward in Randolph County, Illinois, until he was sixteen, when he went to St. Louis, Missouri, to learn the trade of plasterer and mason, serving an apprenticeship of three years; and he worked there until he crossed the plains for California. He secured only a common-school education.
In June, 1866, he was married, at Santa Clara, to Nina B. Diamond, of New York. They have two living children: Myrtie A., a student, attending the California State Normal School at San Jose, and Harry M., a clerk in the stationery department of the Bancroft Publishing House at San Francisco.
Mr. Beck is very
unassuming in his ways, but yet a thoroughgoing and reliable business man, and
is popular as a master mechanic and contractor. He takes pride in educating his
children and fitting them for usefulness in life. Although not a church member,
he is an attendant of the Methodist Episcopal Church, while his wife is a member
of the Baptist Church. Politically he is a Republican.
Pen Pictures From The
Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California, Illustrated.
- Edited by H. S. Foote.- Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1888.
Pg. 288
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
Proofread by Betty Vickroy