Dr. Nathan Beckwith

  Noted events in his life were:

• Birth: Rural Cemetery Records, 1768. The 101, 102 and 103 Thyrza Beckwith Gray's birthday newspaper articles state Mrs. Gray's father died in 1845 at the age of seventy-five. Her 100th says he was 76. Cemetery records show his date of death as June 2, 1844 at the age of 76. Therefore, his birth year is estimated as 1768.

• Residence: Among the early settlers were Nathan, Nelson and ____ BECKWITH, in 1804, 1804, Oswego, New York. Information was obtained from the Historical & Statistical Gazetteer of New York State, R. P. Smith, Publisher, Syr., 1860, by J. H. French.

Event Type: Land Assessment
Grantee's Name: Nathan Beckwith
Event Date: 1804
Event Place: Onondaga, New York, United States
Grantor's Name: O Burr
Page Number: 334

Entry Number: C
Digital Folder Number: 007173183
Image Number: 00218

Citing this Record
"United States, New York Land Records, 1630-1975", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:4Y72-Z4MM : 3 March 2021), Nathan Beckwith, 1804.

Book C
Page 334
Loc'n Pom
Lot 44

• Property: From Family Search org, 1804, Onondaga, New York. Event Type: Land Assessment
Grantee's Name: Nathan Beckwith
Event Date: 1804
Event Place: Onondaga, New York, United States
Grantor's Name: O Burr
Entry Number: C
Page Number: 334

Household Role Sex Age Birthplace
O Burr U

Location: Pom
Lot: 44

Digital Folder Number: 007173183
Image Number: 00218

Citing this Record
"United States, New York Land Records, 1630-1975", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:4Y72-Z4MM : 3 March 2021), Nathan Beckwith, 1804.

• Property: From Family Search org, 1805, Onondaga, New York. Event Type: Land Assessment
Grantee's Name: Nathan Beckwith
Event Date: 1805
Event Place: Onondaga, New York, United States
Grantor's Name: B Sanford
Page Number: 141

Location: Man
Lot: 93

Entry Number: D
Digital Folder Number: 007173183
Image Number: 00218

Citing this Record
"United States, New York Land Records, 1630-1975", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:4Y72-Z4W2 : 3 March 2021), Nathan Beckwith, 1805.

• Property: From Family Search org, 1806, Onondaga, New York. Note: There are two entries in 1806 show him selling the property he bought in 1804 and 1805. The second record includes the statement "By Shff" indicating the property was sold to pay a debt.

Note: In 1816, Oswego was formed from parts of Oneida and Onondaga Counties.

Event Type: Land Assessment
Grantee's Name: E Hill
Grantor's Name: Betsey Beckwith and Nathan Beckwith
Event Date: 1806
Event Place: Onondaga, New York, United States
Event Place (Original): Onondaga
Page Number: 157

Location: Pom
Lot: 44

Event Type: Land Assessment
Grantee's Name:
Grantor's Name: Nathan Beckwith by Shff
Event Date: 1806
Event Place: Onondaga, New York, United States
Event Place (Original): Onondaga
Page Number: 157

Location: Man
Lot: 93

Entry Number: F
Digital Folder Number: 007173162
Image Number: 00268

Citing this Record
"United States, New York Land Records, 1630-1975", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:ZYC7-P26Z : 28 October 2020), Betsey Beckwith, 1806.

• Residence: From 1820 Census, 1820, Oswego Town, Oswego, New York. Nathan Beckwith [Beckworth]
1 male under age 10: Unknown
1 male over 10 and under 16: Edgar
No males between age 16 and 18.
2 males over 16 and under 26. Possibly some combination of Appleton, Nathan Jr. and Josiah
No males over 26 and under 45
1 male over age 45: Nathan
1 female under age 10. Dalinda
No females over 10 and under 16.
2 females over 16 and under 26: Thyrza, Emily and Elizabeth
0 How many free white females over 26 and under 45.
2 females over age 45: Elizabeth and Unknown

• Military Service: OSWEGO DAILY TIMES, PAGE FOUR, 26 May 1917, Oswego Town, Oswego, New York. LAST RESTING PLACES OF OSWEGO VETERANS
RURAL Cemetery

Revolutionary Soldiers
Dr. Nathan Beckwith

[The Revolutionary Army ended in 1783 when Nathan would have been about 15 years old.]

Note: The Rural Cemetary records do not include an indication that Nathan was in the Revolutionary Army. It seems likely that a non-family member made this identification based on Thyrza's story about his attempt to defend Oswego during the War of 1812 or the incorrect information in the book The Beckwiths by Paul Beckwith which identifies a Nathan Beckwith, brother of Roswell Beckwith, as having served in the Revolutionary War.

• Residence: From 1830 Census, 1830, Oswego Town, Oswego, New York. Listed as follows:

One male of ten and under 15 years of age, Unknown
One male of 60 and under 70 years of age, Nathan
One female of 15 and under 20 years of age, Dalinda
One female of 60 and less than 70 years of age, Elizabeth

His son, Nathan Jr. is the next listing.

• Residence: From 1840 Census, 1840, Oswego Town, Oswego, New York. Also lists family with the following ages:

1 male 10 years to under 15 years of age
1 male 30 years to under 40 years of age
1 male 70 years to under 80 years of age: Nathan

1 female 10 years to under 15 years of age
1 female 70 years to under 80 years of age: Elizabeth

• Death: Rural Cemetery Records, 2 Jun 1844, Oswego Town, Oswego, New York. The 101, 102 and 103 Thyrza Beckwith Gray's birthday newspaper articles state Mrs. Gray's father died in 1845 at the age of seventy-five. Her 100th says he was 76. Cemetery records show his date of death as June 2, 1844 at the age of 76.

• Occupation: From Jesse Gray's obituary, 1894, Oswego Town, Oswego, New York. Jesse Gray's obituary states that he married Dr. Beckwith's daughter, Thyrza.

• Marriage Banns: The Beckwiths. Shows Nathan Beckwith married to Delinda Appleton. She died in Oswego.

• Family History: Parents and wife. The Beckwiths by Paul Beckwith, 1891 lists Nathan Beckwith, born September 12, 1778, as the son of Ruel Beckwith, Lyme, Connecticut. It lists his wife as Dalinda Appleton and his children as Edgar, Appleton, Betsy, Dalinda, Emily, Thirsa (sic), and Nathan R. It also states that Nathan removed to Oswego, New York and died there.

Nathan Beckwith is identified as a revolutionary war soldier so he had to have been in the army before 1783. The birth date given in The Beckwiths would make him five years old in 1783. Also, Thyrza was born in 1802 and had three brothers who served in the War of 1812. Rural Cemetery records show his date of death as June 2, 1844 at the age of 76. These facts indicate that the birth date given in The Beckwiths is incorrect. The 1790 Census record for Ruel (identified as Buel in Heritage Quest) Beckwith's male children were all under the age of 16 in 1790. These facts indicate that Ruel Beckwith is not the correct parent for this Nathan Beckwith.

Family history has Nathan married to Elizabeth Rich. This is supported by Thyrza's newspaper accounts of her family. Her obituary and birthday stories state that her mother was Elizabeth Rich. Elizabeth's grave is next to Nathan in Rural Cemetery. There is no Dalinda, wife of Nathan, in the family plot. Thyrza tells many stories of her brothers in the newspaper articles, none of which mention them being half brothers.

The History of Oswego County mentions that Thyrza's uncle, Reverend Roswell Beckwith gave a sermon at the First Presbyterian Church. This is also reported in an Oswego newspaper article about the First Presbyterian Church (See Thyrza Beckwith's page). Thyrza Beckwith Gray is cited as providing information that her uncle, Roswell Beckwith, from Cazenovia gave a sermon in Unionville in the 1811-1813 time period. Family history shows her father, Nathan, as the son of a Beckwith who died at the Battle of White Plains in 1776. Roswell is known to be a son of Elisha Beckwith who was killed at the Battle of White Plains, New York (Elisha Beckwith is listed as killed at White Plains in "Known Military Dead During the American Revolutionary War, 1775-1783" By Clarence Stewart Peterson).

Research is continuing on Nathan's parents. At this time, it is assumed that Nathan's father was Elisha Beckwith who was killed at the Battle of White Plains and that Nathan was born in 1768. This implies several mistakes in The Beckwiths by Paul Beckwith including 1) the information on Elisha Beckwith's son Nathan (states he was born in 1747 and was living in Waterford, CT in 1818 - this information most likely came from a pension application by another Nathan Beckwith), 2) that Nathan's father was Ruel Beckwith, and 3) that Nathan's wife was Dalinda Appleton.

The fact that Nathan Beckwith is not a son of Ruel Beckwith is supported by a genforum posting by Virgil Huntley who states "How certain are you that Nathan was a son of Ruel Beckwith? Ruel had a Nathaniel but am certain he did not go to NY. One of Ruel's daughters married a Huntley." Posted by Virgil Huntley, May 22, 2002, in response to a query about Nathan BECKWITH of Oswego Co. NY.

• Newspaper: Oswego Morning Express, 1 Sep 1881, Oswego Town, Oswego, New York. OLD SETTLERS' RE-UNION, THE PIONEEIIS OF THE TOWN OF OSWEGO.

Mrs. Jesse Gray, the oldest school teacher in tho town, was called upon. She came to the Town of Oswego in June, 1811. Three of her brothers were in the war of 1812-13. She was nine years old when she moved iuto the town.

Hon. L. Coats said that Mrs. Gray's father made him an oak tub in 1818. He said he had it yet and uses it every week.

• Newspaper: Oswego N.Y., Tuesday Evening, Five O'Clock Edition, 29 Sep 1885, Oswego Town, Oswego, New York. Interesting Relics

Lyman Coats' Collection of Implements and Artifacts used by His Father and Forefathers.

Some days since it was announced that Mr. Lyman Coats of the town of Oswego would exhibit to the public his collection of agricultural implements and articles used by his father and forefathers, the like of which we believe can not be found elsewhere.

.................................

A wash tab made by tbe Late Dr. Beckwith of tbe town of Oswego for Mr. Coats' mother in l818 with two of the original wooden hoops upon it and good for service yet.

_________________________________

Note: His sons, Nathan Jr. and Edgar were both identified as coopers in census records.

• Monument: Rural Cemetery, Jesse Gray Plot, Section Acre, Lot 45: Oswego Town, Oswego, New York. Inscription
Nathan Beckwith Died June 2, 1844 Age 76
Elizabeth His Wife Died May 30, 1852 Age 82
William D. Case Died Jan 1,1884 Born Dec 6, 1860
Chester O. Case Died Jan 14, 1890 Born Oct 8, 1827
Mary Gray Died Mar 26, 1910 Born Oct 4, 1831 His Wife

Nathan married Elizabeth Rich, daughter of Thomas Rich and Ruth Pryor, on 25 Nov 1789 in Wethersfield, Hartford Connecticut. (Elizabeth Rich was born on 10 Nov 1770 in Middletown, Connecticut, died on 30 May 1852 in Oswego Town, Oswego, New York and was buried in 1852 in Rural Cemetery, Oswego, New York.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Marriage Banns: Early Connecticut Marriages, Vol 3, 25 Nov 1789, Wethersfield, Hartford Connecticut. From Early Connecticut Marriages as Found on Ancient Church Records Prior to 1800, Third Book: Edited by Frederic W. Bailey, 1898

WETHERSFIELD.
HARTFORD COUNTY.
Wethersfield was one of the three first settled towns of Connecticut. Sir Richard
Saltonstall with his company settled at Watertown, Mass., but on account of the great number of immigrants from England, some of the people at Watertown left and settled Wethersfield.

Page 27

Nathan Beckwith of Hartford & Betsy Rich, Nov. 25, 1789

Also in Families of Early Hartford, Connecticut
Author: Lucius Barnes Barbour
Publisher: Baltimore : Genealogical Pub. Co., 1977.