Transcribed by: Denise McLoughlin
Tampico Area Historical Society

p 204

Richard Beswick, deceased, was formerly a resident on section 31, Clyde Township, where he settled in 18- -. He was born Sept. 12, 1810, in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England, and died at his home July 7, 1884. His demise was very sudden and was the result of blood clot obstructing the action of the heart.

Richard Beswick, senior, and Elizabeth (Naggs) Beswick, his wife, father and mother of the subject of this biographical sketch, were natives of England and belonged to the old class of yeomanry. The son was 19 years of age when the family came to the New World and located in the vicinity of the city of Toronto. Richard Beswick, junior, was there married and resided in the Dominion about three years after that event, when with his family he removed to Clyde Township. Both township and county were in the earliest period of their development and the former was still unnamed. Mr. Beswick at once purchased a tract of land and began the tedious though pleasant work of making a home. The first grain he raised was marketed at Chicago and Galena, and drawn thither by horse teams. His wife, Sally (Patrick) Beswick, died about 1844, leaving a son and a daughter. George died of measles while serving as a soldier for the Union. Belinda is the wife of Richard Tyre, an extensive farmer of Dakota Territory, owning 400 acres of land in Union County.

After the decease of his wife Mr. Beswick returned to Canada and removed his parents to Clyde Township, where they remained during the rest of their lives. They died at the residence of their son, but had chiefly made their home with a a married daughter in Clyde Township. They were aged, respectively, about 75 and 60 years.

March 24, 1849, Mr. Beswick was married to Mrs. Hannah E. Humphrey. She was born March 16, 1821, in Northport Township, Waldo Co., Maine, and is the daughter of George W. and Lydia (Duncan) Knight. Her parents were natives of the Pine-Tree State, born of New England ancestry, and of English extraction, save a slight admixture of Irish blood in the predecessors of the father. The mother died in 1831, leaving 11 children, eight of whom yet survive.

Mrs. Beswick was sixth in order of birth and was but ten years of age when her mother was removed by death. Her father was again married, in Maine, and of the second union one son (now deceased) was born. Later the father took six of the younger children and went to Ohio and settled on a farm near Grandville, Licking County. He was again married while living there, and later came to Fulton, Whiteside County. The father died there Feb. 12, 1866.  His wife died at her brother’s home, in the southern part of Illinois, shortly after coming in the southern part of Illinois, shortly after coming to the State. Both were in advanced life.

The first marriage of Mrs. Beswick, to Alvaro Humphrey, occurred June 22, 1838, in Licking Co., Ohio. He was a native of the county and was the son of a farmer who was born in New England and who had become a pioneer of the Buckeye State in its earliest development. His father died in Cincinnati, the mother in Licking County. The death of Mr. Humphrey took place in the county of his nativity April 22, 1847, and left two sons, - George and Lorenzo. The former married Lucy Van Damark and is a farmer in Brown Co., Kan. The younger child, died in Fulton soon after the removal of his other to Illinois. After the death of her husband Mrs. Beswick came to Whiteside County and was an inmate of the family of her brother, William Knight, until she became the wife of Mr. Beswick. Of this union five children have been born, - William A., Thomas L., Lizzie, Carrie and Sarah. The latter died when five years of age.

Mr. Beswick was a useful and influential citizen of his township and served 14 years as Supervisor, acting continuously during that period. He held various other offices and was actively interested in educational matters. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.