John Henderson Beeker ^{2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11}

   Other names for John were James Beecher ¹³ and John Henry Beeker.^{12 14 15 16 17}

   FamilySearch ID: LZYV-3ZX.

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Census in 1870 in Cotton Grove, Davidson, NC. ¹² The 1870 census recorded Samuel Beeker, farm laborer, 41, living with wife Elinor, 37; Daniel, farm laborer, 16; Sarah, 13; Elmira, 11; Henry, 6, and John, 2. Also in the home is Jane Miller, 21, domestic servant. Next door is Elinor's mother, Sarah Galimore, 60, widow, and her daughters Barbara, 25, Mary, 20, and son Thomas, 11. Everyone was born in North Carolina.

2. Census in 1880 in Boone Township, Davidson, NC. ¹⁸ The 1880 census recorded Samul Buker, farmer, 52, living with wife Ellen, 48; Almira, farm laborer, 21; William, farm laborer, 16; John H., farm laborer,12; and Charles, farm laborer, 10. Also in the home is boarder Nancy Staily, farm laborer, 24. Everyone and their parents were born in North Carolina.

Next door is Danial Buker, farmer, 25, with wife Lundy, 28; and sons Albert, 5; Wilmorth, 3; Carly, 2; and Oscar, 6 months old born in December, 1879. Everyone and their parents were born in North Carolina.

3. Census in 1900 in Steele Township, Rowan, NC. ¹⁹ The 1900 census recorded Samuel Beeker, farmer, 71, born Jul 1829, living with wife Ellen J., 69, Sep 1831; grandson Freddie, farm laborer, 14, Sep 1885; grandson Samuel P., 9, Jan 1890; grandson John S. Gornelison, farm laborer, 20, May 1880; servant Nancy Beaver, cook, widowed, 45, May 1855; and sister-in-law Sarah Halman, widowed, 66, May 1834. Samuel and Ellen were married for 50 years and she had birthed 7 children, 3 alive in 1900. Everyone and their parents were born in North Carolina.

Next door is John Beeker, farmer, 32, Mar 1868, with wife Nannie, 31, Apr 1869; daughters Corrie, 8, Nov 1891; May L, 6, Nov 1893; Ola, 4, Nov 1895; and Hallie, 1, Mar 1899. Everyone and their parents were born in North Carolina.

4. Census in 1910 in Atwell Township, Rowan, NC. ²⁰ The 1910 census recorded living on Mill Bridge Road: John Becker [indexed wrong due to poor handwriting], laborer, odd jobs, 43, with wife Nannie, 42; May Lillie, 16; Ola, 13; Halley, 11; Mamie, 8; Ethel, 5; and Mitchel, 2. Everyone and their parents were born in North Carolina. John and Nannie were married for 19 years and she had birthed 7 children, all alive in 1910.

5. Residence: 212 Elliott St., Durham, NC on 2 Feb 1913 in Durham, Durham, NC. ²¹

6. Newspaper: News and Observer: Unidentified Man Commits Captial Crime Against Girl, 6 Dec 1916, Raleigh, Wake, NC. ²² Unidentified Man Commits Captial Crime Against Girl

Durham, Dec. 5 -- A pathetic case was reported to Chief of Police J. R. Pendergrast late this afternoon in which Mamie Beeker, a 14-year old girl on North street, told of the horrible crime prepetrated by an unidentified man. He presented himself as an agent for a woman's journal and criminally assualted the girl. She was alone at home. Her father is a painter in Petersburg, Va. Her mother is dead. The criminal has not been apprehended.

7. Occupation: Painter on 6 Dec 1916 in Petersburg, Petersburg City, Virginia, USA. ²² Unidentified Man Commits Captial Crime Against Girl

Durham, Dec. 5 -- A pathetic case was reported to Chief of Police J. R. Pendergrast late this afternoon in which Mamie Beeker, a 14-year old girl on North street, told of the horrible crime prepetrated by an unidentified man. He presented himself as an agent for a woman's journal and criminally assualted the girl. She was alone at home. Her father is a painter in Petersburg, Va. Her mother is dead. The criminal has not been apprehended.

8. Newspaper: Greensboro Daily News: Two Assualt Charges Hold Ransom R. Jones, 11 Dec 1916, Greensboro, Guilford, NC. ²³ Police Here Make Arrest of Man Wanted in Greensboro and Durham for Assaults
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GIRL IDENTIFIES HIM
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Ransom R. Jones, hoarding papers testimonial to his good character and indicative of his close alignment with various churches, is in jail here charged with attempting criminal assualt upon a 12-year-old girl. He was arrested late yesterday afternoon, the warrant being served after the police had guarded every route he might have taken from the city and watched for him since shortly after 4 o'clock Friday afternoon. It was Patrolman A. B. McFarland, in citizen's clothes, who laid his hand on Jones' shoulder on South Elm street in front of the old McAdoo hotel, and told him that he was wanted at headquarters. Later is was discovered the man is also wanted in Durham for a crime which may be much more serious than the one charged here.
Friday afternoon a man called at the home of John Luther, on Park avenue, and the 12-year-old daughter of the home was alone in the house. She met the stranger at the door and he walked by her into the house, at the same time asking where her mother was. She old him the mother was away and upon further questioning admitted she was by herself. The girl stated that the man took hold of her and was proceeding to take further advantage of her, when a whistle sounded and a boy came to the door. He was only a neighborhood lad looking for her absent brother, his friend, byt she told the man that it was her brother, and he departed.
The boy secured a good view of the departing stranger and yesterday after Jones' arrest both boy and girl went to headquarters and identified him as the visitor to the Luther home. The lad is the son of J. L. Howeton, the druggist. Neither birl nor boy hesitated an instant when they were asked to pick out the man the girl accused of the assault. Jones sat in police headquarters as the pair faced him and had nothing to say. Later he was visited by a newspaper man and asked if he had anything to say for publication. He said he would do his talking in court when the case came up, and he was ready to face the charge. He disclaimed any knowledge of the Durham charge, but admitted he came to this city Wednesday form Durham. He was asked by the reporter if he had been to the Luther home here, and he stated that he had; that he was there Friday afternoon, as the firl had stated. He said he was soliciting subscriptions for a well known magazine, but said that as Mrs. Luther was absent he had not told the daughter his business.
The police chief, I. B. Iseley, telephoned the Durham chief shortly after the arrest was made. He was largely impelled to this by a news story in the Daily News of last Wednesday. The story was of a Durham date line and recited that late Tuesday an unknown man had gone to the home of John H. Beeker, corner of Corporation street and Broadway and finding Mr. Beeker's 14-year-old daughter alone had criminally assualted her. The dispatch indicated that the crime had been accomplished and the victim was in a precarious condition. It stated that the police were looking for a suspect. When Mr. Iseley asked Durham who was wanted, the officer there said a man by the name of R. R. Jones, whose home was in Rustburg, Va., and who traveled for a magazine," according to the chief.
It was not until this information came over the wire, that the local officer informed Durham that Jones was held here. After a short while, instructions were given to require a bond of not less than $5,000 of Jones for Durham, and that the warrant would arrive today. The police here had understood that the crime of criminal assault was committed in Durham, but when the bond was named, it was taken for granted that it had been only an attempt which was well advanced, inasmuch as the crime first believed to have been done is a capital offense and not a bailable case. Jones was placed in the city jail and said nothing about bond and asked for his Bible.
The man is 25 years of age, according to papers he carried. His face is well cut, with excellent features and he has a head of thick dark hair. He is medium height and well proportioned. His speech has something of the "unction" popularity regarded as a qualification fo the public speaker of religious turn. His language is good but his assertions were smoother than clear-cut and orderly. He was disposed to speak in general terms of willingness to meet any and all charges, rather than to make specific assertions or denials. He said he was born in Duplin county, N. C., but is a citizen of Virginia. He stated he has a wife and little daughter in Rustburg, Va., and letters of his person, now in the hands of the police, corroborated these statements. He asked one policeman to send any member of two secret orders to see him. He had credentials showing membership in the Protestant Episcopal church in Virginia, but said he had been given a trial as a Methodist minister.
Among the effects of the prisioner was a clipping from a newspaper's report of the conference at Durham which read:
"The character of every preacher in the conference, except one, R. R. Jones, of Town Creek, Wilmington district, was approved. Mr. Jones was admitted on trial at the last session nof the conference and left his work in the middle of June. He was discontinued by vote of the conference."
Another paper of the prisoner was a certificate of admission to the University of Virginia, on the strength of prepartion at William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va. This showed his qualification in the classics and mathematics, particularly. Another paper testified that in 1913, the bishop of southern Virginia had commissioned him as lay reader for a year, beginning July 23, 1913, while another paper was testimonial to the high character of Jones as a communicant of the Episcopal church, and it was signed by C. Braxton Bryan, rector of Grace church, Petersburg, Va.
The police stated letters from the wife of the prisoner pleaded with him to leave the viciinity of Durham and keep going, and not "let this matter come up in court." She pleaded for the sake of herself and their little daughter, La Vanne. Jones carried certificate of his marriage in Rustburg.

.

9. Newspaper: Greensboro Daily News: Charge Against Jones at Durham is Changed, 12 Dec 1916, Greensboro, Guilford, NC. ²⁴ Man Held in Greensboro Jail Will Be Accused of Attempted Criminal Assault in That Town.

Durham, Dec. 11 -- Charge of attempted criminal assualt, instead of criminal assualt will be be held against Ransom R. Jones, by local police authorities, it was announced today. Jones is now held by Greensboro police on a similar charge.
The specific charge against Jones by local police is that on last Tuesday afternoon he assualted Miss Mamie Beeker, 13 year old daughter of John H. Beeker, who lives in this city. It was at first reported to police that Miss Beeker had been criminally assualted. Later a physician stated that the assualt proved only an attempt at criminal assualt.
Jones is believed by police and leading ministers of the Methodist church to be the same as the preacher who name was taken from the membership of the North Carolina conference during its session here last week.
Ministers state that there were no charges of immorality against Jones, but that he left an appointment after having remained there only a short time. The usual custom, they said, is to drop a man who quits his pastorate.

10. Census in 1920 in Norfolk, Norfolk, VA. ¹³ The 1920 census recorded James W. Beeker [sic], house painter, 52, living with wife Alice E., 45, and daughter Virginia E., 1 and 7 months. James and Alice and their parents were born in North Carolina. Virginia was born in Virginia.

11. Census in 1930 in Cedar Fork Township, Wake, NC. ⁵ The 1930 census recorded renting a home on Nelson Road: John H. Beeker, laborer on general farm, 62, with wife Alice E., 56; and daughter Jennie E. [sic], 11. They and their parents were born in North Carolina. John's column says he married at age 48, which would be 1916.

12. Residence: on 8 May 1940 in Durham, Durham, NC. ²⁵

13. Census in 1950 in Winston-Salem, Forsyth, NC. ²⁶ The 1950 census recorded at 122 South Marshall Street: Raymond C. Cook, barber in own barber shop, 53, living with wife Mae L., beauty operator in own beauty shop, 56; Mae's sister Ethel Davis, clerk typist for veteran's administration, 45; Ethel's son William F. Davis, automobile salesman, 24; and Mae and Ethel's father, John H. Beeker, widowed, 82. Everyone was born in North Carolina.

John married Nannie Ila Cook, daughter of William Valentine Cook and Margaret Marie Barnett, on 14 Jan 1891 in Locke Township, Rowan, NC.¹ (Nannie Ila Cook was born on 16 Mar 1869 in , , NC,^{21 27} died on 2 Feb 1913 in Durham, Durham, NC ^{21 27} and was buried on 3 Feb 1913 in Durham: Maplewood Cemetery, Durham, NC ^{21 27}.)

John next married Alice Elizabeth Fager, daughter of Henry Creep Fager and Mary Virginia Gillam. (Alice Elizabeth Fager was born in 1877 in , Bertie, NC,^{28 29} died on 15 Jun 1932 in Roseneath, Halifax, NC ²⁸ and was buried on 16 Jun 1932 in Scotland Neck, Halifax, NC ^{28 30}.)