Norman Evans Beeker ^{3 5 6 7}

   Another name for Norman was Mac Beeker.

   FamilySearch ID: LD5K-ZLF.

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Census in 1910 in Tippecanoe Township, Tippecanoe, IN. ⁸ The 1910 census recorded Clyde Becker [sic - indexed wrong due to poor handwriting], barber shop, 30, living with wife Essie, 26; daughter Mildred, 8; and son Norman, 6. Clyde and Essie were married for 9 years and she had birthed 2 children, both alive in 1910. Clyde and his parents were born in Indiana, Essie and her parents in Tennessee, and their children in Indiana.

2. Military on 29 Dec 1917 in Fort Thomas, Campbell, KY: Norman Beeker, age 18, birthplace Battleground, Ind., Pvt. 1st Class.

3. Book: Tippecanoe County Honor Roll: photo and bio of Norman E. Beeker, 1919. ⁹
Norman E. Beeker, Private, 304th Ammunition Train, Army (photo in uniform)

Entered service December 28, 1917. Stationed at Ft. Thomas, Ky., Camp Taylor, Ky., and Wright Field, Ohio. Sailed for France in July 1918. Saw almost immediate service hauling ammunition to the front. At the age of 15 he enlisted, and is said to the be the youngest boy in service from Tippecanoe County. Was a member of the 304th ammunition train, 79th division. Took active part in the battles of Gonde, Montagem, Verdun, Saint-Mihiel, Tour and the Argonne. Born at Battle Ground, Ind. October 12, 1903, son of Clyde R. and Estella Beeker. Home is Battle Ground, Ind.

4. Newspaper: Courier and Journal: Norman Beeker,Youngest Soldier, 26 Feb 1919, Lafayette, Tippecanoe, IN. ¹⁰ Many states are claiming to have sent the youngest soldier to fight for the world's democracy, but Tippecanoe county comes forward with the youngest hero yet reported. He is Norman E. Beeker, son of Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Beeker, of Battle Ground. The lad is a little over 15 years old, but large for his age. He has been at the front since August 1918, but has passed safely through the horrors that have broken the spirit of men twice his age. He is now serving with the army of occupation in Germany.
.

5. Newspaper: Journal and Courier: "Norman E. Beeker, not yet 18, said to be at his home with a ruptured appendix. An operation will be performed later.", 15 Jun 1919, Lafayette, Tippecanoe, IN. ¹¹

6. Court: Incarceration, Inmate # 17611 at Leavenworth Prison on 28 Mar 1922 in Leavenworth, Leavenworth, KS. ¹²

7. Newspaper: St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Beekers Arrested, 19 Feb 1924, Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO. ¹³ Honeymoon Hardship Her Forgery Excuse
Police Sympathetic, With Reservations, Toward Bride and Her Husband.

Mrs. Norman R. Beeker, 17 years old, small and with bobbed black hair, tells an appealing story of honeymoon hardships which, she says, drove her 19 year old husband and herself to the expedient of writing and passing bogus checks.

The police, who are holding the couple, are inclined to think the wife's story is true. But they are waiting to see whether similar operations by the pair are reported from some other place before giving their sympathy too unreservedly.

Learned in the Army.

The Beekers are from South Bend, Indiana, the young woman says. She was clerking at a shoe store, and Beeker was clerking at a rival shop. The stores consolidated, and reduced their sales forces, and both lost their jobs. With the confidence of youth, they chose the time as an appropriate one for getting married. their friends applauded their courage, but no one had a job for either. Beeker had been in St. Louis, and thought work might be found here. So they came, arriving with $5 as their capital.

The $5 was gone after a day here, and no job was in sight. Then, the girl wife says, Beeker remarked that he had learned to write checks while in the Army \endash he enlisted at 14 and was wounded in France, he told her \endash and he said he would write checks if she would cash them.

Store Owner Called Policeman.

He got some blank checks at a bank, and wrote fictitious names of signer and payee upon them, she says. Then she took them out, and invented little plausible stories for passing them at Neighborhood Grocery Stores. She passed the first in the store on South 39th Street without even making a purchase. In the second place, on Penrose Street, she bought $5 worth of meat, ordering it delivered to an imaginary address. Both of these checks were for $22.50.

At the third store she visited, at Natural Bridge and Sophie Avenues, yesterday, the proprietor called a policeman, who arrested her and her husband, the latter being outside the store. The two defrauded storekeepers are disposed to prosecute.

8. Newspaper: St. Louis Star and Times: Beekers Arrested, 19 Feb 1924, Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO. ¹ PREFERS WRITING WORTHLESS CHECK TO USING A CLUB
We Had to Eat, Say Newlywed Wife Cashed Them.
The difficulties of a young housewife in purchasing meat were recited to hard-hearted butcher and grocer by Norma Beeker, and the tale usually ended with the butcher or grocer cashing a check for $22.50. The final chapter was written when the checks came back marked "no account." "Your meat looks so nice here," Mrs. Beeker would say with enthusiasm.. "I have been trading up the street, but they gave me some bad meat up there. It is so difficult for the inexperienced housewife to buy things." The story usually went over.
Is Finally Arrested.
Last night Mrs. Beeker was arrested at Sophia and Natural Bridge avenue after she had attempted to pass a check in the neighborhood. Her husband, Norman, was also taken into custody. At the Deer street station, Mrs. Beeker took all the blame. "I wrote them myself," she declared. But Norman also declared he wrote them. "I wrote them, and she cashed them," he said. "I thought it was better than hitting somebody over the head." Beeker is 20 years old and his wife is 17. Mrs. Beeker said she had cashed two or three checks before she was arrested.
Unable to Find Work.
The couple came here two weeks ago from South Bend, Ind., where they were married in December. Shortly after they were married, both lost their jobs selling shoes. They arrived in St. Louis with $5, and were unable to find work. Beeker said he had learned to make out bad checks while held in the guardhouse in the army. He obtained the blanks, wrote the checks and his wife sent out to cash them.

9. Newspaper: Journal and Courier: "St. Louis, Mo., March 4. Mr. And Mrs. Norman Beeker, newly married South Bend, Ind., couple, were sentenced here to serve six months in the county workhouse for passing a worthless check for $22.50.", 4 Mar 1924, Lafayette, Tippecanoe, IN. ¹⁴

10. Newspaper: Journal and Courier: Norman Beeker and wife Norma Sentenced, 6 Mar 1924, Lafayette, Tippecanoe, IN. ¹⁵ BATTLE GROUND YOUTH IN TOILS
Norman Beeker, 19 and His Bride, Get Workhouse Sentence for Passing Bad Check in St. Louis.
Norman Beeker, 19, formerly of Battle Ground, was sentenced to six months in the workhouse at St. Louis on March 3, by Judge Calvin Miller. Beeker's wife, Norma, also 19 years old, was given a like sentence. The Beckers were convicted of passing a worthless check on a St. Louis grocer. They were arrested February 19, a week after their marriage. Beeker was the youngest Tippecanoe county soldier in the United States army during the world war. He had been working in South Bend shortly before his trip to St. Louis.

11. Residence: 1925 Toledo City Directory: Beeker Norman E (Dorothy A) assembler h3121 Glenwood av in 1925 in Toledo, Lucas, OH. ¹⁶

12. Newspaper: South Bend Tribune, 3 Feb 1928, South Bend, St. Joseph, IN. ² Norman E. Becker, of this city, and Miss Dorothy Cook, of Fort Wayne, Ind., obtained a marriage license today in Joliet, Ill.

13. Newspaper: Journal and Courier: "Norman Beeker has returned to Detroit, Mich., after spending a few days with his father, Clyde Beeker, who is critically ill at St. Elizabeth hospital.", 21 Jul 1937, Lafayette, Tippecanoe, IN. ¹⁷

14. Residence: on 6 Aug 1937 in Detroit, Wayne, MI. ⁶

15. Occupation: fitter on 12 Apr 1941 in Detroit, Wayne, MI. ⁴

16. Residence: on 12 Apr 1941 in Detroit, Wayne, MI. ⁴

17. Occupation: Freuhauf Trailer, 10940 Harper St., Detroit, MI on 16 Feb 1942 in Detroit, Wayne, MI. ¹⁸

18. He was described as 6' 210 lbs. Blue eyes, brown hair, light complexion on 16 Feb 1942 in Detroit, Wayne, MI. ¹⁸

19. Residence: 444 Peterboro St., Detroit, MI on 16 Feb 1942 in Detroit, Wayne, MI. ¹⁸

20. Residence: 1395 Lakewood St., Detroit, MI on 31 Aug 1945 in Detroit, Wayne, MI. ¹⁹

21. Census in 1950 in Detroit, Wayne, MI. ²⁰ The 1950 census recorded at 491 Concord Street in Unit 2: Norman Beeker, unemployed, 46, with wife Edith, fore lady for electric power company, 50. He was born in Indiana and she in Illinois.

Norman married Norma in Dec 1923 in South Bend, St. Joseph, IN.¹ (Norma was born about 1905 in , , IN.)

Norman next married Dorothy Alice Cook, daughter of Warren Vettius Cook and Grace DeWitt, on 2 Feb 1928 in Joliet, Will, IL.^{2 3} (Dorothy Alice Cook was born on 17 Nov 1906 in Fort Wayne, Allen, IN ^{21 22} and died on 30 Mar 1940 in Northville, Wayne, MI ^{21 22}.)

Norman next married Edith Elizabeth Laaksonen, daughter of Otto Wilho Laaksonen and Ida Elina Riihinen, on 12 Apr 1941 in Defiance, Defiance, OH.⁴ (Edith Elizabeth Laaksonen was born on 16 Feb 1902 in Chicago, Cook, IL,^{23 24} died in 1965 in Kaleva, Manistee, MI ²³ and was buried in Kaleva: Maple Grove Township Cemetery, Manistee, MI ²³.)