John William Beecher ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10}

   FamilySearch ID: KNQC-H2S.

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Evidence: Abandonded railroad line used by Beecher's firm, , Clinton, PA. The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) contracted with Fermata, Inc. in 2004 to develop a strategic recreation plan for DCNR lands within the Pennsylvania Wilds (Wilds). Identified on a list of possible sites for future recreation trails at http://www.fermatainc.com/penn/documents/HistoricCulturalResourcesbyEra_000.xls :

Beecher and Bullick, Tangascootac Creek Railroad, Clinton County, abandoned logging RR grade.

2. Census in 1880 in Pine Grove Twp., Schuylkill, PA. ¹³ William Beecher, 29, lumber merchant, is the grandson living in the home of Will
Zimmerman, lumber merchant, 70, and Catherine, 71. Everyone and their parents were born in Pennsylvania.

3. Newspaper: Democratic Watchman, 17 Apr 1891, , Centre, PA. ¹⁴ Henry M. Grove, superintendent of Beecher & Sober's lumber job at Glen Union, Clinton county, was recently killed by being run over by a lumber truck on the tram road.

4. Book: Historical and Biographical Work: Or, Past and Present of Clinton County, PA, 1892. ¹⁵
GLEN UNION is a small village in Grugan township. The place received its name because of the close proximity of two glens through which Baker's run and Baker's mill run pass. It was named by J. C. Past, formerly superintendent of the West Branch Canal & Lock company. The village proper is located on the west side of the Susquehanna, and consists of about fifteen double houses, a church and school house. The railroad station and a few houses are on the east side of the river. A new station has lately been erected a few rods above the old one, and the postmaster, J. K. P. Grugan, has the post-office in his residence. The chief industry at Glen Union at the present time is the shipping of prop and mining timber to the anthracite coal fields by the Glen Union Lumber company. This company began operations in 1890. The main office of the company is at No. 110 South Centre street, Pottsville, Pa. The officers of the company are as follows: E. L. Bullock, of Audenried, Schuylkill county, president ; J. W. Beecher, of Pottsville, Pa., secretary and treasurer. C. K. Sober, of Lewisburg, is the general manager, and his nephew, E. J. Sober, foreman. This company has erected a steam saw and planing mill, with a capacity for sawing 40,000 feet of lumber per day. The main part of their business is the shipping of prop timber, an average of five car loads being shipped from Glen Union station every day. The lumber is all carried across the river by means of a cable bridge hung on two wire cables, and worked by a stationary engine on the west side of the river, capable of bearing a weight of eight tons. The lumber is all loaded on trucks, which are run on the bridge and fastened. The engine is then started and the bridge carried to the east side, where the cars are unloaded. The invention was designed and patented by the Trenton Iron company, of Trenton, N. J., and is the only one of the kind in use in the world, so far as known. The power is furnished for the saw mill by an eighty-five horse power engine. From fifty to seventy-five men are given steady employment. A dinkey engine is used to carry the logs to the mill and the prop timber to the bridge. A neat and cozy station has been built by the company. It contains a handsome waiting room, ticket office, telegraph office, store room and ware room. A very pretty residence has also been built by the company, which is occupied as a dwelling by C. K. Sober, and used as a stopping place for the members of the firm and their friends, who frequently visit the place. The Glen Union company will, in all probability, open up the coal and clay mines in the vicinity in a short time, and if this is done the coming historian will have more to say of the village of Glen Union.

5. Book: Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Schuylkill County, 1893. ¹
J WILLIAM BEECHER, one of Schuylkill county's well-known business men, is a son of Orson and Angeline (Zimmerman) Beecher, and was born in Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, June 23, 1850. Plis grandfather, John Beecher, was a native of Massachusetts. His great grandfather was Thomas Beecher, of the famous Beecher family of Massachusetts. John Beecher died in Williamsport, January 5, 1859, where he had gone to reside a few years prior to his death. His business was that of a railroad contractor, and to him is due the distinction of having built one of the first roads in the State, that from Blossburg to Corning, in 1834. His marriage resulted in the birth of six children, four sons and two daughters. His father, Orson Beecher, was also born in Wellsboro, Tioga county, the date of whose birth was the year 1815. From this place he moved to Camden, New Jersey, where he remained for a period of twenty years. He afterward went to Virginia, and finally returned to Pine Grove, Schuylkill county, where he now resides. While in Camden, New Jersey, he was a wholesale coal dealer. His family included three children: J.William, the subject; Ella C. and Orson, Jr.

John William Beecher was educated in the public schools of Camden, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, and at the Polytechnic College, Philadelphia, from the latter of which he was graduated in the class of 1870. After graduation he engaged in civil engineering and continued this class of work until 1875, when he entered the lumber business with William Zimmerman his grandfather on the maternal side, under the firm name of Zimmerman & Beecher. Subsequent to this C. K. Sober became a member of the firm, and it was then styled Zimmerman, Beecher & Sober. After the death of Mr. Zimmerman, the firm became Beecher & Sober, and was finally dissolved in January, 1893. In 1887, the Glen Union Lumber Company was organized and Mr. Beecher elected treasurer. The seat of this company's operations is at Glen Union, Clinton county, Pennsylvania. Beside this business interest, he is connected with the lumber business of Center, Clearfield and Schuylkill counties, in all of which he is an owner of timber lands for himself and in conjunction with other parties, aggregating about fortyfive thousand acres. In his own city he fis director of the Schuylkill Electric Railroad Company.

The early life of Mr. Beecher was passed in Camden, New Jersey, and it was not until 1886, that he became a resident of Pottsville, though prior to that time he had considerable business connections with it. He is a man of excellent business qualities, careful and calculating at every step. To this and his executive ability he owes a great deal of his material success. He married Sarah A. Kline, daughter of Wellington Kline, of Pottsville, January 10, 1884, by whom he has one son, Harold K. Mr. and Mrs. Beecher are members of the Methodist church.

6. Census in 1900 in Pottsville, Schuylkill, PA. ⁵

7. Census in 1900 in Shenandoah, Schuylkill, PA. ⁶ The 1900 Census in Pottsville Ward 3 listed John W. Beecher, born Jun 1856. Living in his household are his wife of 16 years, Sarah A. born Sep 1856; and son Harold born Mar 1885. The listing indicates she only had given birth to a single child as of 1900. His occupation is lumber merchant.

8. Occupation: lumber merchant in 1900 in Pottsville, Schuylkill, PA. ⁵

9. Evidence: 1902, , Clinton, PA. Beacher and Bullock Lumber Company sold 2.2 miles of railroad track, a portion of the road between Queen's Run and North Fork Junction, Pa, to Philadelphia and Erie Railroad Company (The Sunbury and Erie Railroad Company), which in turn sold it in 1907 to The Pennsylvania Railroad.

Source: http://rnetzlof.pennsyrr.com/corphist/PRR3.html
.

10. Newspaper: Lebanon Daily News: "J. W. Beecher and family of Pottstown made a trip to town in their automobile, and visited friends and relatives.", 16 May 1907, Lebanon, Lebanon, PA. ¹⁶

11. Census in 1910 in Pottsville, Schuylkill, PA. ¹⁷

12. Newspaper: Lebanon Daily News: "Mr. And Mrs. J. W. Beecher and son, Harold Beecher, wife and daughter, visited Miss Ella Beecher here, who recently returned from an extended visit to Mr. Beecher's brother at Savannah, Ga.", 12 Apr 1912, Lebanon, Lebanon, PA. ¹⁸

13. Newspaper: Lebanon Daily News: "J. William Beecher and son Harold, or Pottsville, spent a day here looking after their timber interests in Swopes Valley, now in process of cutting.", 11 Jan 1917, Lebanon, Lebanon, PA. ¹⁹

14. Census in 1920 in Pottsville, Schuylkill, PA. ⁷ Harold K. Bucher [indexed in census as Bucher not Beecher, as handwriting is unclear], lumber merchant, 34, was living with Ethel B., 35. With them: Carrol B., 10; Harold Jr., 7; John W., 5. Also in the home is John W. Bucher, lumber merchant, father, widowed, 69; and Ludie Bretz, servant, 19. Everyone and their parents were born in Pennsylvania. They owned the home at 1511 W. Mahantongo St.

15. Cause of Death: cerebral arteriosclerosis due to general vascular sclerosis due to senility, 29 Nov 1947, Pottsville, Schuylkill, PA. ⁸

16. Occupation: lumber manufacturer, own business on 29 Nov 1947 in Pottsville, Schuylkill, PA. ⁸

17. Residence: 1238 Mahantongo St., Pottsville, PA on 29 Nov 1947 in Pottsville, Schuylkill, PA. ⁸

18. Obituary: West Schuylkill Press and Pine Grove Herald on 5 Dec 1947 in Tremont, Schuylkill, PA. ³ J. W. Beecher, 97, a former Pine Grove resident, died at the home of his son, Harold K. Beecher, at 1238 Mahantongo St., Pottsville, on Saturday evening at 1 o'clock.
Mr. Beecher was born on June 23, 1850, at Pine Grove and was the son of the late Orson and Angeline Zimmerman Beecher. He attended the public schools of Camden, N.J., and Philadelphia, and graduated from Polytechnic College, Philadelphia in 1870. In 1875 he joined with his grandfather, John Wm. Zimmerman of Pine Grove, in the lumber manufacturing business, and in 1901 he organized the firm of Beecher and Barr, manufacturers and wholesale dealers in lumber, of which his son is the surviving member.
In 1884, June 10, he was married to Sarah Augusta Kline, who died in August of 1916.
He is survived by his son. Harold, three grandchildren, Mrs. Benjamin F. Hager, Seattle, Wash.; Harold K. Beecher, Jr., Salt L,ake City, Utah; and John W. Beecher, II, Pottsville; and six great grandchildren, and one nephew, Orson.

John married Sarah Augusta Kline, daughter of Wellington Kline and Caroline Hehr, on 10 Jan 1884 in Philadelphia: Nineteenth Street Methodist Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, PA.^{1 2 3} (Sarah Augusta Kline was born on 21 Sep 1855 in Pottsville, Schuylkill, PA,^{4 6 20 21} died on 17 Aug 1916 in Hazleton, Luzerne, PA ^{3 4 11 20 21 22} and was buried on 18 Aug 1916 in Pottsville: Charles Baber Cemetery, Schuylkill, PA ^{11 20 21}.)