6o6
VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
ried a daughter of John, Lord of Methley.
Their son. Sir Hercules, married Lady
Beckwith Bruce, daughter of Sir William
Bruce, and heiress of an estate named Beck-
with. Sir Hercules retained the Malebisse
escutcheon, but took the name of his wife's
estate. His son. Sir Hercules de Beckwith,
married a daughter of Sir John Ferrers, of
Tamworth. Nicholas de Beckwith, son of
Sir Hercules, married a daughter of Sir
John Chadworth, and was the father of
Hamon Beckwith, who dropped the particle
de (signifying of). He married a daughter
of Sir Philip Tydney. and was the father
of William Beckwith, who married a daugh-
ter of Sir Gerard Usfleet. Their son, Thomas
Beckwith, resided at Clint, and married a
daughter of John Sawly, of Saxton. Adam
Beckwith. son of Thomas Beckwith, was
the father of Sir William Beckwith. who
married a daughter of Sir John Baskerville,
a descendant of English and French royalty
traced to Charlemagne. Sir Thomas Beck-
with, of Clint, son of Sir William Beckwith.
died in 1495. ^^^ married a daughter of
William Heslerton. John Beckwith, third
son of Sir Thomas Beckwith, married a
daughter of John Radclilif, of Mulgrave.
Robert Beckwith, son of John Beckwith,
was living in 1468 at Broxholm, and was
the father of John ESeckwith, living in i4C)q,
Robert Beckwith, son of John Beckwith.
made his will October 6, 1536. and died be-
fore the following March. He was the
father of Alarmaduke Beckwith, of Dacre
and Clint, Yorkshire. He was twice mar-
ried, and had nine children by the first mar-
riage. It has been claimed by some author-
ities that he was the father of Matthew
Beckwith, mentioned below, ancestor of the
American family of that name. If so, he
must have been a child of the second wife.
Matthew Beckwith, first of the family in
America, was born about 1610, probably in
Yorkshire, England. He appears in Hart-
ford, Connecticut, as early as 1645, i" which
year he purchased a homestead. A few years
later he was at New London and Lyme, his
land lying in the two towns, and provided
well for all of his sons. He was killed by
a fall in the darkness of night over a ledge
of rocks, October 21. 1680. His widow
Elizabeth married Samuel Buckland, and
died before 1690. Matthew (2) Beckwith,
son of .Matthew (i) and Elizabeth Beck-
with, was born 1637, and was a freeman of
Waterford, Connecticut, in 1658, one of the
founders of the church at Guilford, residing
there and in the adjoining town of Bran-
ford, and died at New London, June 4, 1727.
His wife's name was Elizalieth, and their
son, John Beckwith, born Tebruary 4, 1669,
in llranford, lived in New London, wnere Ii4
married. August 12, 1700, Naomi de Wolf,
born 1676, in Waterford, died in Lyme,
1736. Their son, John (2) Beckwith, born
1703, in Waterford, died in Lyme in 1768;
married, November 8, 1744, Elizabeth Dart,
born .\ugust 30, 1716, in East liaddam,
Connecticut, died in Lyme. Their son. John
(3) Beckwith. born October 19. 1754, in
Lyme, died in Poughkeepsie, New York,
September 12, 1834. He was a Continental
soldier of the revolution, and married, Jan-
uary 27, 1780. Chloe Bosworth, born No-
vember 5, 1759, in Washington, Connecti-
cut, died at Poughkeepsie, October 9, 1834.
Their son, John (4) Beckwith, born July
31, 1785, in Poughkeepsie, was a prosperous
]3hysician, locating in 1808 at Newbern,
Ncjrth Carolina, later at Raleigh and New-
ton, same state. He was a soldier of the
war of 1812, and practiced many years at
Petersburg, Virginia, dying in 1870, in New
York. He married Margarette Stanley, and
they were the parents of Thomas Stanley
Beckwith, their eldest child, born 1814. in
Raleigh, practiced medicine in Petersburg.
\'irginia. where he died in 1884. He mar-
ried Agnus, daughter of Edmund Rufifin.
Sr.. a native of \^irginia. Their eldest child,
Julian R.. was a Confederate soldier, killed
at the battle of Seven Pines, June i. 1862:
the others were : Margaret Kate. Matilda
E.. Thomas S., Edmund R., a druggist of
Petersburg, married Mary J. White, of
Warrenton, North Carolina : John, married
Kate, daughter of J. E. Edwards, of Charles-
ton, South Carolina ; Susan, married R. Gil-
lam, of Petersburg; .\gnus, married J. R.
Carv, of ( doucester, Virginia, and Charles
M. '
Thomas Stanley (2) lieckvvith, second son of Thomas Stanley (i) and Agnus (Ruffin) Beckwith, was born in North Caro- lina, and came with his father to Petersburg at an early age. I'rom the age of fifteen years he was engaged in the stationery trade in that town, and has conducted a store on Sycamore street for many years. He was a soldier of the Confederate army, and made a prisoner. He married Emma
