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Warren Wallace Beckwith
Born(1874-08-10)August 10, 1874
Mount Pleasant, Iowa, United States
DiedSeptember 24, 1955(1955-09-24) (aged 81)
La Jolla, California, U.S.
Alma materIowa Wesleyan College
OccupationSportsman
Spouses
Children

Warren Wallace Beckwith Sr. (August 10, 1874 – September 24, 1955) was an American sportsman who served as a minor league baseball player during the late 1800s. His first wife was Jessie Harlan Lincoln, a member of the Lincoln family and granddaughter of President Abraham Lincoln. The couple's children were the last undisputed Lincoln descendants, Mary Lincoln Beckwith and Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith.

Early life

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Beckwith was born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, on August 10, 1874 to Captain Warren Beckwith and Luzenia Porter. Captain Beckwith worked as general roadmaster of the Burlington railroad. After Luzenia Porter died, he married her sister Sarah Porter. Warren was the youngest of Captain Beckwith's five children. Being a "wealthy railroad executive", his father left him an inheritance when dying.[1] The Beckwiths were considered a "distinguished family."[2]

Beckwith attended Episcopal school Kemper Hall in Davenport, Iowa. After Kemper Hall, he attended Iowa Wesleyan University, where he was a quarterback on the football team.[3]

Marriage with Jessie Harlan Lincoln

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Beckwith met Jessie Harlan Lincoln in Mount Pleasant, Beckwith being a friend of the Lincoln family.[4] Knowing that her family did not approve of the match, the two eloped and married on November 10, 1897. At the time, Beckwith was playing college football, and it was considered unseemly to marry a footballer.[5] Jessie had told her mother that she was going shopping with friends, and instead rendezvoused with Beckwith to travel to Milwaukee and get married.[6]

Beckwith's daughter Mary "Peggy" Lincoln Beckwith at age 14.

The marriage was performed by Pastor Orlando P. Christian. The two required witnesses were Mrs. Christian, the pastor's wife, and the Pastor's neighbor, Mrs. Henry J. Baumgaertner. It was the first time that Christian had performed an elopement ceremony, though he was not aware that it was an elopement until after the ceremony had been performed.[7] The marriage made The New York Times, with a headline that read "R.T. LINCOLN'S DAUGHTER WEDS; Marries an Iowa Man to Whom Her Parents Objected".[8]

After getting married, the two relocated to Chicago and Beckwith secured a job at the Chicago Light Gas & Coke Company.[9] Two children resulted from the marriage in the following years. On August 22, 1898, she gave birth to her first child, Mary Lincoln Beckwith, in Iowa. On July 19, 1904, Jessie had Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, named after her father.

Beckwith and wife Jessie separated at least two times because of marital issues. In January 1905, Jessie took their two children to visit family without Beckwith. After months of arguments over the telephone, Jessie moved from their Riverside home. She moved her belongings in the Harlan home on Mount Pleasant and then moved in with her parents on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, taking her children with her. When Jessie took the children to Europe, Beckwith filed divorce papers on January 31, 1907. He claimed desertion, and the divorce was granted. Jessie was granted custody of their children, and Beckwith never saw his children again.[10]

Sports

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Football

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After Beckwith's marriage to Jessie, The New York Times covered his very next game at Iowa Wesleyan University, that being the Iowa Wesleyan Tigers versus the Keokuk College of Physicians and Surgeons (a now defunct college). The Tigers won the game 48–0.[9]

Baseball

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Beckwith played for a number of minor league baseball teams:[11]

Year Age Team League Level
1895 20 Aurora Western Interstate League B
1897 22 Dallas Steers Texas-Southern League C
1897 22 Denison-Sherman Twins/Waco Tigers Texas Association C
1897 22 Paris Midlands Texas Association C
1899 24 Sacramento Gilt Edges California League E

In 1905, Beckwith managed the Oshkosh Indians of the Wisconsin State League from Oshkosh, Wisconsin for one season. They were a D-level team.[11]

When Jessie was four months pregnant, Beckwith tried out for and was signed to the pro baseball team in Ottumwa, Iowa, in March 1898. Sarah, Beckwith's stepmother (and aunt), went to the team manager and convinced him to release Beckwith out of his contract so he could find more suitable employment.[12]

During his baseball tenure, Beckwith was known as "the dude" and "the lady killer".[13]

Later life

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After divorcing Jessie, Beckwith married Blanche Cutter. After the marriage with Cutter ended, Beckwith then went on to marry Vera Ward. Ward was an Asheville silent film actress, and the two married in 1924. Together they had son Warren Wallace Beckwith, Jr., who became an oceanographer and worked at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.[2] Warren Wallace Beckwith, Jr. married Barbara Olson, whom he survived when she died on March 1, 2014. She was the daughter of Hazel Updike Reasoner and Robert Reasoner of Omaha, Nebraska.[14]

Beckwith moved to La Jolla, California in 1938, where he spent his time hunting and golfing.[15] He died there on September 24, 1955.

References

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  1. ^ "Abe Lincoln and Baseball". BASEBALL HISTORY DAILY. Archived from the original on 5 September 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
  2. ^ a b Lachman, C. (2008). The Last Lincolns: The Rise and Fall of a Great American Family. Sterling Publishing Company. ISBN 978-1-4027-5890-4.
  3. ^ Haselmayer, Louis A. (1968). "Jessie Harlan Lincoln in Iowa" (PDF). The Annals of Iowa. 39 (6): 420. doi:10.17077/0003-4827.7895. ISSN 0003-4827. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 29, 2020. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  4. ^ Milwaukee, Volume 12. Schmidt Publications. 1967.
  5. ^ Neely, Mark A. (1982). The Abraham Lincoln encyclopedia. McGraw-Hill. p. 82.
  6. ^ Lachman, p.324.
  7. ^ Lachman, p.325.
  8. ^ "Round up: Base Ball, Abe Lincoln, Johnny & The Sox". At Home At Fenway. Archived from the original on 15 December 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  9. ^ a b Lachman, p.332.
  10. ^ Emerson, Jason (2012). Giant in the Shadows: The Life of Robert T. Lincoln. SIU Press. p. 363. ISBN 9780809390717. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  11. ^ a b "Warren Beckwith". Baseball Reference. Archived from the original on 5 September 2014. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  12. ^ Lachman, p.333.
  13. ^ Fatsis, Stefan. "Hang Up and Listen: The Worth Its Wait in Gold Edition". Slate. Archived from the original on 5 September 2014. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  14. ^ "Barbara Olson Beckwith". UT San Diego. 11 Apr 2014. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  15. ^ The Lincoln Grandchildren. Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
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