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Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott
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Biographical History of Cherokee County, Iowa
W. S. Dunbar & Co., Chigago - 1889

[page 467]

    CHARLES BECKWITH is the proprietor of the Cherokee flouring mills,
    which were built by J. B. BLISS, who operated them for about twelve
    years.  The site of this mill is on the west bank of the Little Sioux
    River, near the site of old Cherokee; it includes nine acres of land
    and is one mile from postoffice and depot.  It was formerly supplied
    with old-fashioned burr-stones.  In 1882 Mr. BECKWITH purchased the
    property, operating it as it was until 1887, when he put in a full
    roller system, the "patent process," of flour making.  Its daily
    capacity is now fifty barrels, and the product is of an excellent
    quality, finding a ready market at home.  Mr. BECKWITH was born in
    the village of Burke, Vermont, February 28, 1835.  His father,
    DANIEL BECKWITH, was born in New Hampshire, in 1779, of English
    extraction.  He operated a mill for many years, and died at Burke
    in 1872.  He was married to LUCINDA ORCUTT, a native of Vermont,
    and a daughter of EPHRAIM ORCUTT.  She was born in 1803, and is
    still living at her old home in Burke.  She was of Scotch descent,
    and was the mother of nine children, seven of whom are still living.
    CHARLES was the third child; he attended the schools common in that
    day in his native town, and completed his education at Glover Academy.
    Upon quitting school he entered the store of his father and brother,
    remaining there for six years.  Drifting westward to Iowa, he stopped
    at New Hartford, where he engaged in the grain business, having for
    his partner FRANK ROOT, the firm being styled ROOT & BECKWITH.  They
    continued in business seven years, and in the summer of 1871 Mr.
    BECKWITH came to Cherokee and began to buy and ship grain, in which
    business he continued thirteen years, and at the end of that period
    purchased the Cherokee Mills.  Politically he is a Republican. He
    has been successful in business, and besides his mill property owns
    a half section of choice, well-tilled land in the county, and a
    brick residence in the city.

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