NOTE: Beckley Street in North Manchester was named in honor of Norman Beckley. Beckley never resided in N. Manchester.

Source: Elkhart Daily Truth, June 24, 1902

DEATH COMES TO NORMAN BECKLEY
Second Stroke of Paralysis Ends an Honorable Life
FUNERAL WILL BE TOMORROW
Deceased is Survived By a Widow and Three Children—Burial at Sycamore, Ill.

Norman Beckley died last evening at 6:08 o’clock. A stroke of paralysis which rendered him helpless for four days and unconscious for the last two days of his life proved to be too strong for his constitution and will and, after a hard fight against tremendous odds, speechless, powerless, weakened by age and suffering, he succumbed without having perceptibly recovered consciousness.

Arrangements were made today to have the remains shipped to his old home at Sycamore, Ill., for interment.

The funeral services will be held at the family home tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 o’clock in charge of Revs. Light and Simpson. The body will be sent to Sycamore at 9:15 o’clock Thursday morning.

Sketch of His Life.

Norman Beckley, whose name is so familiar in railroad circles, was born at Barre, Vt., April 15, 1823, being the eldest of a family of three sons and two daughters, born to Samuel Beckley and Roxana Colby. Zebedee Beckley, his grandfather, was said to be of Scotch-Irish ancestry and was a soldier in the war of the revolution and also of the war of 1812. With but few exceptions the family has been of a race of farmers—and was particularly noted for the magnificent physical development of its members.

Norman Beckley was reared upon his father’s farm in Vermont and while his opportunities were limited his boast was that he could not be excelled in his books or in anything he would undertake. When 18 years old he began teaching school during the winters and from the proceeds defrayed the expense of one term’s tuition at the academy at Montpelier and two terms at Newbury seminary, during which time he boarded himself. He began life for himself when 14 years old when he worked for $9 a month. When 21 years old he started south to find work as a teacher, but on account of ill health went west. Staging for three days through swamps and over hills to Chicago from Marshall, Mich., he found employment in a lumber office in the then growing young city. Returning to Vermont he worked at building culverts on the Vermont Central railroad and became foreman of a construction force. He then became roadmaster of the Montpelier-Burlington division of the road.

Roadmaster on Lake Shore.

In 1858 Mr. Beckley returned to the west and became roadmaster of the Chicago division of the Lake Shore with headquarters at LaPorte. After three years he resigned to become president of the Sycamore, Courtland & Chicago railroad, now a part of the Northwestern. He stayed there 13 years, returning to the Lake Shore road in 1874 as superintendent of the Michigan division with headquarters in Elkhart. He resigned that position in 1878 to become general manager of the Cincinnati, Wabash & Michigan, now the Big Four. The road was at that time in bad condition and the track had practically no market value. It was 110 miles long, unfenced, much of the right of way was unpaid for, numerous suits were pending, the road bed was so bad as to render life unsafe in traveling over it and the only rolling stock owned by the corporation was one solitary engine. Through his personal efforts all of the suits were compromised, the road newly equipped and the stock rapidly jumped to a value of 100 cents on the dollar. He was a severe disciplinarian but lenient when the occasion demanded it. Through his influence, gambling, drinking and kindred evils were much restricted in Elkhart during his management.

He was married October 2, 1848, to Miss Rosette Wills of Barre, Vt. They have three children. Mrs. M.H. Westlake, of Sycamore, Ill., Edgar H. of Benton Harbor and Edward E. of Macon, Ga.

Mr. Beckley was elected mayor of Elkhart in 1884 as a republican. He was a lifelong member of the M.E. church.

LAST SAD RITES OVER THE REMAINS OF THE LATE NORMAN BECKLEY
[Elkhart Daily Truth, June 25, 1902]

The funeral services over the remains of Norman Beckley, were held this afternoon at the family home on South Main street in charge of Revs. Light and Simpson. Music was furnished by Miss Cleland, organist, and Mrs. M.U. Demarest, Robert Elleson and Anthony Davis.

Floral tributes from many business and personal associates and family friends were arranged around the bier while many testified by their presence the respect felt by them for the dead railroad man. The remains will be shipped to Sycamore, Ill., tomorrow for interment.

Source: HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY (1881), 802

Norman Beckley, the well-known Assistant Superintendent of the C, W. & M. railroad, was born in Barre, Washington county, Vt. His father was Samuel Beckley, and his mother's name before marriage, Roxana Colby. Mr. Beckley spent his boyhood with his father till he was 16, when he began an educational course, passing some time at Montpelier and Newberry seminaries. While lie was at school, during the winter season, he taught school for the purpose of replenishing his funds. This course of educational life was continued till he was 20 years of age, when he journeyed westward in quest of his fortune. This was in 1S44. Mr. Beckley remembers Chicago at that period as a place scarcely a respectable embryo of the present city of wonderful growth. The Tremont House, where he stopped, was then a three-story wood structure. For a few months after his arrival in Chicago he was employed by Luther Rossiter, then a lumber dealer and leading man in Chicago. The yard was on Water street, west of Wells. Mr. Beckley contracted the ague in Michigan, before reaching Chicago, and at length was obliged to return to Vermont in quest of health. He took a position under C. F. Belknap, the famous contractor on New England railroads, and was by him appointed foreman of construction gangs, and continued that service till the grading on the Vermont Central railroad was done. Afterward he was employed a year on the Fitchburg railroad as paymaster. Subsequently he was section foreman on the track of the Vermont Central, and roadmaster till 1860. During that year he assumed a position as roadmaster on the Michigan Southern road, Chicago division, with headquarters at La Porte. This relation he held for two years. He then removed to De Kalb county, and took the management of the Sycamore & Cortland road, a short line in that locality. He managed the enterprise so perfectly as to be able to declare a dividend of 14 per cent, on the capital stock. Owing to the jealousy and hostility of the Ellwoods, prominent stockholders in the company, Mr. Beckley retired. In 1874 he was appointed Assistant Superintendent of the Michigan division of the Michigan Southern road, with headquarters at Elkhart, and removed his family from Sycamore in 1878. During that year he became General Manager of the Cincinnati, Wabash & Michigan railroad, and has held that office ever since.

While Mr. Beckley was in Illinois he superintended the laying of the track on the Chicago & Iowa railroad. He is a member of the Methodist Church, and is zealous in Sunday-school and Church work. He has always identified himself with the temperance cause, and has chosen only temperance men, when that was possible, as employees on the various roads where he has been manager. He is a Republican, and labors arduously for the success of its principles and measures.

Mr. Beckley was married Oct. 2, 1847, to Rosetta Wills, of Hartford, Vt. He has 1 daughter and 2 sons: Emma Elizabeth, who married M. H. Wesley, a farmer in De Kalb county; Edgar Henry, who is in the office with his father, and Edward Everett, still in school.

Source: PICTORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF ELKHART AND ST. JOSEPH COUNTIES, INDIANA, pp. 181-183.

Norman Beckley, whose name and fame are so familiar in railroad circles, and

who has been so prominently connected with the welfare of the city of Elkhart, was

born at Barry, Vt., April 15, 1823, being the eldest in a family of three sons and two

daughters born to the marriage of Samuel Beckley and Roxana Colby. Zebedee

Beckley, his grandfather, was said to have been of Scotch-Irish ancestry and was a

soldier in the war of the Revolution and also the War of 1812. With but few excep-

tions the family have been a race of farmers, and were particularly noted for their

magnificent physical development. A peculiar characteristic trait is a positive tem-

perament, a strict adherence to friendship and morality, and for generations con-

nected with the Methodist Episcopal Church. Norman Beckley was reared upon

his father's farm in Vermont, and while his opportunities were of a limited

nature, his boast was that he could not be excelled in his books or in anything he

would undertake. Daring the winter season, and sometimes during the fall, he

was enabled to attend select schools and at the age of fourteen years accomplished a

man's work in the field. When eighteen years of age he began teaching district

school during the winters, and from the proceeds of his labor defrayed the expense

of one term's tuition at the academy in Montpelier and two terms at Newberry Sem-

inary, during which time he boarded himself. Practically he began for himself at

fourteen years of age; in fact, since that time he has never failed in accomplish-

ing a man's work. It was this time he worked for the then remunerative wages of

$9 per month. On attaining his majority he started South for the purpose of find-

ing employment as a teacher, but owing to ill health, caused by the heat, and the

Catholic riots of that time, he was compelled to remain in Philadelphia for a time,

and from there changed his course to the great West. Staging for three days through

swamps and over hills to Chicago from Marshall, Mich. , he there found employment

in a lumber office in the growing young city, but owing to chills, fever and ague, so

prevalent then, he was compelled to relinquish his position and return to the East.

Arriving in Vermont, he worked one month getting out stone and building culverts

for the Vermont Central Railway, after which he was foreman of a construction force

two years. Immediately after the road was built he became paymaster of the con-

tractor who was building the second track of the Fitchburg Railroad, then became

section foreman of a division of the Vermont Central Railway. Then his appoint-

ment as roadmaster of the Montpelier- Burlington division occurred, and after serv-

ing as such for a time was transferred to the same position, and on the same road,

of the Vermont-Canada division. In 1858 Mr. Beckley came West and became

roadmaster of the Chicago division of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Rail-

way, with headquarters at LaPorte, which position he retained three' years, but

resigned to accept the superintendency of the Sycamore, Cortland & Chicago Rail-

way, now a part of the Northwestern system. For thirteen years he served in this

capacity, but in 1874 became Michigan division superintendent of the Lake Shore &

Michigan Southern Railway, with headquarters at Elkhart, Ind. In 1878 he resigned

this position to become general manager of the Cincinnati, Wabash & Michigan

Railway. At this time the road was in about as bad condition as was possible for it

to get. The stock bad practically no market value whatever. It was 110 miles

in length, unfenced, much of the right-of-way was unpaid for, numerous suits for

damages were pending, the road bed, equipped with iron rails, was in so bad shape

as to render life unsafe in traveling over it, and the only rolling stock owned by the

corporation was one solitary engine. It was under such discouraging circum-

stances that Mr. Beckley assumed management. Through his personal efforts, and

in time, the pending suits were all compromised, the right-of-way perfected, ninety-

five miles of additional road was built, steel rails replaced the iron ones, the

road became fenced, the road bed leveled and placed on a substantial foundation,

the entire system became equipped with the best rolling stock and motor power

and the stock possessed the market value of one hundred cents on the dollar.

To Mr. Beckley alone belongs the credit of this wonderfully successful feat of rail-

road managing. From a road on the verge of bankruptcy and without credit, he

produced for his employers a road as well equipped as any in the State and whoso

stock value was at par. His experience with this road was practically his experi-

ence with the Sycamore, Cortland & Chicago road. His method was one of

unswerving honesty, careful contracts, strict business economy and keeping in his

employment only men of good morals and sobriety. A severe disciplinarian, he was

also lenient when the occasion warranted. Through his influence gambling, drink-

ing and kindred evils were much restricted in the city, and many a young man who

had been in the habit of spending his earnings in fast living, was induced to lay it

aside to be invested in a home. Many a home has thus been made in Elkhart,

and many wives and mothers to-day look upon Mr. Beckley as procurer of their

homes and happiness. Owing to failing health Mr. Beckley resigned his position

as general manager, but until April, 1892, assumed in the less active position of treas-

urer of the company. October 2, 1848, occurred his marriage with Miss Roeette,

daughter ot Reuben and Abagail (Goodwin) Wills, who were Vermont people and of

Scotch ancestry. To their marriage three children have been bom: Emma E. (Mrs.

M. H. Westlake), Edgar H. and Edward E. A Republican in politics, Mr. Beckley

was nominated for mayor of Elkhart in 1884 and was duly elected. From his

mother, when a boy, the principles of Christianity and morality were thoroughly

instilled into his mind and for many years he and wife have been members of

the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was elected a delegate to the Northern Indi-

ana Conference in April, 1892, and by that body was elected a delegate to the Gen-

eral Conference at Omaha in May, 1892.