Isaac Beckett (1838 - 1911)

ISAAC BECKETT

Isaac Beckett died at his home at the Isle of Hope shortly after 11 o’clock last night. He had been seriously ill since last September. The immediate cause of his death was a stroke of paralysis which he suffered last Thursday.

The funeral will take place from St. John’s Episcopal Church at 4 o’clock this afternoon. The interment will be in Bonaventure Cemetery. The services will be conducted by the Rev. Dr. Charles H. Strong.

Mr. Beckett was one of the best known men in the city. He came here shortly after the war and during the reconstruction was one of the most influential citizens of Savannah. He was connected with the postoffice and the Custom House, became registrar in bankruptcy, studied law and later held the positions of United States shipping commissioner and United States Commissioner.

Mr. Beckett was supervisor of the census here when the United States counted its people in 1880 and in 1890. During all this time he practiced law, making a specialty of tracing land titles and making abstracts of property. There was perhaps no man in the county who was so familiar with Chatham county property lines and the history of various land tracts. His information in this regard was almost limitless.

Mr. Beckett was born in County Mayo, Ireland, seventy-two years ago last August. He came to the United States and located in New York when he was a boy of 12. When the Civil War broke out he enlisted and became first lieutenant in the Fifty-sixth New York Infantry Regiment. From the Infantry he was transferred to the signal service and in that branch distinguished himself fro bravery. He received flags for bravery on the field in the battles of “Malvern Hill”, “Lee’s Mills”, and “Seven Pines.” It was his duty to keep open communication across the field while engagements were on and his position was necessarily always exposed to the fire of the enemy.

After leaving the signal service Mr. Beckett was made port commissary for the Union Army at Beaufort S. C. The army had a great amount of stores there and it was a considerable honor to be placed in charge of them.

Mr. Beckett is survived by Mrs. Beckett, and three sons and three daughters, W. Norman Beckett, George W. Beckett of Beaufort, Isaac Julian Beckett, Mrs. E. H. Bee of Atlanta, Mrs. L. H. Little and Miss Nina Beckett.

Retyped clipping from Savannah Morning News of February 28, 1911. Date of death was February 27, 1911.

Note – the Mrs. Beckett above was his second wife, Harriet Browne Wheeler, whom he married after Mary Amarintha’s death.