Adelbert Beach, who owns the family homestead in Yorkville Township, has resided in Racine County throughout his entire life or for almost seventy years and during that time has seen it develop from a frontier district into the prosperous and populous County of today. He was born at Ives Grove on the 24th of December, 1846, and is a son of Royal and Mary (Culver) Beach, both natives of Massachusetts, the former born in 1812 and the latter on the 14th of September, 1825. In 1845 they were married in Westfield. Massachusetts, and in June of that year came to Racine County, Wisconsin, locating in Yorkville Township, where the father took up sixty-five acres of government land. Later he bought additional land and at the time of his death, which occurred May 20, 1902, held title to two hundred acres. His success was doubly creditable in that he at all times depended upon his own resources for advancement. In politics he was a democrat and was elected to a number of local offices, which indicates the confidence which his fellow citizens repose in him. His wife survived him for a number of years, dying on the 11th of April. 1915. They were the parents of two children, of whom Adelbert Beach is the older. The daughter is deceased. The paternal grandfather, Norman Beach, was born in Massachusetts and died there at the age of eighty-four years, but the great-grandfather was born in Liverpool, England, where he followed the watchmaker’s trade for some time. Eventually, however, he came to the United States and here his death occurred. The maternal grandfather, Titus Culver, was also a native of Massachusetts but removed westward, locating first in Wisconsin, subsequently in Belvidere, Illinois, and still later in Iowa, whence he at length returned to Massachusetts where he spent his last years. He devoted his time to agricultural pursuits. His father participated in the Revolutionary war.
Adelbert Beach attended school at Ives Grove and later was a student in the high school at Rochester and Racine. For nine winters he followed the profession of teaching, while during the summers he concentrated his energies upon farming. Following the death of his father he became sole owner of the home farm of two hundred acres, buying his sister’s interest. He is still actively engaged in farming, although many men of his years would prefer to live retired, and his well directed labors yield him a good income. In addition to raising grain and stock for the market he engages in dairying, keeping about twenty mulch cows.
Mr. Beach was married on the 23d of March, 1870, to Miss Martha Lugg, a daughter of Hannibal Lugg, a native of England and a pioneer settler of Racine County. To Mr. and Mrs. Beach were born two children: Berenice, the wife of Edward Erickson, who is employed at the Case factory; and Aletta, the wife of Abraham Baker, a retired farmer living in Racine. The wife and mother passed away on the 19th of June, 1876, and on the 2d of April, 1877, Mr. Beach was married to Miss Elizabeth Bauml, who was born in Pennsylvania but removed to Milwaukee with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Bauml. Her father conducted a butcher shop in the latter city for a number of years but later sold that business and purchased a farm in Mount Pleasant Township, which he operated for a considerable period. His wife died upon that place, but his demise occurred in San Francisco. To Mr. Beach’s second marriage have been born five children: May, the wife of Will Koenig, who is employed as a motorman by the Racine Street Railway Company; Chester, who is connected with an electric company in Racine; Frank, who is associated with his father in the farm work; Clara, the wife of Ed Franke, a well known farmer of Mount Pleasant Township; and Mary, at home.
Mr. Beach is a democrat in politics but although he has always loyally supported the candidates of that party he has never sought office as a reward for his allegiance, preferring to concentrate his energies upon his private interests. He attends the Methodist Episcopal Church and supports all movements seeking the moral advancement of his community. He is recognized as a successful farmer and public-spirited citizen, is a man of proven integrity and his personal friends are many.