Beck Families from Germany Found New Start in Avon Lake

This is the second of a series of articles about the people buried in Avon Lake's Lake Shore Cemetery.

In the 1800s, Germany’s increasing population, scarcity of land, and move toward industrialization forced many of the country’s farmers to seek opportunity elsewhere. Many chose to come to the United States, which was still a developing nation. Johann Lorenz (Lawrence) Beck (pictured above) was one such farmer. Born April 26, 1842, in Bavaria to Conrad and Elizabeth (Krauss) Beck, Lawrence married Amelia Lemm (or Lamm) in Germany and then came to Margaretta Township, in Erie County, OH, around 1860, where he worked as a farm hand, and where the first three of their six children, four girls and two boys, were born.

Between 1872 and 1874, Lawrence and his family moved to Avon Lake (then, Avon Township), where he purchased land in the eastern portion of the township. In addition to general farming, Lawrence worked as a vintner, the only one of more than 20 Avon Lake grape growers in the early 1890s to do so. The proximity of Lake Erie, the weather, and the soil made this area ideal for vineyards, and Lawrence, like many farmers, took advantage of these conditions and profited well.

Until his vineyards provided him with financial stability, Lawrence also ran a saloon, a wooden structure that had served as a schoolhouse until 1874 and was then moved to his property after a brick schoolhouse was built.

Lawrence and Amelia’s children were Anna (born Jan. 5, 1866; married May 12, 1888, Henry W. Ziegelmeyer; died Apr. 25, 1935); Sophia (born March 1870; married May 21, 1891, George J. Menges; died Dec. 13, 1905); Caroline (born Jan. 16, 1872; married Apr. 20, 1899, William P. Fey); Laura (born Aug. 24, 1874; married Apr. 25, 1901, August Henry Meilander; died Dec. 3, 1938); Henry (born Apr. 2, 1876; married Nov. 29, 1899, Emma Herrmann; died Oct. 6, 1929); and Fred (born Mar. 20, 1881; married Minnie Parschen; died Feb. 6, 1935).

While Anna, Sophia, and Caroline moved to Cleveland after their marriages, and Laura resided in nearby Bay Village with her husband, Henry and Fred remained with their parents in Avon Lake and also farmed. Fred and his wife, Minnie (daughter of William and Minnie (Krakow) Parschen), had one son, Walter William, who was born in 1909. Henry and his wife, Emma (daughter of Eugene and Caroline (Friedmann) Herrmann), had two children: Richard, born in 1902, and Emil, born in 1905. Fred, Minnie, Henry, Emma, and Emil are all buried in Avon Lake’s Lake Shore Cemetery.

Lawrence died May 16, 1913, at German Hospital (now Fairview Hospital) in Cleveland. Amelia died Feb. 17, 1919, in Avon Lake. Both are buried in Cleveland’s Woodland Cemetery.

Beck Road in Avon Lake is virtually all that remains as a testament to this family’s presence here more than a century ago.

A collection of photos of the Beck family and property is featured as part of the Avon Lake Collection on The Cleveland Memory Project and can be viewed here.

If you have items related to Avon Lake history that you would like to donate to the Library’s local history collection, or if you would like to visit the Marybelle Arnold North Coast History Room, please call 440.933.8127 or visit during regular Library hours.