Henry W. Beckner
Henry W. Beckner, a promment farmer and stock-raiser of
Posey Township; was born in that township, September 3, 1837,
being the son of Jacob and Polly M. (McDuffee) Beckner who
were among the early settlers of this county. He spent his boyhood and youth upon hrs father's farm, and at the age of nineteen, or
February 26, 1857, he was married to Sarah J. Mahan, who was
born in Westmoreland County, Pa., September 25, 1837, just
twenty-two days after the birth of our subject. She was the daughter of James and Mary (Donald) Mahan, the former a native of
Ireland, who came to America with his parents when he was two
years old. Soon afterward he was left an orphan child, his father
and mother both having died the same night with an attack of
yellow fever, in the city of Philadelphia. James was married to
Mary Donald in Westmoreland County, Pa., and in 1843, when Mrs.
Beckner was but six years old they came to Rush County, and
located upon the farm now owned and occupied by O. C. Hackleman, one mile west of Rushville, which place Mr. Mahan had entered from the government. In 1853, they removed to the city of Indianapolis. Two years later they located upon a farm four
miles northeast of that city, where both spent the rest of their
lives, there deaths occurring in the same year, namely 1871. Mrs.
Beckner was nineteen years of age at the time of her marriage. She and her husband thus joined in the holy bonds of matrimony at about the same age; they settled upon the old Beckner
homestead, in Posey Township.
In 1859, they removed to the city of Indianapolis.
. A year later they located upon a farm northeast
of that city, about four miles, but in February, 1862, they returned
to this county, and located in the village of Arlington, where Mr.
Beckner engaged in mercantile pursuits. In December, 1864, they
settled upon the farm they now occupy, two miles west of that
place. Since then the entire attention of Mr. Beckner has been
given to farming and the raising of stock, in which pursuits he has
been fairly successful. He and wife are the parents of four children, as follows: John H., Nannie M., Mary E. and Wilna F., all of
whom are living except Mary E., who died in the sixteenth year of
her age. Mr. and Mrs. Beckner and three children are members
of the Christian Church. In politics, the former is a staunch
Democrat. He owns a splendid farm of 140 acres, nearly all of
which is in a high state of cultivation. Besides this Mrs. Beckner
owns fifty acres of splendid land in Marion County.
History of Rush County, Indiana, Brant & Fuller, 1888.
Contributed by Jill Knitl
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