Nelson John Beach (September 21, 1800

Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after East J ...

, Tolland County, Connecticut - February 22, 1876

Watson Watson may refer to: Companies * Actavis, a pharmaceutical company formerly known as Watson Pharmaceuticals * A.S. Watson Group, retail division of Hutchison Whampoa * Thomas J. Watson Research Center, IBM research center * Watson Systems, make ...

Lewis County, New York Lewis County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 26,582, making it the fourth-least populous county in New York. Its county seat is Lowville. The county is named after Morgan Lewis, ...

) was an American

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

, businessman and politician from New York.

Life

He was the son of John Beach (1770–1845). The family removed from

Litchfield, Connecticut Litchfield is a town in and former county seat of Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,192 at the 2020 census. The boroughs of Bantam and Litchfield are located within the town. There are also three unincorporat ...

, to Watson, NY, in 1814. He married Emily Porter, and their children were George Byron Beach (d. 1870) and Anna Lydia Beach. Beach became a land surveyor, and was engaged on the survey of a highway through the wilderness, projected to run from Crown Point on

Lake Champlain , native_name_lang = , image = Champlainmap.svg , caption = Lake Champlain-River Richelieu watershed , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = New York/Vermont in the United States; and Quebec in Canada , coords = , type = , ...

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...

, Jefferson County, New York. An Act, passed on March 29, 1828, by the

New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an official ...

, allowed Nelson J. Beach to erect and exploit a toll bridge over the Black River between

Lowville, NY Lowville is a town in Lewis County, New York, United States. The population was 4,888 at the 2020 census,

, and Watson, NY. He was Supervisor of the Town of Watson from 1831 to 1834, from 1837 to 1838, and in 1845. He was a Whig member of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

(Lewis Co.) in

1846 Events January–March * January 5 – The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Country with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom. * January 13 – The Milan–Venice railway' ...

, and of the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

(5th D.) in

1847 Events January–March * January 4 – Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the U.S. government. * January 13 – The Treaty of Cahuenga ends fighting in the Mexican–American War in California. * January 16 – John C. Frémont ...

. Here he advocated the construction of the

Black River Canal The Black River Canal was a canal built in northern New York in the United States to connect the Erie Canal to the Black River. The canal had 109 locks along its length. Remains of several of the canal's former locks are visible along New York ...

. He was one of the first three Canal Commissioners elected in

under the New York State Constitution of 1846, and drew the two-year term, being in office from 1848 to 1849. In

1849 Events January–March * January 1 – France begins issue of the Ceres series, the nation's first postage stamps. * January 5 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Austrian army, led by Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz, enters in th ...

, he ran for re-election on the Whig ticket, but was defeated by

Frederick Follett Frederick Follett (November 1, 1804 Lincoln,At the time of his birth the place was called Lincoln, and changed the name to Gorham, New York in 1807. The Town of Hopewell was separated from Gorham in 1822. In the sources either Gorham or Hopewell ...

. From January 1850 to November 1852, he was a Canal Appraiser. In 1854, he became Vice-President and Superintendent of Construction of the

Hudson River Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...

. In 1855, he resigned this post, and accepted the appointment as Resident Engineer on the Eastern Division of the New York State Canals, remaining on the canal work for two years. Afterwards he took charge of the abandoned

Ogdensburg, Clayton and Rome Railroad Ogdensburg, Clayton and Rome Railroad was founded to compete with the Utica and Black River Railroad, Black River and Utica on April 7, 1853. Both railroads were to head from their respective cities north to Boonville. From there, the BR&U took th ...

and closed up its affairs. In 1862, President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

appointed him Assessor of Internal Revenue for the counties of Jefferson, Lewis and Herkimer.

Sources

''Laws of the State of New York''
(Fifty-first Session, 1828) *Short bio i
''A History of Lewis County, in the State of New York: From the Beginning of Its Settlement to the Present Time''
by Franklin Benjamin Hough (Munsell & Rowland, Albany NY, 1860; pages 218f)
''The New York Civil List''
compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (pages 42f, 135, 138, 232 and 258; Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858)
Obit of his son G. B. Beach
in NYT on August 12, 1870

at Rochester History {{DEFAULTSORT:Beach, Nelson John 1800 births 1876 deaths People from Lewis County, New York Erie Canal Commissioners Members of the New York State Assembly New York (state) state senators American surveyors People from Hebron, Connecticut 19th-century American railroad executives New York (state) Whigs 19th-century American legislators Politicians from Litchfield, Connecticut

Life

See also

Sources