Caleb Beck, settled at Schenectady in 1703. Some of his descendants became distinguished for talents and high literary attainments, among the noblest sons of our state. He married Ann Harley, at New York, November 2d, 1703. His house and lot was on the southeast corner of Church and Union Streets, where he kept a hotel, and, after his death in 1733, his wife, at the same point, continued the business, together with trade in groceries and dry goods until her decease. He was the ancestor of Theodore Romeyn Beck.
The descendants of Caleb Beck, 1703, are as follows:
Anna, his oldest daughter, born October 7th, 1704, married Jacobus Van Vorst.
Elizabeth, another daughter, married John Fairly, who owned the lot on the east side of Church Street, next south of his father-in-law's lot.
Engel, also a daughter, born December 15th, 1715, married Isaac Abram Truax.
Margaret, another daughter, married in 1751, John W. Brown, one of the first founders and a prominent member of the Episcopal church in Schenectady.
Caleb, the only surviving son of Caleb, Sr., born May 24th, 1714, married, November 1st, 1747, Elizabeth, daughter of Abraham Truax. He was an attorney-at-law of considerable prominence, and died December 9th, 1787, aged nearly seventy-four years.
Anna, his oldest daughter, born October 6th, 1748, married Peter Van Guysling.
Angelica, another daughter, born April 5th, 1761, married Andrew Van Patten.
Caleb, the only surviving son of Caleb, Jr., born October 22d, 1758, studied law with his father, but never practiced; his fortune was comfortable and his tastes were literary. In 1788 he was principal of the Schenectady Academy, and died in October, 1798. His wife died August 23d, 1853. On the 26th of August, 1790, he married Catharine Theresa, the accomplished daughter of the Rev. Dirk Romeyn, and in his short married life of nine years, he left surviving him the following named sons, who all became distinguished in the various departments of science, law and military affairs, but are now resting from their labors in death.
Theodorick Romeyn, oldest son of the last Caleb, born August 11th, 1791, died with a world-wide reputation as man of science. He was the author of Beck's Medical Jurisprudence [i.e., Elements of Medical Jurisprudence].
Abraham, the second son, born October 21st, 1792, after practicing law for some years in Schenectady, removed to St. Louis, Missouri, and rising high in his profession for so short a residence, died there in 1821.
John Brodhead, the third son, born September 18th, 1794, died at New York in 1851. He was a distinguished physician and professor in the New York Medical College.
Nicholas Fairly, the fourth son, born November 7th, 1796; died June 30th, 1830 in Albany. He was a lawyer of excellent reputation, and was at the time of his death adjutant-general of the state of New York, and had been since 1825.
Caleb Lewis, (commonly written Lewis C.) M. D., born October 4th, 1798, and died in 1852. He was professor of chemistry and natural history in Rutger's College, New Jersey, and is the author of several literary writings, and particularly of a folio volume of the mineralogy of New York.