David Enoch Beem
24 Jun 1837 - 23 Oct 1923
Father: Levi Beem
Mother: Sarah Johnson
Spouse: Mahala Joslin
Marriage: 10 Apr 1861, Spencer, Owen, Indiana, United States
Biography ##"DAVID E BEEM was born in Spencer, Owen Co., Ind., June 24, 1837, andis the sixth of twelve children of Levi and Sarah (Johnson) Beem, theformer a native of Kentucky, the latter of Virginia. The father came to Indiana Territory in 1810, and settled in Owen County in 1817. The grandparents both entered land and made farms where the town of Spencer stands. Here the parents were married in February, 1825, and here they have resided every since. Having been born on a farm, our subject continued thereon, and was accustomed to all sorts of farm labor until he was nineteen years of age, when, having made suitable proficiency in the schools of his native town and by study at home, he entered the University at Bloomington, Ind., in 1856, and graduated from that institution in 1860; also, having chosen the law for his profession, he was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1860, and, forming a copartnership with the Hon. Samuel H. Buskirk, of Bloomington, he opened an officein Spencer. The war of the rebellion, however, broke oat, and unsettled for a time his life purposes, as he felt it his duty to respond to the call for troops. He assisted in the organization of the first company that was raised in Owen County. On the 19th of April, 1861, five days after the fall of Fort Sumter, he enlisted as First Sergeant in Company H, Fourteenth Indiana Infantry, and on June 7, 1861, the companywas mustered into the service. On the 10th of July, the regiment arrived at Rich Mountain, Va., and composed the reserve force during the battle of the next day at that place, joining in the pursuit of the rebels after that successful engagement, as far as Cheat Mountain, the regiment remaining there until October, 1861. In August, 1861, Sergt. Beem was promoted to First Lieutenant of his company. After having participated in numerous skirmishes, and having endured many hardships through the winter of 1861-62, the regiment was transferred to the Shenandoah Valley, and took ah active part in the battle of Winchester on March 23, 1862, where Lieut. Beem received a severe wound in the chin. Ona Surgeon's certificate, he received sixty days' leave of absence andreturned home. At the expiration of his leave, he rejoined his command, and, in May, 1862, was ju^omoted to Captain, which position he helduntil the expiration of his term of service, in June, 1864. After arduous and faithful service in the Shenandoah Valley, Capt. Beem's command was transferred in July, 1862, to the Army of the Potomac, and fromthat date to the expiration of its term of service the Fourteenth Indiana Infantry participated in all the great battles fought in that army. At Antietam, Capt. Beem's command lost in killed and mortally wounded just one sixth of its number; and at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Sputtsylvania, Cold Harbor, and in many minor engagements, the Fourteenth Indiana fairly earned its reputation as a fightingregiment. In August, 1863, the regiment was sent to New York to aid in quelling the great draft riots which occurred there at that time. The number of officers and men killed or who died from wounds received in battle in Capt. Beem's company was nineteen. Only two of this numberwere killed when the Captain was not on duty with and in command of the company. On his return home from the service, Capt. Beem resumed the practice of law at Spencor, in which he has continued to the presenttime. He has also been actively engaged in business enterprises, withvarying success, having organized the banking firm of Beem, Peden & Co. in Spencer, in June, 1870, and having been its managing.member continuously to the present time. In 1873, he embarked with others in the pork packing business at Spencer, in which, on account of the failvireof many of its customers, he lost a large part of his earnings in that and other business ventures. Capt. Beem has held no public office, nor sought any; is not a politician, in the usual sense of that term, but takes an active interest in matters political. Being a Eepublican in principle, he has always voted and acted with that party. Although he has never been a candidate for a political office, he has served hisparty as Chairman of its County Central Committee during three political campaigns, and in 1880 was a delegate from the Fifth CongressionalDistrict to the Chicago National Convention, in which he voted for the nomination of James A. Garfield for President. He was a School Trustee for' many years, and aided in the organization of the Spencer Graded School. Since 1860, he has been a devoted and consistent member of and an active worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church. On April 10, 1861, he was married to Mahala Joslin, daughter of Dr. Amasa Joslin, oneof the pioneer physicians of Spencer. Three children have been born to them, one girl and two boys, all of whom survive. Mrs, Beem is a zealous laborer in the church and Sabbath school, and in all benevolent and charitable movements. "--“Counties of Clay and Owen, Indiana,†by Blanchard, Charles, 1830-1903, F.A. Battey & Co., Chicago, 1884.
(2. "David E. Beem was born June 24, 1837 and died October 23, 1923 at the age of 86 years. He was born in Spencer and spent most of his life here. His grandparents entered the land upon which Spencer now stands and it is largely due to the fact that his grandfather, Richard Beem, donated 80 acres of land that Spencer is the county seat. Mr. Beem attended DePauw University for a short time and graduated from Indiana University in 1860. He entered the army in 1861 and fought throughout the entire four years of the Civil War for the Union cause.He was discharged from the army with the rank of captain. After returning from the army he practiced law for a time in Indianapolis then came to Spencer where he has been since. He was married April 10, 1862 to Mahala Joslin, daughter of Amasa Joslin. The wife and three children, all of whom survive, are left to mourn their loss. There are also six grandchildren, four sisters and one brother still living. Three brothers and two sisters have gone on before. Mr. Beem suffered a stroke of paralysis in June 1922, and while he regained the use of his voice it has never entirely recovered. Another grand old man and beloved citizen has gone on leaving behind the memory of a useful and well-rounded life. The funeral will be conducted by Rev. Breeden from the Methodist Chruch at 2 o'clock this afternoon." --Taken from the October 25, 1923 issue of the Gosport Reporter:
