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Extracted from "Venango Co., Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People" prepared by Charles A. Babcock, A.M., LL.B. Vol 1; Chicago: J.H. Beers & Co., 1919
HON. MANLEY COLTON BEEBE (deceased) was on of the most influential men of his generation in Venango county, and his services to his fellow citizens were so diversified that it would be difficult to determine which were most valuable in shaping its progress. Of high personal character and vigorous intellect, with a gift for practical use of his powers which made all his talents count, he gave impetus to many of the most important movements of his day, choosing his activities with such foresight that his work had permanent value. The fullness of his life might be easily measured by its abundant achievement.
Born Sept. 6, 1827, in Onondaga county, N.Y., Mr. Beebe was a member of an old New England family of English extraction in the paternal line, and his mother was a Webster, cousin of Noah Webster, the lexicographer, one of a long and prominent line of distinguished educators and statesmen. Undoubtedly he inherited the tendencies which led him into his life work, and he lived up tot he traditions of an honorable ancestry. During his youth some of the most renowned preparatory schools in the country flourished in central New York, those at Pompey, Scipio, Manlius and Fabius being especially noted, conducted by men whose names became household words in educational circles. He had the advantages of the academy at Fabius, where he completed the course when fifteen years old, even at that early age giving evidence of the studious disposition and keen intellect which characterized him throughout life, and which developed into a capacity for comprehensive and tenacious grasp of abstruse legal, ethical and philosophical problems. As soon as he finished his course at the academy he took up teaching, having schools in that vicinity during the next three years. By that time he had decided to seek his fortune in the then promising young State of Wisconsin, and he started for the West, coming by way of Pleasantville, Venango Co., Pa., where his uncle, Aaron Benedict, had settled. Mr. Benedict was one of the most prominent of its pioneer residents. He had arrived here from his Eastern home about 1827-28, changing his residence partly because of the suspicion that he was in some way associated with the disappearance of the famous William Morgan and the antagonism to members of the Masonic fraternity excited by that event. A man of executive ability and business experience, he founded or encouraged several of the earliest industrial establishments at Pleasantville, including the pottery in which his nephew later became interested. While in a store at Titusville on his way hither, young Beebe overheard a conversation relative to a teacher whom the students had put out of his school, and proffered his services as teacher, promising to retire without pay at the end of a month if he proved unsatisfactory. After a visit with his uncle at Pleasantville (Five miles from Titusville) he took up teaching at the school referred to and with this modest beginning entered upon a career as an educator which extended over many years, during which the marks of his genius were indelibly impressed upon Venango county history through the medium of the citizens who came under his charge. Changing after a time from his original location to Pleasantville, he taught a select school in the upper story of his uncle's pottery, and still later conducted a special school whose instruction embodied the principles at present taught in the normal schools. It is safe to assert that Mr. Beebe was instrumental in enlisting more young men and women for school work than any other educator in Venango county, and he succeeded in inculcating a love for the profession that demanded high standards, grounding in them the idea that a teacher's ambition was not to be bounded by wages or any other consideration than the striving for more elevated ideals and use of the opportunity to sow the seeds of higher citizenship.
Meantime, though his educational work went on through many years, other interests fairly clamored for his attention. A number of progressive residents of Pleasantville thought it desirable to have the village incorporated as a borough, but the sentiment was not unanimous in favor of this movement. However, through persistent effort a charter was secured, and at the first election Mr. Beebe, though not yet twenty-one years old, was chosen a justice of the peace, being inducted into office upon reaching his majority. In those days the duties of a justice were varied and often onerous, as nearly all local disputes were thrashed out in his court. The young man had long possessed the germs of a desire to know the law thoroughly, and the conscientious performance of his responsibilities as magistrate seemed to him to demand legal learning, so he set about to acquire it, becoming so interested that he decided to make the law his regular profession. However, in addition to his work as an instructor and his official obligations he also had business affairs to attend to, his uncle having persuaded him to take an interest in the pottery, which was becoming the leading industry of the place, workmen being brought from Scotland to operate the queensware department. Though for several years he was associated with the executive duties of this enterprise he always kept it secondary to his school work, but it took up much of his time that he would have preferred to devote to pursuits of a more purely intellectual order. To make more headway in his legal studied he went to Saratoga to attend lectures, but was recalled through the urgency of work at the pottery, and he had to persist in his law work under difficulties. In fact, it was not until March, 1868, that he was admitted to the bar and to practice in the Venango county courts, nevertheless he made a great success as an attorney after he had the opportunity to take up practice. But he never allowed his new profession to interfere with his interest in his early calling. His experience as justice of the peace, and the popular confidence which he gained while acting in that capacity, made him the trusted counselor of many in his locality, so that he transacted much legal business for years before his formal association with the bar. Yet with it all he always found time to promote educational interests in his county. In 1854 he was elected county superintendent of schools, being the first to be so honored when the office was created, and he filled it for three years, setting a standard of high service which influenced all his successors. The salary of one hundred and fifty dollars a year was minimal return for the thought and devotion which he gave to his duties. He visited every school personally became acquainted with teachers, patrons and pupils, and by advice and precept instilled new life and ideas into every schoolroom, practically revolutionizing the system then in vogue by his earnestness in behalf of better things. As usual, there were many who held aloof, disdaining any innovations which would change the established order. But his persistence and intelligent presentation of his theories won, and the better building, better teachers and better salaries which he advocated began to replace the uncomfortable accommodations and indifferent methods which marked the old regime. In 1861-62 Mr. Beebe was a member of the State legislature, where his services were marked by his customary fidelity to the trust reposed in him. Every measure brought up for the successful conduct of the war and the protection of home interests had his full support. He was especially solicitous in looking after the soldiers, and received a commission from Governor Curtin to visit the camps and look after Pennsylvania men in hospitals or elsewhere in need of attention. In the performance of this duty he made repeated trips to the front, often securing such alleviation of suffering through modification of hospital conditions that it is reasonable to believe many a sick or wounded boy owed his life to Mr. Beebe's efforts. Though himself handicapped by poor health, he never hesitated to sacrifice his own comfort to attend to the urgent needs of others. In one case he even sought the intervention of Secretary Stanton. A soldier named Joe Hutchins had become so reduced through the ravages of chronic dysentery, that worst scourge of our army, that it was apparent he had but a short time to live, and papers were prepared for his discharge. Before they could be presented, however, he was removed to another hospital and the procedure and disappointment were repeated. By taking the case up personally with Secretary Stanton Mr. Beebe obtained the young man's release, to allow him to come home to die and took him into his own home, where his death occurred a few months later. It was typical of his thoughtfulness for others.
Mr. Beebe was urged to accept the Congressional nomination, but he declined because of his uncertain health. He did accept when elected delegate to the State Constitutional convention in 1872, being fully alive to the needs of the developing State, and many of his ideas were embodied in the Constitution adopted at the convention, which was held in 1873. The respect shown for his opinions was a flattering tribute. He was a firm believer in the principles of democratic government and a lover of the highest American ideals, ingrained by his critical familiarity with philosophy and general history, and he endeavored to square his public duties with his principles. Though the platform of the Republican party expressed his own sentiments politically, he was not always in accord with the personal view of its leaders and realized that there was a tendency toward autocracy based on wealth. During the presidency of General Grant that drift was so marked as to cause serious alarm, and it was sufficiently strong to make him diverge more and more from the party until he was practically independent in politics. During his later years and until his death, Mr. Beebe was a member of the State Board of Agriculture, and his services in that body had important bearing upon the establishment and maintenance of State colleges and their agricultural departments, resulting in great improvements in the line of soil cultivation. He was himself a practical farmer, and spoke and wrote considerably on the subject, whose importance he realized fully and tried to impress upon others. Though not a church member he was a man of deep religious feeling, and he was associated as a director with three churches, trying to follow the Master's teaching as expressed in the golden rule. Blessed in his happy domestic life, and highly respected by a wide circle of warm friends, he passed away when scarcely beyond his prime, July 29, 1885, his death taking place at Asbury Park, N.J., where he had gone to consult noted specialists.
On June 8, 1852, Mr. Beebe married Maria Sophronia Tibbits, who was born Sept. 10, 1831, at Manlius, Onondaga Co., N.Y., daughter of George and Sophronia (Butterfield) Tibbits, and she survives him. She was educated in the academy at Manlius, N.Y., and was also a teacher up to the time of her marriage, since when she has resided at Pleasantville, her home for sixty-six years. The house which she now occupies, in the outskirts of the borough, she erected after Mr. Beebe's death. Like her husband she always exerted a beneficent influence in the community, where she has found many pleasant associations in a long and useful life. Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Beebe two sons survive, Frank J. and William Dawson, the former a resident of Bradford, PA. William Dawson Beebe married Della Newkirk, daughter of William Newkirk, a well remembered merchant at Pleasantville, and they have five children, namely: Julia, Maxwell Newkirk, Manley Colton, Mildred and Dorothy.
Sharon,
list admin, BEEBE surname
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