It is a great privilege to be able to spend our lives on the old home place. “The roof that heard our earliest cry” has a charm and fascination for us which we cannot find elsewhere, and no matter where on earth our restless footsteps may wander we ever long to be back beneath the old roof-tree of our parents. However, this is not always the privilege of man. For many reasons, often through necessity, we leave our childhood home and seek our fortune in other countries, and seldom ever revisit the hearthstone around which we played as a child. So those who, like Benjamin H. Beach, farmer of Lafayette township. Walworth county, are fortunate enough to spend their lives at their birthplace, are to be envied, and no doubt, being a fair-minded man, he fully appreciates the privilege, and he has labored hard to keep the old place well tilled and well improved so that it has retained rather than lost its original strength of soil, and the home has been carefully looked after and tastily kept.
Mr. Beach was born on the farm where he still resides in Lafayette township. Walworth county, Wisconsin, on June 14, 1870. He is the son of Warren W. and Clarissa (Harriman) Beach, the father born on September 28, 1821, and the mother was born on April 5, 1832. They grew up in their respective communities and he came to Walworth county, Wisconsin, in 1845, when settlers were few and the land covered with vast forests, and here he underwent the usual privations of the newcomer, but through hard work and economy had a good farm and a comfortable home in due course of time. In 1849 he located his permanent home in Lafayette township, and here reared his family of nine children, six of whom are living at this writing. He was a carpenter by trade and, being a very skilled workman, his services were in great demand and he built about two-thirds of the older buildings, dwellings and barns, in this community. In later life he devoted his attention exclusively to farming.
Politically, the father was a Democrat and he and his wife belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church. The father died April 17, 1912.
Benjamin H. Beach was reared on the home farm and when of proper age he helped with the general work there, and he received his education in the public schools. He has devoted his life to farming and is now the owner of one hundred and thirty acres of the home farm which he tills in a skillful manner, getting abundant returns for his pains, carrying on general farming and stock raising.
Politically, Mr. Beach is a Prohibitionist and in religious matters a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Mr. Beach was married on February 11, 1891, to Hattie A. Humphrey, who was born in Lyons, Walworth county, this state, on June 13, 1870. She is the daughter of Roswell P. and Harriet (Griswold) Humphrey, both born in New York, he in 1832 and she in 1834, and there they spent their early years. She was the daughter of Rev. A. Griswold, a native of New York and a pioneer of Walworth county, Wisconsin, and his death occurred in Dayton, this state. His wife was known in her maidenhood as Hannah Sterns, and her death also occurred in Dayton, Wisconsin. They reached unusual ages, each being over ninety years old when summoned to close their earthly careers. Three children were born to the parents of Mrs. Beach, all living at this writing. Mr. Humphrey’s death occurred February 1, 1874, his widow surviving until July 26, 1892. To Mr. and Mrs. Beach four children have been born, namely: Elmer Benjamin, who died when ten years old; George H. died at the age of twelve years ; Hattie May and Frederick Delbert.
From: Beckwith, A.C. (1912). History of Walworth County Wisconsin