From "History of Wheeling City and Ohio County, West Virginia and 
Representative Citizens," by Hon. Gibson Lamb Cranmer, 1902. 

Typed by Laurie Birks Dean 

pp. 523-524
NOAH W. BECK.  Reminiscent of the pioneer conditions of Wheeling during 
the foreparts of the last century are the undertakings of Noah W. Beck 
and the family from which he springs.  The head of that solid enterprise 
known as Beck's Nail City Smelting Works has passed through many lines 
of activity and many avenues of usefulness on the way to his present 
success, and no citizen of Wheeling has more emphatically been the 
architect of his own fortunes.  A native of Belmont county, Ohio, he was 
born January 22, 1835, a son of Frederick R. Beck, who was born at 
Fredericksburg, Maryland, February 12, 1809.
	The elder Beck was reared on a farm in Maryland, and when twenty 
years of age came to Wheeling, where he worked as a machinist and 
carpenter.  Among the accomplishments credited to him in the early days 
was the sawing of the lumber for the old bridge between Bridgeport and 
Wheeling, erected in 1832.  For a few years he ventured into 
agricultural fields, and during that time lived with his family on the 
National Pike in an old log cabin.  He could hardly have realized his 
expectations as a tiller of the soil, for in 1848 he again became a 
resident of Wheeling and remained here until his death, in 1886.  In his 
younger days he married Susanah Stillwagon, who was born in Pennsylvaia 
in 1812, and while leading their industrious livs they reared six 
children:  Mary; Noah W.; Elizabeth; Catherine; John N.; and Rebecca, 
who is deceased.
	During his youth Noah W. Beck attended school at Whiskey Run, a 
short distance from West Wheeling and, like all the boys of his 
neighborhood, was obliged to become financially independent at a 
comparatively early age.  He was first employed by a glass cutting 
company at Cookstown, Pennsylvania, and later boated on the Ohio and 
Mississippi rivers for about five years.  After abandoning the roving 
river life he went to work at the old cotton factory in Wheeling as a 
machinist in 1844, and at the expiration of this service learned the 
trade of wagon manufacturing, which he followed for seven years.  A 
still later occupation was as foreman for Hobbs, Tayler & Company, who 
purchased the machine shops of Henry and John Hubbard, with whom he 
remained for eleven years.  As long ago as 1877 Mr. Beck purchased the 
brass foundry to the management of which he has since devoted his most 
worthy efforts, and which has brought him prominence in the business 
world, as well as a goodly share of worldly possessions.
	Mrs. Noah W. Beck was formerly Sallie A. Diyen, who was born in 
England in 1837, and whose marriage with Mr. Beck occurred in 1860.  Of 
this union there have been born five children:  William, who is a 
plumber in Wheeling; James L.; Harry; Sallie; and Noah W., Jr.  Noah W. 
Beck, Jr., was a valiant soldier during the late Spanish-American War, 
and was a member of Battery H., Third Artillery, and served as a soldier 
in the army in the Philippines.  Noah W. Beck is a Prohibitonist in 
political affiliations, and is fraternally associated with the Wheeling 
Lodge, No. 9, I. O. O. F., of which he has been a member since 1865.  
Himself and family are members of the Mehodist Episcopal church.  Mr. 
Beck has faithfully served the best interests of Wheeling during the 
long residence here, and has generously promoted through his purse and 
counsel whatever of merit was instituted for the all-around well-being 
of the community.  He is not only highly regarded by the business 
contingent of the town, but has hosts of friends who appreciate to the 
full his sterling and common-sense attributes.