US Congressman, Entrepreneur. He was a United States Representative from the State of New Jersey. He was born one of three children to Franklin Coleman Beckwith (1817-1875), and his wife Esther Ann Clark Beckwith (1820-1891), in Coveville, Saratoga, County, New York, on October 22, 1838. He was educated locally and attended the private schools of Troy, New York, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Worcester, Massachusetts, and a military institution in New Haven, Connecticut. Following his education, he moved to Paterson, New Jersey, where he became engaged in the manufacturing of iron. During this time, he took an interest in politics, and served as a Member of the Board of Aldermen for the city of Paterson, New Jersey, in 1882, and also was elected to serve a term as the Mayor of the city of Paterson, New Jersey, from 1885 to 1889. He then decided to run for a seat in the United States Congress and was elected to succeed the outgoing United States Representative William Walter Phelps (1839-1894), on March 4, 1889. A Member of the Republican Party, he then served New Jersey's 5th District (Fifty-First Congress), in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1889, to March 3, 1891. He was an unsuccessful Candidate for re-election to represent the Fifty-Second Congress in 1890. Following his term in the United States Congress, he was succeeded in office by the incoming United States Representative Cornelius Andrew Cadmus (1844-1902), on March 4, 1891. After leaving the United States Congress, he resumed his manufacturing pursuits of iron. He then moved back to the State of New York, where he settled in the town of Chatham, and lived on a farm, where he engaged in the management of farming, beginning in 1897. He continued to be active in the farming management business and other pursuits until his death on March 27, 1921, at the age of 82. He passed away in Chatham, Columbia County, New York, on March 27, 1921, at the age of 82. Following his death flags were ordered flown at half mast in his honor, and his funeral services were held at the family home in Chatham Center, New York, and he was buried in Chatham Center Rural Cemetery in Chatham Center, New York. He was married to Frances Caroline Jaqua Beckwith (1840-1911), in Paterson, New Jersey, on March 1, 1859. The couple had eight children together including, Frank, Charles, Fannie, George, Marion, Claude, Florence, and an unnamed infant who passed away in 1879. His wife Frances passed away in Chatham Center, New York, on October 11, 1911, at the age of 71, and she also was buried in Chatham Center Rural Cemetery in Chatham Center, New York. His remains, along with those of his wife were removed from the Chatham Center Rural Cemetery in Chatham Center, New York, and buried in the Beckwith Family Plot in Cedar Lawn Cemetery in Paterson, New Jersey, on September 1, 1944.