Died at Little River

Humboldt Times, Volume LIV, Number 53, 4 March 1900

PASSING OF CHARLES E. BEACH. One o! the Oldest Pioneers of Humboldt Dies it His Home Near Trinidad.

Announcement came at about 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon that Pioneer C. E. Beach had breathed his last at the Little river home. It was not unexpected. He had been grievously afflicted with physical ailments for a long term of months, in fact for years, and the time had finally come when the weary body sought repose that The immediate dear ones had been summoned to the paternal bedside and it is more than likely that nearly every member of the large family was present to witness the last expiring breath And that included a unison of love and respect, for few families were more completely bound in the fellowship that makes home, however humble, a paradise. A thousand witnesses can testify that it was so. In sunshine and shadow the father was always the same, brushing away every glimpse of the latter, and teaching those around him to always look on the bright side. Once, within a brief term of years, when after the Reaper had well nigh claimed him, Pioneer Beach remarked: ''lt was a close call, but I guess I was ready. I thought most of my children and remembered that I had always instructed them to be honest and upright though poverty stared them in the face." Such was the nature of the man. Scrupulous and forgiving, Pioneer Beach was too often more sinned against than sinning. Charles Edwin Beach was born in western New York about seventy years ago. As near as the writer, who had been on familiar terms with him for full twenty-five years, can remember he came to California in either 1850 or 1851, and soon after found his way to the northern mines. He was a resident miner on Indian creek. Trinity county, as early as 1853, and as near as can be remembered from his own statement came to Humboldt county during that year. How soon afterward he located at the present home place near the bank of Little river, cannot be stated with positiveness, but it must have been forty years or more ago. Since that time an unusually large family, five sons and seven daughters, have grown to young manhood and womanhood. It is not possible at this early time to give the names of the children or to state how many of the number are married, but it can be said that a more cheery welcome never greeted the accustomed or unaccustomed comer at any home in the county than at that of Pioneer Beach. In fact, an evening spent there in social converse on topics of the day and reminiscent reminders was indeed a feast of reason. The world may have its fluttering opinion, but the more closely one comes to his fellow man the greater must be his appreciation of him. Pioneer Beach was always an active factor in the progressiveness that has characterized the isolated locality in which he so many years ago cast his lot. Because of this example set for his fellow men he has always been respected and honored. For years he devoted himself almost exclusively to the care of the elegant property which he had secured. With him there was no place like home. And this led up to fuller appreciation of the household gods. Scrupulous in his dealings, always desirous that each should have his own, he gained the confidence and respect of those with whom he had dealings and who looked up to him as an exemplar. It may be that at times his greatest fault was in attempting to shield others who were not so scrupulous and less deserving. Those who have lived nearest and have known the circumstances which at times surrounded him are best capable of rendering a verdict as to his integrity and worth. The time came, nearly twenty years ago, when Pioneer Beach became meshed in a timber enterprise, which eventually caused him much trouble and no end of regrets. It was the struggle of his life, but the mastery was gained, very much to the gratification of every sincere friend of the pioneer. The history of that eventful period is indelibly recorded in the memory of those who lived contemporaneously. with him.