The Beck Family Ancestors

The Becks entered the James Family genealogical road in 1944 when the last male descendant (that I know of), Arthur Roland Beck Sr, married Lillian Mae James in Salt Lake City, Utah. Lillian and Arthur were working in an ammunition factory in Salt Lake City during World War II. Gas was rationed and most employees car-pooled long before car-pooling was fashionable. It so happened that Arthur and Lillian were passengers in the same car. Lillian had graduated a year earlier and had no problems finding work in a war-production factory. Men were really in short supply along the highways and bi-ways of America in 1944. They were preoccupied with other things of importance. Women (think Rosie the Riveter ) not only maintained the home front but also kept the war machines producing the tanks, planes, guns and ammunition, 24-hours a day so the men could fight the war. And produce they did. Instead of cars, tanks were produced. By 1944 the United States war machine was producing 300,000 aircraft. The Rosie the Riveters were out-producing their counterparts in Germany and Japan.

Arthur was exempt from the draft due to medical problems. He would turn twenty in 1944. I'm not sure when he started working in the ammunition factory or when he and Lillian started dating. Lillian had not yet turned 19 when she married Arthur. The ammunition factory job, and the war, lasted until August 1945. It was then President Truman asked all women working in the war factories to return to home front to make room for the returning GI's to find work.

Lillian and Art had all ready started a family. Their first daughter was born in 1944. Both Art and Lillian followed President Truman’s request and returned to the home front. Arthur taking a position with a local milk distributing company and Lillian home to raise three more children.

And so this small snippet on our Beck connection comes to an end. The following pages have the Family tree from Franz Christian Beck and beyond. Take a look if you’re interested…

Family Connections