Beck, Nancy

Born: 1821-08-17 Sangamon County, Illinois

Died: 1891-07-30 Petersburg, Illinois

Flourished: Sangamon County, Illinois

Alternate name: McClelland, McCrea

Nancy Beck was the wife of Charles McCrea and John W. Beck. Born Nancy McClelland, she married Charles McCrea in April 1846 in Sangamon County. In 1850, census records indicate she was living with her husband and two children, James and Mary, in Sangamon County, but it is likely that Charles, who left the family for California in 1849, was not residing at the family home. In March 1856, Nancy retained Lincoln & Herndon and sued Charles for divorce in the Sangamon County Circuit Court, citing his desertion of her and their two children in 1849. Charles failed to show up to court and the divorce was granted. She subsequently married Beck, with whom she had three children. In 1860, Nancy was living with her husband and children in Petersburg, Illinois.

John Carroll Power and S. A. Power, History of the Early Settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois (Springfield, IL: Edwin A. Wilson, 1876), 493-94; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Sangamon County, 10 April 1846, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Illinois Statewide Death Index, Pre-1916, Menard County, 30 July 1891, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Sangamon County, IL, 258; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Petersburg, Menard County, IL, 215; Bill for Divorce, Affidavit, Document ID: 76555, McCrea v. McCrea, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=139949.