moved to ranch near Davenport in Washington State. They had several children

His one half-sister (actually a full sister ) married a Beck so I suppose the Thorpe came from either that sister or the other one - Libby Bava

Kate died about 1924-7 in Spokane, WA is buried there with her husband, William Beck.

Kay is 85 years old and was 8 or 9 when her grandmother, Kate Auwärter Beck, died. Kay thinks Kate died in 1925 or 1926. She died of hardening of the arteries. Kay doesn’t remember ever hearing the names of Kate’s parents.

She said that her grandmother came from Germany around age 15 by boat through the Panama with some of her sisters, one of whom died on the voyage and was buried at sea. Kate worked as a chambermaid upon arrival in California since she knew no English and could not get other work. Kate met William Beck in California and went with him to Washington State where they both put in homestead claims to get double land, and then married. Their granddaughter, Virginia Weipert had the original homestead papers. The homestead itself passed to William and Kate’s son, Paul, and then to their grandson, George Carpy.

The Beck family felt that William had married beneath his station. William came from a wealthy family – his father in Germany was the town mayor. William came to the US on his brother’s passport to escape the military. William and Kate went into ranching and farming, although William wasn’t very good at it, never having come from that sort of background. Kate always complained he milked the cows incorrectly.

Kate was sweet, loving and giving. William was strict. Kate had dark, short, curly hair and olive skin – the Becks said that Kate came from ‘peasant stock.’ Kay thought that Kate probably came from the south of Germany and could easily pass for an Italian.

Children of William Beck and Kate Auwärter (according to Kay):
Anna – married Arthur Almquist (who died in 1930). 2 children: son Eugene (no children) and daughter 10 years later, Kathryn (named after her grandmother, calls herself Kay). Kay married a Schmidt and has children and grandchildren (at least one son)
Mary - married a Wiscombe – had a daughter, Dorothy
Paul - only son to grow to adulthood. Inherited the homestead, no descendants.
Wilamina (Minnie) – 1st marriage to a Small, 2nd or 3rd to Gunn.
Lena – named after Kate’s sister, married a Carpy, had George (who inherited the homestead at Paul’s death) and Patricia. Patricia married a Scheibe and had a son, John. John never married, she thinks is retired, and would love to hear from us.
John Scheibe lives at
2307 Buena Vista Ave,
Belmont, CA (she thinks the zip is 94002)
Lilly – twin to Lena. Married Les Critzer, had a dauaghter, Leslie.
Elsa – changed her name to Elsie. Lived to be 101. Was a bit fanciful, but wrote a family history. Kay is going to try to find it, copy it, and send it to me. Elsie married a McKinney.
Olga – married a Bliss. Had 2 children, Paula and Mitzy.
Two sons, Henry and Eugene, were in the order above somewhere. Neither reached adulthood, one dying very young, the other dying at 9 or 10 of ‘Brites Disease’ Diabetes??
Henrietta – Married a Weipert. Had a daughter, Virginia who had the original homestead documents of William Beck and Kate. Henrietta was named after the son, Henry, who had died.
Eugenia – married a Marlott or Marlatt. Died just a year or so ago. Was named after Eugene – Kate and William’s other son that died.

Anna was the oldest child, and was 6 or 7 when the twins were born. When Kate went into labor with the twins, there was a horrible snowstorm – it was February 14th. Anna was sent by horseback 1 or 2 miles in the blizzard to get the midwife while William stayed with Kate and the other children.

Kay also remembers her mother telling her that when Kate’s 9 or 10 year old son died and was ‘laid out’ in the living room, Anna said her mother kept going back into the room to see if he wouldn’t come back to life.,,