Wisconsin Tractor Postcard

Carl Ferdinand August Beckmann (1835-1908), known as August or Gus, learned the milling trade from his father in Germany. In 1882, he moved 12 miles south to Newark to run his third and final mill, now known as the Beckman Mill. In 1908 August Beckmann died, and during 1909 the Mill operations were taken over by sons Charles and Henry Beckman. For auxiliary power during dry spells, Charlie Beckman installed an International Harvester 10-20 Titan tractor engine in the mill's south addition in the early 1930s. It replaced a worn out single cylinder Fairbanks-Morse unit. The Mills' peak years of production were during World War I, (1914 - 1918) when the mill operated night and day In 1939, Henry Beckman died while Charles continued as Miller. In 1954 the Milling business ceased. And in 1966 Charles Beckman died.