Frederick Converse Beach

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Frederick Converse Beach
New York City, New York
DiedJune 8, 1918(1918-06-08) (aged 70)
Stratford, Connecticut
EducationYale University
ChildrenStanley Yale Beach
ParentAlfred Ely Beach
RelativesMoses Yale Beach, grandfather
Moses S. Beach, uncle
William Yale Beach, uncle
Brewster Yale Beach, cousin
FamilyYale

Frederick Converse Beach (March 27, 1848 – June 8, 1918), was a New York patent attorney, editor and co-owner of

Gustav Whitehead
.

Biography

Woolworth Building, 1915, seat of Scientific American offices

Frederick Converse Beach was born on March 27, 1848, in

Boston Daily Times. His other uncle William Yale Beach was a banker and real estate developer, and his cousin Charles Yale Beach was a manufacturer and real estate investor. Frederick's son was Stanley Yale Beach, an aviation pioneer, and the Beaches were all members of the Yale family.[3][4]

Frederick Converse Beach graduated from Yale's Sheffield Scientific School in 1868. In 1869, he was made night superintendent of the Beach Pneumatic Transit tunnel under Broadway, and then in 1870, operated a pneumatic car and explained its working to the public.[5]

From 1871 to 1876, he was engaged in the manufacture of electrical instruments in New York, making telegraphs.[6] He later became Editor for Scientific American, their family magazine, and became one of its co-owners. He was also co-owner of Munn and Company, a family owned patent agency, and American Photography magazine.[7]

After working on improving the telephone technology, he became the first, in 1880, to transmit sermons over the telephone, communicating from

Union Square, New York.[8] In 1884, he founded the Society of Amateur Photographers of New York, becoming its first President, and joined the Postal Progress League and became also its President.[9]

He secured a parcel post for the United States, brought many reforms, and looked forward to the time when aerial transport of all kinds of mail will happen by the atmosphere.

Yacht Club, the oldest operating Yacht club in Connecticut.[12] The club was founded by his family on his father's property in Stratford, Connecticut
.

In 1889 he was the editor of

editor in chief of the Encyclopedia Americana
, which was the first major multivolume encyclopedia published in the United States.

Frederick also funded, in thousands of dollars, the airplane designs of his son Stanley from 1903–1910.[14]

He died on June 8, 1918, at his home in Stratford, Connecticut.[15]

Family legacy

See also: Gustave Whitehead § Stanley Yale Beach
Stanley Yale Beach, aviation pioneer, son of Frederick C. Beach

Frederick Converse Beach was the father of Alfred Gilbert, Ethel Holbrook, who married to caricaturist James Albert Wales, and Stanley Yale Beach, a wealthy aviation pioneer, partner of Gustave Whitehead.[16][17] Frederick's grandson was Frederick Converse Beach Jr..

He graduated from

Boston University Law Review, Deputy Judge of Stratford Town Court, and Prosecuting Attorney with his law practice.[18]

He also served during the World War in the Ambulance Company, Field Hospital, and Medical Attachment, and was a

Freemason of the American Legion and a member of the Housatonic Yacht Club. His father was Stanley Yale Beach
.

References

  1. ^ Beach, Stanley, Archives at Yale, Stanley Yale Beach papers, Number: GEN MSS 802, 1911-1948
  2. ^ "Frederick C. Beach Dies in his 71st Year. Editor in Chief of Encyclopaedia Americana and Inventor of a photolithographic process". The New York Times. June 9, 1918.
  3. ^ "Yale genealogy and history of Wales : the British kings and princes, life of Owen Glyndwr, biographies of Governor Elihu Yale, for whom Yale University was named, Linus Yale, Sr". Archived.org. p. 237. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
  4. ^ America's successful men of affairs. An encyclopedia of contemporaneous biography, p. 66-67
  5. ^ Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University, Yale University, Jan 1916 · The University
  6. ^ Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University, Yale University, Jan 1916 · The University
  7. ^ Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University, Yale University, Jan 1916 · The University
  8. ^ Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University, Yale University, Jan 1916 · The University
  9. ^ Beach, Stanley, Archives at Yale, Stanley Yale Beach papers, Number: GEN MSS 802, 1911-1948
  10. ^ Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University, Yale University, Jan 1916 · The University
  11. ^ Biographical record, classes from eighteen hundred and sixty-eight to eighteen hundred and seventy-two of the Sheffield scientific school
  12. ^ Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University, Yale University, Jan 1916 · The University
  13. ^ Biographical record, classes from eighteen hundred and sixty-eight to eighteen hundred and seventy-two of the Sheffield scientific school
  14. ^ History by Contract, O'Dwyer and Randolph (1978), p. 124
  15. The Courier-Journal
    . Stratford, Connecticut. AP. June 9, 1918. p. 34. Retrieved January 3, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ Stanley Yale Beach papers
  17. ^ Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University, Yale University, Jan 1916 · The University
  18. ^ Trinity College Bulletin, 1940-1941 (Necrology)
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