BIOS: The BEACHY Family, Somerset County, PA

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History of Bedford and Somerset Counties, Pennsylvania; Bedford County by E. 
Howard Blackburn; Somerset County by William H. Welfley; v.3, Pub. The Lewis 
Publishing Company, New York/Chicago 1906, ppg. 267/8

The BEACHY Family.

The Beachy family, numerous representatives of which reside in Somerset 
county, Pennsylvania, was founded in this country by Abraham Beachy, who came 
from Switzerland and settled in eastern Pennsylvania.  He afterwards came to 
what is now Somerset, then Bedford county, and purchased in Elk Lick township 
a large tract of land, whereon he settled.  The name was formerly spelled 
Bitsche.  Abraham Beachy married Barbara Lichty, who bore him one child, 
Peter A. Abraham Beachy died September 18, 1833.
Peter A. Beachy, only child of Abraham and Barbara (Lichty) Beachy, was born 
in Elk Lick township, Somerset county, Pennsylvania, in 1793.  He received a 
limited education in the subscription schools, and succeeded to the home 
farm, where he followed dairy and general farming during the active years of 
his life.  He was known as "River Pete."  He accumulated a large amount of 
money from his farming business and the discounting of paper for the 
neighborhood, leaving at the time of his death thirty thousand dollars in 
gold in a strong box, which was his bank.  He was a sharp, shrewd man in his 
dealings, possessed great forsight and judgment, but was strictly honorable 
in all his transactions.  He was practically an invalid from his twenty-fifth 
year; although slight in physique and weak in body, his mind and power of 
transacting successful business was in no way affected.  Peter A. Beachy 
married Anna Livingood, who bore him four sons and six daughters: Samuel, 
Elizabeth, Matilda, Susannah, John W., Abraham P., Nancy, Lucinda, Daniel L. 
and Sarah Ann.  Peter A. Beachy, who was a member of the Amish Mennonite 
church, died August 21, 1854; his wife died October 22, 1869, aged seventy-
two years.
Abraham P. Beachy, third son of Peter A. and Ann (Livingood) Beachy, was born 
in Elk Lick township, January 23, 1828.  He was educated in the subscription 
schools taught by J. J. Stutzman.  He was reared on the home farm, on which 
he was actively engaged from early youth, and was taught the value of 
industry and a horror of idleness.  On attaining manhood he rented the home 
farm from his father and worked it for three years, at the expiration of 
which time he becamse the owner by purchase.  He added to the farm from time 
to time until he was the owner of a landed estate of six hundred acres in 
Somerset county and a section of land in Nebraska.  He was one of the 
prosperous, honored men of his county, and could have had any political 
office, but he always refused to allow his name to be used as a candidate, 
preferring to lead a quiet, retired life.  He was a staunch friend of the 
cause of education and for many years was a school director.  He was a deacon 
of the German Baptist church.  He was at first an old line Whig, bur later a 
Republican.
Abraham P. Beachy married (first) January 23, 1848, Christiana, daughter of 
Samuel C. Lichty, of Elk Lick township.  Seven children were born to them, 
six of whom survive, namely: Samuel A., Lucinda (Mrs. Samuel P. Maust), Annie 
(Mrs. Gabriel Beachley, of Beatrice, Nebraska), Peter A. (of Chicago, 
Illinois); Lloyd L. (resides on the old homestead farm), and Alice (Mrs. 
Norman Musselman, of Falls City, Nebraska).  Mrs. Christiana Beachy died July 
14, 1880.  Mr. Beachy married (second) Matilda, daughter of Henry Yoder. 
Abraham P. Beachy died January 2, 1896.
Samuel A. Beachy, eldest son of Abraham P. and Christiana (Lichty) Beachy, 
was born on the Beachy homestead, April 2, 1849.  He was reared on the home 
farm and educated in the common and normal schools of the district.  He 
taught one term in the township school and one in Carroll county, Illinois. 
In 1873 he purchased what was known as the Ober farm, containing one hundred 
and sixty acres of fertile and highly cultivated land.  He makes a specialty 
of dairy produce and stock raising.  He was one of the organizers and 
stockholders in the First National Bank of Salisbury.  He has held many 
positions of honor and trust, and is an executor of one of the largest 
estates in the county.  He is greatly interested in educational matters and 
served as school director several years.  He is a member of the German 
Baptist Brethren church, and a Republican in politics.
Samuel A. Beachy married, February 27, 1870, Mary, daughter of Samuel J. 
Fike, and four children were born to them, as follows: Ida M., wife of Dallas 
J. Fike, two children, Mary and Charles Fike; Carrie, wife of Arthur C. 
Lichty, one child, Dorothy; Alice Christiana, resides at home; Emma, died in 
infancy.