The suspicious 1774 death of Henry Beck

One of my favorite things about the collections at the Mercer Museum Research Library is that we have so many diaries. These range from the tedious (a transcribed diary of Joseph Detweiler Nash (MSC 504, folder 3) — mostly he goes to Michigan, surveys roads and reads the Bible) to the strange (John Watson papers, 1792-1835 (MSC 150) — mostly bad poetry but also smallpox inoculations) to the tantalizing (Sarah Kerr Boileau Papers (M-89) — she lived in my Carversville apartment in the late 1800s!)

But one of my favorite — and one of the most celebrated — diaries here is the diary of John Dyer (BM-A-483). John Dyer was a Quaker who lived in Plumstead Township and, from around 1763 through 1805, recorded events both mundane ("I sowed the flax." "I cut the flax." "I brought in the flax.") and extraordinary (August 29, 1769: "About 2 O'clock this morning was seen a Comet or Blazing Star"). Also he calls Plumstead "Plumpsted" and it makes me so happy.

Diary of John Dyer (BM-A-483): July & August, 1775

One of my recent pet projects is a database of events that aren't flax-related, or otherwise everyday recordings of births, marriages, and uneventful deaths (that's been done — you can check out an example here).

Yesterday I started reading entries from 1774 and found one that really tickled my research bone.

Diary of John Dyer (BM-A-483): December 1773 - January 1774

On January 15, 1774, Dyer writes "The Crowner was at William Merediths about his servant mans Deth" Wow! I thought. Murder? 

The following entry, January 19, reads "And him and wife sent to Jail this Day to newtown" And murderers!

Then, on January 22, in classic John Dyer style: "the man was taken up and two Doctors from Philada. Cut him open and examined his internals"

That last one sent me over the edge. What did those Philada Doctors find in the servant mans internals? I didn't even know forensic science was a thing in the 18th century! (I am vastly uneducated about some things, believe it or not.)

The Merediths aren't mentioned again in the diary — and the "servant man" isn't even given a name — and so I decided to find out what the deal was. 

I began by gathering court records. This, for example, is the Coroner's Inquest John Dyer mentions in his January 15 entry (it took me a while to understand what he meant by "Crowner")

Transcription:

An Inquisition Indented taked at the Bucks [illegible] Township of Plumsted in the County of Bucks in the Provence of Pennsylvania the 15th Day of January AD 1774 before George Fell Gent Coroner of the County of Bucks upon Sight and View of the Body of a Certen Henry Beck then and there lying dead Upon the Oaths and Affermations of
Alexander Brown, James Shew, Cephas Child, Henry Child, Benjamin Cutter, Nathaniel Brittan, Robert Gibson, Philip Fox, Fransis Titus, Barnet Kepler, Jacob Caster, and William Bowman &c
good and Lawfull men of the County aforesaid who being Swore and Affermations and Charged to inquire on the part of our overign Lord the King when where how and after what maner the Said Henry Beck Came to his Death do say Upon there Oaths and Affermations that William Meredith and Mary his wife late of the Township of Plumsted in the County of Bucks not having the fear of God before there eyes but being moved and Sedused by the instagation of the Divel on the Twelfth Day of January in the Year of out Lord 1774 aforesaid a bought the Midel of the Same Day with forse and armes at Plumsted aforesaid in and Upon the aforsaid Henry Beck there Servant he being an aling man then and there being in the peace of God and of our Said Lord and King felonsesly Volentily and assalt did make AND the aforesaid Mary Meredith with a Certen Club abought two feet in Lenth and abought half the thickness of Mary Fodels arm one of the Evidences which She the Said Mary Meredith then and there held in her hand in and Upon his left Shoulder a bruse did make and also Divers outher wounds which apeard on the Said Servent whereby he Langushing Until the Sixtenth Day of the month and Year aforesaid and then he died &c.

In Testimoney whereof the Said Coroner as well as the Jurors have to this Inquisition Interchangibel Sett our hands and Seals the Day and Year above Written
[signatures and seals]
George Fell Coroner
Alexander Brown, Robert Gibson, James Shaw, Philip Fox, Cephas Child, Francis Tytus, Benjamin Cutler, Barnet Kepler, Jacob Casdor, Nathaniel Britain, William Bowman

(If you don't feel like trying to puzzle out Ye Olde Timey Document, it says that County Coroner George Fell came to Plumstead and talked to 12 guys about the suspicious death of Henry Beck — his name, at last — and they told him that on January 12, around noon, Mary Meredith took a small club and beat Beck, who was her servant, on the shoulder and elsewhere. Henry Beck died four days later, on January 16.

I thought I'd add some more images and transcriptions from the research I did back when I was really obsessed with The suspicious 1774 death of Henry Beck. 

Henry Beck, from what I can tell, was Born in the Netherlands and arrived in Bucks County in 1773 and was indentured to William Meredith in September that same year, for a term of seven years.¹

Possible related news item: Philadelphia, January 18, 1773. Just arrived from Rotterdam, in the Brigantine Morning-star, Captain George Dempster (and now to be seen at Mr Martin Knoll’s, the upper End of Second Street) a parcel of healthy Palatines; whose Freights are to be disposed of, by enquiring of Enoch Story, Broker.

At the time of Henry's death, Mary and William Meredith has only been married about six months. On August 2, 1773, John Dyer had recorded "Mary Shocke or Steiner married to Wm Meredith" in his diary. Paging back almost exactly a year, his entry for August 25, 1772 reads "John Shokea married to Mary Steiner."

So what happened to John Schoke/Shokea? Well, "John Shokea killed with a waggon about noon this Day," Dyer writes on October 26 that same year. 

I actually made a nerdy little database of events for this in Notion. Here's a screenshot: 

Three days after his initial inquest on January 15, Coroner George Fell returned and conducted two more interviews. The one with Mary Foddel, (I can't tell whether she's a servant in the household or just a visitor) is pretty interesting.

1774 January 18 Mary Foddel deposition

Transcription, with paragraph breaks added because yeesh, wall of text:

The Deposition of Mary Foddel taken by George Fell Coroner of the County of Bucks on the Eighteenth Day of January 1774

Who saith 

That on the Twelfth Day of January 1774 When I came to the House of William Meredith the Servant Man was sitting in the Corner, eating his Dinner and he was Trembling very much, he was eating Potatoes with the Skin on and had some Buckwheat Cake with them, his Mistress told him to get up, he could eat his Meal fast enough _Now you want to eat a whole Day at your Potatoes_ Damn you Get up you have eat enough_ 

She took the plate from him, and he kept one Potatoe & a piece of Cake, She set the Plate of Potatoes on the Dresser, Then he went into the Corner, So Meredith & his Wife ordered the Servant to go on the Floor and Dance for that Gentlewoman So he went and danced, 

I told them to bid him leave off, for he did not look like a Dancer, So he left off and went to the dresser, and took up the Cup to drink, then his Mistress took it from him, and Says Damn you -- you shan't have another Drink of Cyder, for you are as drunk as a hog. 

Then Meredith said to his Wife let him have some more Drink, but he Got none, So he went to the Chimney Corner again, Then they bid him Sing, So he singed some Dutch Songs, 

So his Master told him to come, and sit down by him, then he was going to sit by his Master, and his Mistress took him by the Jacket and pulled him back, So she pushed him Down on a Chair, and Says, God Damn you_ you good for nothing bugbear [?], 

So she took up a Club about Two feet in length, and about half as thick as my Arm and gave him Two Strokes on his left Shoulder, Midling hard, 

Then Meredith told his Wife she should not lick him, his Wife told him, She would not take it of her own Father, for him ... before his Master, So his Master told him to come, and sit down by him again, then I told him in Dutch not to go that way, or else he would Get another licking. 

So then he went round and Sat down by his Master, and he told him to sing, So he Singed, then he went into the Chimney Corner again, then his Master told him to go and Buss [kiss] me -- So I told him he should not send him to Buss me for I would not let him 

So he told him three or four times more to buss me, So I got up and said he should not come, for he should not buss me for a Dollar, 

Then Meredith Said if you wont let him you can push him down for he is Very Weak, either on the floor or in the Fire, So I told him in dutch not to come or I would push him off. 

The he stroaked his Master's Face, and bussed him, Then he went into the chimney Corner, and his Master had a pint of Cyder by the Fire, and offered him a Drink, Then his Mistress took up a Stick and told him if he did take it, She would knock it out of his Hand, So then his Master told him he should have some, 

Then he took hold of the Pint, Then his Mistress took hold of the pint And throwed the Cyder in the Fire, Then She Damned him again and told him he should not have no more Cyder for the must go and Cut Straw, and he would cut himself and then We shall have the blame, Then his Master sent him to the Barn to Cut Straw, So then I went home and Said no more As Witness my Hand

her
Mary X Fodel
mark

I Certify the above Writing to be a true Copy of Mary Fodel's Deposition taken before me

George Fell 

Coroner

Wow. So that's what it was like in the Meredith household. Mary Meredith wants Henry Beck to sing and dance, then she beats him with a club; William wants Beck to keep drinking and also to go kiss Mary Foddel. Instead, Henry Beck is stroking William's face and kissing him. Then he goes to cut some hay and drops dead. What the heck else went on in that place?

The day after Fell interviewed Mary Foddel, Mary and William Meredith were taken to jail in Newtown. They were still there in April, according to the Court of Oyer and Terminer:

Return of kings Prisoners Now in The Custody of Samuel Biles Sherriff of Bucks County to Be Tried at a Court of Oyer & Terminer To be held at Newtown This Fifth Day of April Anno Domini 1774

Viz;

William & Mary Meredith for comitting an assault upon the Body of Henry Beck Their servant Man on the 12th day of January Anno Domini 1774 Whereby he Languishing untill The fourteenth & Then Died as it is said &c

That same year, the Merediths were found not guilty:

What happened to them after that? I can't tell you much at this point. William Meredith appears in the 1798 Direct Tax for Plumstead Township, so either he was still alive or it's somebody else with the same name. It's been a few years since I did this research, and I've gotten a little better at it, so ... Fingers crossed?

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1. Record of Indentures of Individuals Bound Out as Apprentices, Servants, Etc. Philadelphia, PA, USA: Pennsylvania German Society, 1905.