Died, at his residence in Mineral Point, June 20, 1866, Mr. Curtis Beech, aged 61 years 3 months. Such, Messrs. Editors, is the brief announcement of an event by which one of the oldest and most respected citizens of this place has passed from among us. Curtis Beech was born in Pitcher, Chenango county, N.Y. March 21st, 1805. He resided mostly in his native town till at the age of 30 he came to make his home in the Territory of Wisconsin, where he lived till his death.

In the earlier history of this place he was a leading business man, and, as the writer has heard him say, knew by name almost every resident for 20 miles around. as a man and a neighbor he was universally esteemed. With strict integrity and a kind heart, he combined to a rare degree, a mirthfulness and humor which made him to the very last, an agreeable companion, even to the youth.

But is was as a Christian that he left the deepest impression here. hopefully converted at the age of 22, he became from the first an active christian, laboring with great zeal and fidelity in the prayer-meeting and sunday school; and these labors distinguished him to the end of his life. He organized the first sunday school that was held in Mineral Point and that before a church edifice was built here. the date of that beginning was, it is believed, 1837. From that time to his final prostration by his last sickness, he held the position of Superintendent of the sunday school, and discharged its duties with a promptness and fidelity rarely equaled in any place. Though the school was divided and part went to form the nucleus of what is now the large and prosperous school of the M.E. Church, yet may we safely say that the original school remained under his care so long as he lived; thus presenting, as we think, not only the oldest sunday school now in the State, but the rare spectacle of a sunday school presided over by the same man for 29 years.

At the organization of the Presbyterian Church, June 30, 1839, the name of Curtis Beech stands first on the list of proposed members; and after its organization he was the first man elected as Ruling Elder, though but a young man of 34 years. Hence, as a Church, we lose in him our first member, our first Ruling Elder, and the first and only Superintendent of our Sunday school. In all his duties as a christian he showed the same faithfulness and regularity that so endeared him to the children. Rarely absent from any service, whether on the Sabbath or devotional gatherings on other days, he has left an example most worthy of imitation.

Truly "the memory of the just be blessed." "Rest from thy labors, rest, Soul of the just set free; Blest be thy mem'ry, and blessed Thy bright example be."

Mineral Point Tribune July 11, 1866