FOREWORD

By James V. Beck (1.4.6.6.1)

ography of Vere Beck. For many years we didn’t know very

much about Vere and we knew even less about his wife, Eliza-
beth. Family genealogists were left wondering about his background
and why he left England with his young family to settle in Guernsey
Cove, PEI.

Robert Beck (1.4.3B.7.) of Montague started the Beck Reunions in
1963, for the 150th anniversary of the Beck family arrival in Guern-
sey Cove. That first reunion had two main objectives: find and list
all the Beck descendants, and learn more about Vere Beck and his
reasons for coming to PEI. Thanks to the work of many volunteers
we made great progress in finding and listing the many Beck descen-
dants. However it took a lot longer to get to know Vere and Elizabeth
Beck and why they came to Prince Edward Island.

A number of others had started on the Beck genealogy long before
that first reunion 50 years ago. Dr. Friend Herring (1.4.2.6,5.) gave
me the beginnings of the book of listings of names, dates and spous-
es. It was a big boost in organizing the family genealogy material.
Other contributors included Tyler Vere Beck (1.4.3B.8.), the Brehaut
family, the Roberts family including Margaret Emerson, Jessie and
Preston Beck, and Mac and Ralph Beck. John Beck of Crayford, Kent,
England was very helpful and his contact led to John Marfleet and
Clive Killick, both of whom have been featured speakers at Vere Beck
Family Reunions. Kathie Sencabaugh deserves special mention; she
was a speaker at a Reunion and produced the excellent 2008 volume,
“The Descendants of Vere Beck (1783-1878) and Elizabeth Sarah
Marfleet (1789-1867)”.

|: gives me great pleasure to write this introduction to the bi-

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