Friday's Photo: Almus E. Beck of North Carolina

Almus E. Beck

This is not my family. Until last week, these photos sat nameless on a bookshelf in a small photo album. After four hours on Google, Ancestry.com, and FamilySearch, the album is a little more ragged and the important characters have names.  

I acquired this photo album at an antique auction in 1985 or 1986. There was an odd-looking blue and white quilt in a box with the album, some books, and a few other odds and ends. I wanted the quilt so had to take the entire box. 

I was not at all interested in family history or the old photos but for some reason saved the photo album, a larger photo of a woman, and a souvenir book with photos from the Philippines, China, and Japan. A year or so later, I learned that the odd-looking quilt was a Hawaiian quilt made in the early 1900s. 

I assumed the photos were from somewhere in the Pacific as well, but upon closer inspection, I found many photos with snow and clothing not attributed to warm sunny weather. The photos were firmly glued into the book. I pried up many, removed a few, and found only four photos with anything written on the back.

On the back: The one marke L is Lallah  N is Nina M is Minnie. The sisters were
found with their parents and siblings on the 1910 U.S. Census in Durham, NC. 

There were two photos of Lallah. On one she
wrote, Your loving niece, Lallah Boyd 
On the second photo she wrote, Carry this with
any where you go and think of your niece. 

Lallah, Nina, and Minnie were daughters of Eugene Henry Boyd and Frances Beck of Durham, North Carolina. 

Frances Beck's brother, Almus, is the best candidate to be the man in the uniform as he was in the U. S. Army and stationed in the Philippines in 1910. Almus is also the most likely recipient of the photos from his niece Lallah as all other aunts and uncles were living in or near Durham. 

Almus Emmett Beck (also seen as Almus Emett Beck) was born in Wake County on September 2, 1887.  Almus joined the Army in 1908. He served in the 31st Infantry Regiment when he was stationed in Siberia as part of the Siberian Expedition of 1918-1920. 

Almus' second wife Liudovika (Lillie) met Almus while working as a nurse in Siberia. There are pictures of her throughout the album.  In 1919, she completed a passport application giving her place of birth as Tarnopol (Russia), Poland. She was born on October 1, 1895 and became a naturalized United States citizen when she married Almus Beck on August 13, 1919 in Vladivostok, Siberia. 

The following story about Almus and Lillie was found in two books with chapters about the Siberian Expedition. 

Very early, on June 25, 1919, resistance forces attacked squad tents occupied by sleeping soldiers in the village of Romanovka. Twenty soldiers were killed and more than 25 wounded. Lillie, described as Sergeant Beck's girlfriend and a Polish nurse formerly with the Russian Army, administered first aid and was fired upon while moving between the soldiers. She was recommended for an award, but it was not approved. At the end of that summer, Almus and Lillie were married and left by ship for the Philippine Islands. 

Almus and his wife were found at Fort William McKinley on the Philippine Islands in 1920. In 1930, Almus and Lillie were living at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii Territory.  Almus retired from the U.S. Army in 1934 and they moved to San Diego where he worked as a security officer on a Naval Base. Almus died in 1959 and Lillie in 1960. They are buried in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. 

There is more to this story and it confirms what I have written; however, it is not my story to tell. My purpose for writing this post is to share and find a good home for these photos. If you know anything about Almus Beck and his wife and family, please contact me. If you have suggestions as to a good home for these photos and many from Siberia, I would like to hear from you as well. You can message me on my Facebook page or send me an email from my "About Me" tab at the top of this page. 

My next post, Snapshots From Siberia 1918 - 1919, features more photos from this album. 

Was this taken in North Carolina? Siberia? On the back, only part of the writing can be
viewed - I am standing by the _____ I haven't any ______ alone ______. Signed with an "S."

This must be Lillie Beck. It was taken in California. 

This appears to be Lillie Beck about the time she was married. I enhanced the photo at 
My Heritage to get a better look at her face. 

Was this on the ship leaving Siberia in August 1919? It was going to Japan. Did the Becks visit
the United States before going to the Philippines? 

This photo was glued in the front of the album. Is it a very
young Lillie? a sister? I wonder if Lillie ever communicated
with her family after leaving Siberia?

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana

© 2020 

Sources 

31st Infantry Regiment Association. The 31st Infantry Regiment: A History of "America's Foreign Legion" in Peace and WarMcFarland, Incorporated, Publishers, Jun 25, 2018.  https://books.google.com/books/about/The_31st_Infantry_Regiment.html?id=nPaOswEACAAJ

Ancestry.com. "Public Member Trees." Web. Accessed 1 October 2020. 

Evans, Martin M., editor. American Voices of World War I: Primary Source Documents, 1917-1920. Chicago. 2001. Print. https://books.google.com/books?id=dWK2AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA166&lpg=PA166&dq=almus+e+beck+siberia&source=bl&ots=HS4zv2l8g4&sig=ACfU3U1-rKDnTaiu2hmppW2Xrr-Mt-nUUg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjw6uXE0KjsAhUloXIEHdy3CEUQ6AEwAnoECAEQAg#v=onepage&q=almus%20e%20beck%20siberia&f=false

Family photographs and documents from the collection of Diana Bryan Quinn

"North Carolina, World War I Service Cards, 1917-1919," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9KW-VHVG?cc=2568864&wc=Q6HB-4HT%3A1590122304%2C1590122418 : accessed 3 October 2020), citing The North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh.

"United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9RN6-LPL?cc=1488411&wc=QZJT-YJX%3A1038434801%2C1038459501%2C1038459502%2C1038459503 : 14 September 2019), Military and Naval Forces > Philippine Islands > Overseas Military > Fort William McKinley > image 72 of 90; citing NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

"United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99X3-3NWQ?cc=2185145&wc=3XZ4-ZNR%3A1056306501%2C1056594601 : 22 December 2014), (M1490) Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925 > Roll 969, 1919 Oct, certificate no 133876-134249 > image 328 of 894; citing NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.)

Year: 1910; Census Place: Durham, Durham, North Carolina; Roll: T624_1108; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 0032; FHL microfilm: 1375121. Accessed at Ancestry.com 30 Sept 2020.

Year: 1930; Census Place: Schofield Barracks, Honolulu, Hawaii Territory; Page: 8A; Enumeration District: 0134; FHL microfilm: 2342369. Accessed at Ancestry.com 30 Sept 2020.