From left Pauline Moore, president, Prudhomme Fort Chapter, CDXVIIC; Lenore Levy; LaVonne Jolley, past TSCDXVIIC state president; Elizabeth McAteer, national first ice president, NSCDXVIIC; Faye D. Williams and Joan Hanks.
The Prudhomme Fort Chapter of Colonial Dames Seventeenth Century commemorated David Beck, prominent in the founding of Chattanooga. A historical marking was held at the Beck Cemetery (a large stone marker is prominent) at the corner of Dorchester and Devonshire streets in North Chattanooga, which adjoins the golf course at Chattanooga Golf and Country Club.
In attendance was Charles and Ann Hon (David Beck descendants); along with descendants of the Beck and Hon families; a representative of Congressman Chuck Fleishmann, Michelle Harstein; Michael Wyatt, director of Historic Preservation Planning, representing the Office of City Mayor; Terry Siler, president of John Sevier Chapter, SAR; and Jim Moore, past state president of Sons of the American Revolution.
David Beck moved from Pennsylvania to Rhea County in the late 1700’s or early 1800’s and built his first home in the Riverview area about 1822. At that time, south of the Tennessee River still belonged to the Cherokees; however, white settlers had begun to encroach on their lands north of the river. David Beck (1765-1841) is considered one of the Founding Fathers of Chattanooga. He owned all of the area north of the Tennessee River, specifically what is now Riverview, in North Chattanooga and Stuart Heights.
The Beck family owned several thousand acres and operated their quarry from which the rock came for the old Methodist Church steeple which still stands today on the corner of McCallie Avenue and Georgia Avenue, as well as some of the rock used for the piers of the Walnut Street Bridge.
Prudhomme Fort Chapter invites prospective members to be a part of a growing chapter involved in community projects: sponsoring scholarships for qualifying students; patriotic endeavors to honor veterans; enhancing library inventories; supporting museums; and preservation of historical sites.
For more information on membership, call 842-7774.