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Fred Beebe
Frederick Leonard Beebe was a pitcher who won 62 major league games between
1906 and 1916. He always been listed in the encyclopedias as being born in
Lincoln, Nebraska, on December 31, 1880. I began to question that when I found a WW1
registration card for a Colorado farmer named Fred Leonard Beebe with a wife named Maude
and a birth date of December 31, 1879. Before recommending a change I wanted
to make sure this was him. He was easy to locate in the 1930 and 1920 censuses:
1930 in Cook County, Illinois
Fred Beebe 49 (born) Neb (parents born) Oh NY, gas engineer
Maude Beebe 49 Mich Oh Wis, 26 years
Virginia Beebe 22 Mo
Fred Beebe 18 Col
1920 as "Beebee"
Farming in Delta County, Colorado
Fred Beebee 39 Neb
Maude Beebee 38 Mich
Virginia Beebee 12 Mo
Fred Beebee 8 Col
Tracing him in earlier years proved remarkably difficult, with a different spelling of the
surname every year, siblings who change sex, and pretty much every other
conceivable botch-up, but I finally found his 1910 listing, with his occupation
given as
ballplayer to prove it's him:
1910 Midway, Delta Co, Col., as Bube
Julia T Bube 60 Penn, widow, fruit farm
Melvina W Bube 33 female Col
John Bube 31 Col
Frederic Bube 29 Neb ball player, m. 3 yrs
Maud Bube 28
Virginia Bube 2
Mary Perry 29 widowed Neb, (this is Fred's twin sister)
Fred's grandmother Julia Titus 92
1900, Chicago, as Bolle
John H Bolle 54 born 5/46 Ohx3
Julia Bolle 51 7/48, 5/5
Melvin W Bolle 25 2/75
Julia A Bolle 24 4/76
John H Bolle Jr. 23 8/77
Fred L Bolle 20 1/80
Mary K Bolle 20 1/80
Julia B Titus 83 9/17
Edwin Fowler 24
1880 census (taken on June 24) in Lancaster County, Nebraska, as Beebee
John Beebee33 Ohx3 farmer
Julia Beebee32 NY housekeeper
J. Titus 62 NY schoolteacher
McAlvin W. Beebee 6 Col
Julia Beebee 4 Col
John Beebee 2 Neb
M. K. Beebee 6 months old Neb
B. R. Beebee 6 months old Neb.
The B. R. seems very clear, but it has to be Fred since he's Mary K.'s twin.
Sometimes babies were known as one name and given another at christening,
and maybe that happened here. Or maybe it's just another census-taker's mistake.
Obviously being on the census taken in June of 1880 meant that he wasn't born in
December of 1880, so his birthdate was changed to a year earlier. I'm skeptical of Lincoln as
his birthplace, since the family was living on a farm six months later, but I have no proof
that it is wrong.
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