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Sheriff of Knox County, which then included almost all of the Indiana Territory in the Northwest Territory.Vincennes was a wild frontier town
Parmenas Beckes 1809-1811
Benjamin Beckes 1813 -1819
http://157.91.92.1/library/manuscripts/collection_guides/m0364.html
17 December 1811
An act to dissolve the marriage of Benjamin V. Beckes and Sally his wife.
"The first recorded civil license to marry was issued to Benjamin V. BECKES and Sarah HARBIN on 13 February 1807.
Benjamin Vincennes BECKES was born 9 August 1786 to Benjamin Sr. and his wife Mary, who had come to Vincennes after 1783. He was a brother of Parmenas, the sheriff, who was killed in a duel with Dr. Edward SCULL, 6 July 1813, and the governor appointed him to serve out his brother's term in office. He was twice re-elected to that office afterwards.
Benjamin V. BECKES also obtained the first divorce, 1811. It had to be granted by the General Assembly. And on 11 June 1812, he wed Elizabeth PEA, the daughter of Frederick PEA, a family held in great respect today.
Benjamin was a delightful person, and a very capable leader. He served at Tippecanoe, and was a major under General Harrison in 1812. Disliking the idea of making personal enemies, he refused later calls to public office, and turned to his large farms on the Monroe City Road, near Vigo and Badollet, and specialized in raising livestock. . . . In 1856, his wife died, and on 13 January 1858 he wed the widow of Dr. John D. WOOLVERTON, who was the daughter of Dr. Elias MCNAMEE. BECKES then moved into Vincennes, and into the stately Woolverton home on the southwest corner of Second and Seminary streets. There he died 4 December 1859, and was interred aside Elizabeth PEA in Mt. Calvary Cemetery."
Source: "Old Vincennes" by Joseph Henry Vanderburgh Somes, pages 148-9.
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