Elmer Beach

Elmer Ellsworth Beach (December 19, 1861 – March 17, 1950) was an American football player and lawyer. He played college football for the University of Michigan from 1882 to 1883. He later became a lawyer in Chicago, established the Beach & Beach law firm, and practiced law from 1887 until his retirement in the 1930s. He was also grand master of the grand lodge of Illinois Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

Early years Beach was born in 1861 in Civil Bend, Fremont County, Iowa, the son of Henry W. Beach and Eva E. (Canfield) Beach. At age six, he moved with his family to Atwood in northern Michigan where he was raised on a farm.

Legal career

After graduating from Michigan, Beach began "reading law" with Judge Shorey of Chicago. The firm engaged in a general law practice under the name Beach & Beach with offices on the Ashland Block in Chicago. In 1908, the "Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois" wrote: "Mr. Beach's success shows what can be accomplished by energy and perseverance, rising, as he has done, from a farmer's boy to the position of one of the leading attorneys at the Chicago bar." In 1921, he was elected grand master of the grand lodge Illinois Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

Family In July 1889, he married Jessie E. Taylor (1860–1918) of Ann Arbor, Michigan, the daughter of Jay C Taylor and Amanda McCullum. They had two children, Elizabeth Clara Beach (adopted) and Eva Mae Beach. April 28, 1919, he married Ethel Vianna Taylor (1891–1969) in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of William James Taylor and Celestia L Tomlinson of Chicago. The Law firm of Beach and Beach had represented in 1913 Celestia Taylor in her divorce from William J Taylor. Six years later Elmer Beach married their daughter, 30 years his junior. He and Ethel had one daughter together, Greta Claire Beach. Elmer Beach had two brothers, Raymond Walter Beach and Rex Ellingwood Beach. His brother, Rex Beach, was a noted novelist and playwright. He moved to Raleigh, North Carolina in approximately 1940. In March 1950, he died at his home in Raleigh at the age of 88 after a long illness.