JOHN WOODHULL BECKMAN, Perth Amboy, born in Montgomery township, Somerset county, N. J., February 28, 1846, combined the study of law with teaching school for four years. He was admitted to the bar of New Jersey in 1875 and was city attorney for Perth Amboy from 1877 till 1895. He was also school commissioner for two years, during one of which he served as president of the board. In 1891 and again in 1892 and 1893 he was elected to the Assembly on the Democratic ticket from the First district of Middlesex county, by increased majorities, and during his first and second term was chairman of the Committee on Railroads and Canals. He was appointed by President Cleveland United States attorney for the District of New Jersey in September, 1894, and held until February, 1896, when he resigned.
Source: John Whitehead, The Judicial and Civil History of New Jersey (Boston: Boston History Co., 1897), Part II, p. 7.