In 1975, he became the last undisputed descendant of Lincoln when his sister, "Peggy" Beckwith, died without children. Timothy Lincoln Beckwith was born to Robert Beckwith"s then wife, Annemarie Hoffman Beckwith, in 1968, though he disputed his paternity. Beckwith was born in Riverside, Illinois, to Jessie Harlan Lincoln and Warren Wallace Beckwith.
Jessie was the daughter of Abraham Lincoln"s son, Robert.
They had two children: Mary Lincoln Beckwith, who died in 1975, and Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith. Beckwith attended a private school in Washington District of Columbia In later life he gave his profession as "gentleman farmer of independent means", his inheritance having included a working farm. Beckwith enjoyed the hobby of boating and sailing and generally avoided the media and publicity.
On one occasion, a newspaper published pictures of him as a young man when arrested for speeding in the city of Omaha, Nebraska.
Beckwith"s first marriage, which lasted 30 years, was to an older widow with a son ten years his junior. Robert Beckwith, however, was in the process of divorcing her, accusing her of adultery and denying paternity of the child, since he had a vasectomy years prior.
She never complied with the order, and the divorce court ruled that Robert Beckwith was not the father. Robert Beckwith lived most of his life in Vermont and Washington, District of Columbia He died at the age of 81 on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1985 at around 6:05 pm in Saluda, Virginia.
