He was the son of Henry Beekman (1774–1857) and Catherine McPhaedris (née Livingston) Beeckman (1789–1863).
In 1855, he was listed as a wholesale dealer in foreign merchandise at 48 Broadway and was worth an estimated $150,000 and was a partner in Bowers, Beeckman, & Bradford, Jr. (which was Beeckman with Samuel D. Bradford of West Roxbury, Massachusetts, Henry Bowers Jr. of Yonkers, New York, Henry Beeckman Graham of New York and Samuel D. Bradford Jr. of Astoria), located at 82 Vesey Street.
[3] Beeckman's business was severely affected by the Panic of 1873 before suffering a heart attack two days before Christmas 1874 which led to his death.
[9] Together, they lived at 58 West 11th Street in Manhattan (with sojourns in Dutchess County, New York, and Newport, Rhode Island)[3] and were the parents of five children, four girls and one boy: Beeckman died on December 23, 1874, at age 51, at New Brighton, Staten Island.
[8][21] His widow died in April 1904 at 2 West 36th Street, her New York residence.