[5] He graduated from Columbia College in 1834, and studied law with John Landis Mason, but never joined the New York Bar Association.

His father died in 1833 left him with money, and the death of his uncle, James Beekman, Jr. (1758-1837), added to his real estate holdings on the East River near Fifty-second street, including the Beekman mansion, "Mount Pleasant",[6] a place of historic interest from its prominence in Revolutionary times.

[7] In 1861, along with Erastus Corning and Thurlow Weed, Beekman was appointed by a meeting of conservative men in New York to go to Washington and urge President James Buchanan to relieve Fort Sumter.

[8] He was also one of the early members of the New-York Historical Society, before which he delivered a centennial discourse in 1871 and read papers at different times.

[2] The pallbearers at his funeral were Frederic de Peyster, Benjamin H. Field, F. G. Foster, J. H. Hammersley, Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet, John Jay, and Hamilton Fish.