ABOUT US

Our agency history traces it roots to 1872, when James P. Ross wrote fire policies for town and farm properties from his general store in Wabash, Indiana. In those days, insurance “trading” for farm owners often required a long horseback ride out into the country and was conducted…

…one customer at a time, with honest dealing as the standard.

Our first generation of current owners endured humble beginnings. In 1927, Ward Beauchamp purchased the business founded by James P. Ross, using his personal savings of $5000. That same year, Tom McSpadden’s father-in-law, W.D. “Bill” Lynn, started another agency from scratch. Ward and Bill endured untold hardships entering business just as the Great Depression began to unfold, but with hard work, fair dealing, and great perseverance, their fledgling agencies survived those early years. From their rural setting in Indiana, providing trusted coverage to their farm customers was not only natural but also essential.

 During our second generation, Bob Beauchamp, joined his father in 1938, and Tom McSpadden joined his father-in-law shortly after World War II. These two men decided to merge to better serve their customers’ growing insurance requirements with more insurance companies and greater market knowledge. It was their handshake over a hot cup of coffee at the local Rock City Café that established Beauchamp & McSpadden, as we know it today. And a number of the family farms Bob and Tom wrote over a half-century ago, still choose to protect their business with us today.

Our third generation, Bob, Joe, Mike and Larry, along with key partners and a focused staff, built one of the strongest retail agency forces in Northern Indiana and the Midwest. Through acquisitions and producer development, they expanded product lines, markets, and service capabilities. But strong customer relationships remain the source of the agency’s vitality, even though telecommunications and the Internet have long since replaced the horseback rides required when the business first began over 130 years ago.

Now, our fourth generation has developed thousands of direct customer relationships in forty-eight states and provides specialty and brokered farm coverage through 700 insurance agencies countrywide. After all these years, agribusiness and farm remains at the core of our business. Wondering how all this is possible? The same way James P. Ross sold insurance…

…one customer at a time, with honest dealing as the standard.

We’ve written farm insurance since 1872. More than a century later, we’re just getting started….

Do you need insurance protection for your farm or agribusiness from an experienced source? Click here

Are you an agency that needs farm or specialty coverage brokered for your important customer? Click here