Beardsley Family History

The Beardsley family roots apparently go back to Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England where the first know ancestor, William Beardsley, was born in 1605. The source of this information is a book entitled, "Beardsley Genealogy - The Family of William Beardsley - One of the first settlers of Stratford, Connecticut" published by Nellie Beardsley Holt in 1951. Parish registers in St. Mary's church, which date back to 1588, contain the following entries: the marriage of William Beardsley and Marie Harvie on January 26, 1631 and the baptism of their son John on November 2, 1633.

In 1635, William, Marie and their three children boarded the ship "Planter" with 116 other passengers and sailed to Massachusetts. The passenger list identified the family as follows: Wm. 30, a mason, Marie 26, Marie 4, John 2, and Joseph 6 mo. On December 7, 1636 William took the oath of office in Massachusetts and was made a freeman. In 1639, William and Marie became one of the first settlers in the Pequonnock Plantation, which later became known as Stratford, Connecticut. William was active in the affairs of the settlement and served as Deputy to the General Court at Hartford from 1645 to 1659 and was one of the founders of the First Congregational Church of Stratford.

William and Marie had six additional children born after arriving in America, Samuel (b. ca. 1636/7), Sarah (b. ca 1640), Hannah (b. ca 1642), Daniel (b. 1644), Ruth and Rebecca. William died in Stratford in 1661. No record of Marie's death was found but she was still listed as an inhabitant in 1668. Their son, Daniel, who married Ruth Goodwin, is the progenitor of the Beardsley line extending down to Daisy May (Beardsley) Vanderburg. The entire 8-generation line of descendants includes William¹, Daniel², Nathaniel³, John⁴, Daniel⁵, Elisha⁶, Arza⁷, and Daisy⁸. The only information I have about the Beardsley men and their families between the 2nd and 6th generation is some birth dates and the names of their wives. I assume additional information can be found in Nellie Beardsley Holt's book.

Elisha C. Beardsley was born August 25, 1813 in New York state. He married Rebecca Millard on February 4, 1836. One year later, on January 26, 1837, they were blessed with a son, they named Arza Thomas. Although the exact birthplace is uncertain, several US census records state that he was born in Canada, The 1850 New York census shows that Elisha and Rebecca were living in the town of Sandy Creek, Oswego Co., NY with their five children, Arza T., Mary (b. 1839), Elisha D. (b. ca. 1842), Henry A. (b. 2 Mar 1846) and Silas B. (b. 27 Oct 1848). A sixth child, Richard, born 7 Aug 1844 died young. Elisha worked as a carpenter. Rebecca died on December 23, 1853 at about age 48 in Richland, NY. Elisha and children were still living in Richland in 1860.

Arza, who went by his 2nd given name, Thomas, served in the Union army from July 22, 1861 to sometime in September 1865 in the 10th Kansas Infantry. He was in several battles, the most noted of which were Prairie Grove, AR, Franklin and Nashville, TN, and Fort Blakely, AL. Arza was living in Potterville, MI when he married Adelia Marie Partlow on April 29, 1872 in Eagle, Eaton County, Michigan. Adelia was born May 03, 1852 near Lake Champlain in Canada. Information about Adelia's parents and ancestors can be see on the Partlow family page. Arza worked as a stone mason. He and Adelia had six children, David Carpenter (b. 8 Feb 1874), Sarah Rebecca (b. 17 Dec 1875), Mary Adelia (b. 13 Apr 1879), Thomas Albert (b. 20 May 1880), Clarence Chester (b. 27 Oct 1883) and Daisy May (b. 10 Sep 1886). Mary only lived for about two weeks. The children were all born in Michigan but the family apparently moved quite often as the children were born in different towns. A family portrait was taken sometime around 1891-92 in Pulaski, NY. It isn't known if they were living there at the time. In June 1900, the Ohio census shows the family was living in Upper township, Lawrence Co., Ohio. Ten years later, Arza, Adelia and Clarence were living in Tyler, Perry Co., Arkansas. Arza died on January 20, 1911 and was buried in the Cosby Cemetery, Jessieville, Garland Co., Arkansas. Adelia died March 03, 1935 in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Daisy May Beardsley was born in Ithaca, Gratiot Co., Michigan. She was 13 years old when the family was living in Ohio in 1900. It isn't known when they moved to Arkansas but she was living in Jessieville, AR when she married Fleming Rose Burr Vanderburg on March 26, 1908 and their family history continues on the Vanderburg page. In Pauline (Vanderburg) Harrington's book, she says that Daisy was a teacher before she got married. She also said that Daisy lived on a house boat on the Mississippi for a time before she married.

Surnames

BEARDSLEY, CURTIS, GOODWIN, HARVEY, MILLARD, PANCHOR, PARTLOW, VANDERBURG