CHARLES WILLIAM BEARDSLEY
MILFORD: Seedsman and Stock Breeder
Charles W. Beardsley, son of Charles Beardsley, was born in Stratford, Conn., May 27, 1829, and in the year 1844 he removed with his father’s family to Milford. He is descended from William Beardsley, one of the first settlers of the town of Stratford, from \vhom he takes the name William; and from the Beach family through his great-grandmother Sarah, daughter of Israel Beach, 2d, of Stratford. His mother was Sarah, daughter of Hezekiah Baldwin of Milford, a descendant of one of the first settlers of that town; and he regards his success in life as very largely the result of the early training and Christian advice of this mother. The first American ancestor above alluded to, William Beardsley, came from England in 1635, in the ship Planter, commanded by Captain Travice. He was then only thirty years of age, but had a wife and three children, all of whom accompanied him hither. He came from Stratford-on-Avon (the birthplace of William Shakespeare), and was made a freeman in Massachusetts, but afterwards, in 1639, settled in the Connecticut township, to which the family gave the name of Stratford, in honor of the English town from which they had emigrated. The town of Avon, N.Y., was also named by descendants of William Beardsley who settled there, in honor of the old river in England. William Beardsley was a deputy for Stratford in 1645, and for seven years thereafter, and was a man of much prominence in early colonial times. He died in 1660, at the age of fifty-six, leaving three children. The succession in the line of the subject of this sketch was through Joseph Beardsley, the youngest son. The generations from Joseph were John, Andrew, Henry, William Henry, and Charles - the latter being the father of Charles W. Beardsley, the present subject. Charles W. is the oldest of a family of eight children, the brothers and sisters being the following, all of whom are now living, and residents of Milford, except as otherwise stated: Abigail, now the wife of Charles R. Baldwin of Milford; Alvira; Hezekiah, an extensive contractor and builder in Milford; George, now residing in New Haven; Theodore, a prominent builder, of Springfield, Mass.; Sarah J., wife of Edward Clark of Milford; and Frederick, the youngest.
Mr. Charles W. Beardsley was educated in the common and select schools of his native town, and commenced learning the shoe business at the age of fifteen, which he followed for eighteen years, when, his health partially failing by close confinement in his work, he engaged in the produce business, importing the same from Montreal, Canada; and continued this business twelve years. He then bought one of the best farms in the town of Milford, and is engaged in the seed business for Peter Henderson & Company of New Vork city. Mr. Beardsley has bred some of the finest Jersey cattle that have appeared in America, and for which he has obtained large prices. He has held the offices of town agent and first selectman for twelve successive years, and was one of the directors of the Milford Savings Bank. He is a member of the Odd Fellows lodge in Milford, has been a member of the fire department for twenty-two years, and a member of the second company Governor’s Foot Guards (organized 1775) under Governor Buckingham. He was elected a member of the house of representatives of Connecticut in 1889, for two years, and served on the railroad committee; and was commissioner on the Washington bridge. He gave a full history of the old bridge, and when the bill came before the house to have the structure made a free bridge, supported by New Haven and Fairfield counties, he made a strong argument in favor of the free bridge system, - and the bill was passed. He was re-elected a member of the house of representatives for the years 1891-92, and is again a member of the railroad committee.
Mr. Beardsley joined the First Church of Christ at Milford in the year 1850, and is esteemed in his native town and in the town where he resides, and wherever known, as an honorable and upright citizen. He married Sarah, daughter of Elnathan Baldwin of Milford, in 1850, and has the following children: Dewitt Clinton Beardsley, who married Miss Martha P. Avery of Stratford, and has three children, Medorah H., Maud C., and Stanley A. Beardsley; Sarah Etta Beardsley, who married Charles Clark of Milford, and had two children, George W. and Elwood R. Clark; and Charles Frederick Beardsley, the youngest, who resides at home, and is in company with his father in the seed business. The Beardsley family is a quite numerous one in Connecticut, and in all its branches has maintained the honorable reputation transmitted through succeeding generatioins from William Beardsley the venerated ancestor.
Source: Illustrated Popular Biography of Connecticut - 1891, Compiled and Published by J. A. Spalding, Hartford Conn., Press of the Case, Lockwood and Brainard Company, 1891
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