John Beardsley III (1732 - 1809)

Born 23 Apr 1732 in Ripton, Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 23 Aug 1809 at age 77 in Kingston, New Brunswick

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John Beardsley III is Notable.

John Beardsley was a United Empire Loyalist.
UEL Status:Proven
Date: 28th January 1786

John Beardsley III is a descendant of the immigrants William Beardsley and Mary Harvie.

Biography

John Beardsley was born in 1732. He passed away in 1809. ^[1]

The 11 Sep 1809 edition of The New Brunswick Royal Gazette reported: "d. Kingston, 23rd Aug., Rev. John Beardsdley [sic], age 78."^[2]

From an article written by the Venerable Archdeacon, Reverend William O. Raymond^[3], rector for thirty-two years at St. Mary's Church, St. John, New Brunswick, and also Reverend Beardsley's third great grandson.

"Reverend John Beardsley's boyhood was spent at Stratford, Connecticut. Upon entering Yale College he decided to take Holy Orders. Two years later he went to King's College, New York, then to England, where he received his degree, 23 August 1761.

Returning to America, he went to Norwich and Groton, Connecticut, staying five years. He next went to Poughkeepsie, New York, staying till 1777. While there, he secured a Glebe-farm and built a Glebe house for the mission; also Trinity Church at Fishkill and the first church at Poughkeepsie. His stay there was abruptly terminated by the Revolutionary War.

Rev. John, like many of the clergy of the Church of England, opposed the popular movement in favor of separation from the British Empire. In consequence, the local "Committee of Safety" arrested him as a Tory and an enemy of his country and confiscated his property. With his family, he was compelled to leave Poughkeepsie, and take refuge under the British protection in New York, December 1777.

Col. Beverly Robinson, a parishioner of the Rev. John's Church, and an influential man of the Hudson, raised the well known "loyal American Regiment", and Rev. John was its Chaplain.

The muster roll, July 1, 1783, has a note appended to Chaplain Beardsley's name, "absent in Nova Scotia". Many of his old friends had already gone there in the fleet which arrived at St. John, New Brunswick, early in May. On the ship "Union" were eight heads of families from Duchess Co. N.Y.; from Connecticut were eight, from Norwalk nine, from Stamford five, from Redding two, from Stratford his kinsman Abel Beardsley, from Fairfield and eight other Connecticut towns. In the June Fleet, 1783, came Zephaniah Beardsley of Stratford, Connecticut, he had served through the war with the British. He was a weaver and had a loom, he also followed fishing and had a boat and shared two seines; everything he owned was seized after he joined the British, his wife was robbed, and his house and shop destroyed.

Rev. John's brother Paul was with him and drew a home lot in Parr-town (St. John), but it was his nephew Paul, the son of his brother, Col. Charles Beardslee, who was buried at Maugerville, New Brunswick, July 3, 1797.

Rev. John arrived at St. John, July 1783, but we do not know the name of the transport vessel he came in . The shelter for his family, which the parson built in St. John, we may believe was on the lot he drew, #151, not far from the present Trinity Church. He received calls to become resident clergyman at St. John and Kingston. There was, seemingly, at the the time, no clergyman to do active duty in New Brunswick, except himself, and so stated that he thought he could be more useful as an itinerant, consequently, he had the duty of ministering to more than ten thousand people, all the way from St. John to Woodstock.

About 1789 he made the first tour of an english speaking missionary on the Upper St. John. On his way up the river, he made arrangements to baptize at convenient centers on his return trip.

He spent about a week on the trip down the river from Woodstock to Fredrickston, traveling by canoe, about ten miles a day stopping at intervals on both sides of the river, and baptizing over one hundred persons. In this way, he did his best to keep the church alive, and few people on the river who did not know him.

He aged prematurely, due to the strenuous life he led, thus retired 1792. In 1793 the King's New Brunswick Regiment was organized for defense of the Province, and he was appointed Chaplain, which office he held till 1802 when the regiment disbanded. Later he lived with his daughter Hannah.

In Poughkeepsie we read of his contact with Freemasonry. The records of old Solomon Lodge, show that he preached to that body on St. John Day, 1772. His interest continued after going to St. John, N.B. and a table was place in Trinity Church, Kingston, 1916 reading:

"To the glory of God, and in memory of the Rev. John Beardsley, D.D. Junior Grand Warden of the Provincial Grand lodge of New York, and the first Worshipful Master of Hiram Lodge, No. 17 A.FD & A.M. at St. John, N.B. Sept 1784, who came to New Brunswick with the Loyalists and whose body rests beneath this church."

This tablet is erected by the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of New Brunswick, as a tribute of regard for one of the pioneers of the Craft in this Province. Obit, Aug 23 1809 [Holt]

From The Church of England in Loyalist New Brunswick, 1783-1825

Despite strong educational backgrounds and considerable experience, the colony's clergy did manifest certain flaws..... Among the Loyalist missionaries from Connecticut scandal erupted around John Beardsley. In 1799 Bishop Inglis reported to the Archbishop of Canterbury that Beardsley was involved in scandal concerning his present marriage. Beardsley, who had previously separated from his third wife, had married again upon hearing rumors of her death. Word filtered back to the colony that his third wife, who had returned to the former American colonies to live, was still alive. Bishop Inglis dispatched his commissary, George Pidgeon, to investigate and upon his inconclusive findings, Inglis ordered a clergy convention be convened to determine the facts of the matter. The clergy concluded that Beardsley was not justified in getting married again as a result of hearing rumors of his former wife's death and the bishop ordered Beardsley to cease cohabiting. Beardsley complied for a year and then submitted his resignation. While, in Bishop Inglis's words, Beardsly's conduct "utterly disqualified him as a missionary," the Bishop further remarked that Beardsley's behavior "was rather marked by weakness and dotage than depravity."

Sources

1. ↑ Beardsley Genealogy: The Family of William Beardsley, One of the First Settlers of Connecticut. Compiled and edited by Nellie Beardsley Holt and Charles Eleazer Holt. Published at West Hartford, Connecticut, 1951. Rev. John Beardsley is Holt Record #84, Pgs. 49, 50.
2. ↑ death notice
3. ↑ Grandson of Polly Sylvia (Beardsley) Raymond.

See also:

• Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Volume V (1801-1820): C. Alexander Pincombe, “BEARDSLEY, JOHN,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 5, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003
• Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection) - Original data: White, Lorraine Cook, ed. The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records. Vol. 1-55. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994-2002.
• U.S. House of Representative Private Claims, Vol. 1 Original data: House of Representatives. Digested Summary and Alphabetical List of Private Claims Which Have Been Presented to the House of Representatives. Vol. I. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1853
• United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada
• Biography for Rev. John Beardsley, United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada
• The Church of England in Loyalist New Brunswick, 1783-1825, by Ross N. Hebb, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2004
• Wikipedia: John_Beardsley
• Biographical sketches of loyalists of the American Revolution : with an historical essay, by Lorenzo Sabine, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1864, Pg. 222; Rev. John Beardsley (Sabine)
• This WikiTree profile is referenced from Wikidata: Item Q6221248, en:Wikipedia
• Reynolds, Helen Wilkinson. The Records of Christ Church, Poughkeepsie, New York (Frank B. Howard, Poughkeepsie, 1911) Vol. 1, Page 267-70

• He "died on the anniversary of his birthday, April 23d, in 1809, aged seventy-seven years. His body was interred beneath the chancel of Trinity Church, Kingston."

Research Notes

• Biography of Loyalist Rev. John Beardsley
• Carleton County Historical Society., C. A, Beardsley Collection, Historical Background