William Agur Beardsley (1865 - 1946)

Born 5 May 1865 in Monroe, Connecticut

Ancestors

Died 28 Dec 1946 at age 81 in New Haven, Connecticut

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

Biography

Rev. William Agur Beardsley ^[1]

He was assistant rector at St. Thomas. Church at New Haven from 1890 to 1892, when he became its rector; he continued there till the time of his death. This was the church where his uncle, Rev. Ebenezer Beardsley had been for fifty years. [Holt]

Rev. William Agur Beardsley, who for a quarter of a century has been rector of St. Thomas’ Episcopal church at New Haven, was born on the 5th of May, 1865, in Stepney, Connecticut, in the town of Monroe. His parents were Agur and Elizabeth Ann (Lewis) Beardsley. The father, who was a farmer by occupation, was a man of influence in his town, which he represented in the state legislature. He was also actively interested in the schools and was a potent force in moral progress in the community, being a member and one of the vestrymen of St. Peter’s Episcopal church of Monroe, where he spent his entire life.

His son, Rev. William A. Beardsley, attended the district schools in Stepney until he reached the age of fifteen years, when he became a student in the Episcopal Academy at Cheshire in January, 1881. He graduated with valedictorian honors in June, 1883, and in the fall of that year entered Trinity College, from which he graduated as salutatorian in 1887, at which time the Bachelor of Arts degree was conferred upon him, while in 1890 he received the Master of Arts degree. He then attended the Berkeley Divinity School and was graduated in 1890. He became a clergyman of the Episcopal church, being ordained deacon by Bishop John Williams on the 4th of June, 1890, and priest by the same bishop on the 18th of May, 1891. He became assistant in St’ Thomas’ church of New Haven on the 4th of June, 1890, and on the 18th of April, 1892, was made rector of the church, with which he has been continuously connected throughout the entire period of his pastoral service.

It was in St. Thomas’ church, on the 23rd of June 1897, that Rev. Mr. Beardsley was united in marriage to Miss Alletta Hollister Warwick, a daughter of William Barksdale and Phoebe Warren (Douglas) Warwick, the former of Richmond, Virginia. Her father was a major in the Confederate army, serving under General Fitzhugh Lee. To Rev. and Mrs. Beardsley has been born a son, Warwick Beardsley.

It may well be a matter of pride to Rev. Beardsley that he is descended from one of the oldest families of Connecticut, tracing the ancestral line back to William Beardsley, who was one of the first residents of Stratford and served as a deputy to the general court of Connecticut. He had four sons, John, Joseph, Samuel, and Daniel, the second son being the direct ancestor of the branch of the family to which Rev. Mr. Beardsley belongs. His own record is in harmony with that of an honored ancestry. In college he was graduated with honors in mathematics and Greek and became a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and of the Psi Upsilon fraternities. His activities have been far-reaching and of marked effect along many lines of progress. For twenty-two years he has been secretary and treasurer of the New Haven archdeaconry and in 1910 was appointed examining chaplain of the diocese, while in 1917 he was made secretary of the board of examiners. He is a trustee of the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut, which position he has occupied since 1899, and since 1906 he has been secretary of its board. He was deputy to the general convention of the Episcopal church held in St. Louis in 1916, and was made a trustee of the Berkeley Divinity School in 1915. At the diocesan convention held in June 1917, he was appointed chairman of the committee on constitution and canons, was elected registrar of the diocese and also a member of the Standing Committee. Since 1913 he has been a president of the New Haven Colony Historical Society and in 1916 he edited an published “A General Catalogue of Officers, Teachers and Alumni of the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut.” [A Modern History of New Haven and Eastern New Haven County]

Sources

• 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. William Agur Beardsley is Holt Record #785, Pg. 313.
• 1870 US Census: Monroe, Fairfield County, CT, 20 Jun 1870, Pg. 21
• 1880 US Census: Monroe, Fairfield County, CT, 5 Jun 1880, Enumeration District 117, Pg. 5
• 1910 US Census: New Haven, New Haven County, CT, 1910, Enumeration District 0374, Supplemental Sheet 12A
• 1920 US Census: New Haven, New Haven County, CT, 2 Jan 1920, Enumeration District 308, Sheet 1A
• 1930 US Census: New Haven, New Haven County, CT, 7 Apr 1930, Enumeration District 2, Sheet 8A

Footnotes

1. ↑ Profile originally created by Beryl Jacobs, through the import of Joyce Family Tree.ged on Feb 27, 2015. Profile adopted; added information from Beardsley family researcher Nick Dann, 15 May 2015.