Darius Beardsley (1787 - 1834)

Born 6 Feb 1787 in New Fairfield, Connecticut

Ancestors

Husband of Dorothy (Cone) Beardsley — married 1 Oct 1809 in Westmoreland, New York

Descendants

Died 15 Feb 1834 at age 47 in Edwardsburg, Michigan

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

Biography

Darius was born in 1787. He was the son of Elijah Beardsley and Sarah Hubbell. He passed away in 1834.^[1][2]

From Holt's Beardsley Genealogy, Pg. 115:

They moved from New York State to Ohio, and then to Michigan. He was found frozen to death within half a mile of his home; it is supposed he was taken with severe cramps, to which he was subject to have; he was on his way to the inn which he kept on the old Chicago- Detroit Indian Trail between Beardsley Prairie and Baldwin Prairie, a distance unbroken by any homes.

Children:

i. Walter, d. aged 27 years: he was sales manager in New York for the firm of Beardsley and Davenport.

ii. Heman, died aged 18 years, killed in accident.

iii. Lydia, m. William McNeil, 4 ch.

iv. Clara (sic), m. John Smith, res, South Bend, Ind., 6 ch.

v. Frances Ann, m. _____ Edwards.

1106 vi. Rev. David, b. 31 March 1824.

vii. Havilah

viii. Angeline, m. _____ Fulkerson.

From History of Cass County, Michigan, Chapter XXXVIII. Mason Township, Pgs. 406, 407:

In 1882, Darius Beardsley erected his humble log cabin on Section 14, on a farm now owned by Elias Minnich; it was simple in construction, having a puncheon floor, shakes for shingles, and the capacious chimney was constructed of mud and sticks, which were used in lieu of mortar and bricks, while the back wall, or where the fire came in actual contact, was constructed of stone.

At this time, they were comparatively alone, their nearest neighbor, Elam Beardsley, residing in Section 12, the others living at Adamsville, five miles distant, and Edwardsburg, four and a half miles; but the solitude of this new country had charms for the adventurous pioneer, who, with thoughts on the future, would forecast the time when fertile fields would yield ample returns for labor bestowed, and neighbors take the place of wolves, bears and deer, then to be found roaming through the broad expanse of territory, at this time unclaimed by actual settlers.

But a terrible and totally unlooked-for calamity was to befall this, one of the first families in the township, and cast a gloom over the adjoining settlement, in Ontwa. One cold day in the winter of 1833 when the snow was two feet deep on the level, and the wintry blasts went surging through the leafless forests, Mr. Beardsley went to Edwardsburg, the nearest trading point, after some necessities for the household, and was detained until toward the shades of evening before starting out on foot and alone, for his solitary cabin so many miles distant, and this was the last seen of him alive. Not coming home for two or three days, the anxiety of his wife regarding his safety became intense, but she could not leave her small children in the depths of winter, and go in search of him, and could only wait in terrible suspense for some information concerning his welfare, and it came at last, through some of their far-distant neighbors, who found him beside a tree frozen to death, only one-half mile from home and family, where he had either sat down to rest, and been unconsciously wooed into death by the extreme cold, or having lost his way in the darkness of the night, giving himself over to despair and death, after having totally exhausted his vital energies in fruitless endeavors to reach home. The sad funeral rites were performed at Edwardsburg, to which place the family shortly after removed, where Mr. Beardsley's brother Ezra lived, he being the first settler in that section, having removed his family there in 1826, after having spent the season before in putting out some crops.

Mr. Beardsley left eight children, only three of whom still survive—Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Fulkerson in Indiana, and Daniel, who resides in Section 13, and was but eight years of age when he came to this county with his father. Mr. Beardsley and his wife Caroline (Moe), now have nine children living, two boys and seven girls, and he is the only male representative of the Beardsley family, who came in and possessed the land at such an early period, they having nearly all listened to their desire for frontier life, and pushed on toward the West.

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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. Daruis Beardsley is Holt Record #681, Pg. 279, the son of Elijah Beardsley, Record #313, Pg. 147.
2. ↑ Genealogical History of the Beardsley-lee Family in America by Rev. Isaac Haight Beardsley. Published 1902. Darius Beardsley, Pg. 115.

See also:

• History of Cass County, Michigan : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, by Alfred Mathews, Waterman, Watkins & Co., Chicago, 1882. Chapter XXXVIII. Mason Township: Darius Beardsley, Pgs. 406, 407.

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