My Genealogy Hound

STEPHEN R. BEARDSLEY, an agriculturist of Schuyler County, resides on Foot’s Hill, near Odessa. He was born in the town of Catharine, July 19, 1847, and is a son of James B. and Almira (Hagar) Beardsley, the former a native of this county, and the latter of Cayuga County, N. Y. His paternal grandfather and great-grandfather came from Connecticut to this county, where the latter purchased a large tract of land in Christian Hollow (now known as Beardsley‘s Hollow), which at that time was a part of Chemung County. Before leaving his childhood home he sat under the preaching of Jesse Lee, the pioneer Methodist of the New England States, and was the founder of a society that met in their own log house for a number of years, the first in this section of county for a radius of twenty miles.

The subject of this sketch grew to manhood under the parental roof, and was but five years old when his father moved to Odessa and engaged in the mercantile business. Seven years later the family moved to the farm which is now his home. In the district schools of Odessa and the neighborhood where the family resided, he obtained a fair education, and at the age of eighteen commenced teaching in connection with farm work, continuing in that line until thirty years old. He remained at home until thirty-two years of age, when he was united in marriage, September 3, 1879, with Miss Mary Creeth, of Philadelphia, who was a native of Ireland, but of Scotch descent.

After his marriage our subject bought the farm where he had lived with his father for ten years previous. This place is still his home, and here his attention has been given principally to farm work. In 1890 he had the misfortune to have one of his limbs broken, which for a time incapacitated him for that vocation, and he therefore resumed teaching. His place consists of eighty acres, which is under a good state of cultivation, yielding him fair returns. For the past few years he has also taken charge of his father’s farm of ninety acres, upon which he had resided a part of the time.

In politics Mr. Beardsley was originally a Democrat, and for a year or two voted for that party’s ticket, but being a strong temperance man and believing that the only way to abolish intemperance, the great curse of the nation, is through the ballot, he has become a Prohibitionist and has voted for every candidate of the Prohibition party for the Presidency. In religion he has been a life-long member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which for years he has held office, and since eighteen he has been a Sunday-school Superintendent. His heart is in the work and his life has been such as to commend the religion of our Saviour. Mrs. Beardsley comes from a long line of Quaker ancestry and is a birthright member of the Society of Friends, holding membership with the Germantown meeting of Philadelphia yearly meeting. She takes deep interest in all lines of Christian work disseminating the principles of that society, especially in the cause of peace and arbitration. Mr. and Mrs. Beardsley are the parents of one son, Hubert C., now fourteen years of age.