Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut

In 1830, when in his twenty-third year, he came to Bridgeport and went to work on the building of a church where the Soutii Congrega- tional church now stands. After this was com- pleted, with his brother, Aaron T. Beanisley, James Jennings and thirteen other carpenters, he combined and took a contract to build a bellows factory in Fairfield. For one year he had five in company with him, after which a co-partner- ship was formed with Aaron T. (his brother) and James Daskam, under the firm name of Beards- ley & Daskam, which business was continued for thirty-six years. The firm became master build- ers, and many of the principal buildings of Bridgepor-f, such as North church, the Ikiptibt church (where the Court Exchange building now is), the present South church, Christ church, residence of Nathaniel Wheeler, Frederick Wood and others on Golden Hill, the court house on State street, the old " Sterling Hotel" and the " Stanley Hotel," the former post office (now the People's market), and many of the banks are specimens of their handicraft. Upon the disso- lution of this partnership his brother started in the lumber business, while he still continued to carry on the building business alone for many years. Finally he retired from the carpenter business, as accumulation of property to rent and other business required his attention. In 1836 the two brothers built the house on Main street, in which they resided. The old building in the back yard was their first carpenter shop, and at a high tide the water of the harbor would come over the street nearly to the shop door. After- ward they purchased land on the corner of Broad street and South avenue, and put up a large building for their increasing business. Spring- ing from steady Puritan stock, the son of a New England farmer of a family of eleven children, he by his life exemplified the principles incul- cated by his parents in youth. By following a life of uprightness, strict integritj', sobriety and perseverance, he amassed a handsome compe- tence entirely free from speculation, a judicious investment of his earnings in real estate and mortgages. • On June 9, 1837, Mr. Beardsley was mar- ried in Monroe, this county, to Miss Nancy J. Nichols, who was born March 11, 1812, and died April 8, 1893. Two children blessed this union: Amelia J. (deceased), and William N., who is mentioned more fully farther on. The subject of this sketch was fond of religious work, was a teacher in the Sunday-school and a leading mem- ber of the former St. John's Episcopal Church at Bridgeport, formerly located on the present site of the new post office. He was afterward a member of Trinity Church. In his advanced age he attended regularly the South Congrega- tional Church, on account of its close proximity to his home, this being the last church that he ever built. He died January 14, 1899, at the advanced age of ninety years and eleven months, leaving behind the record of a well-spent life spanning nearly a century. Jesse Beardsley, grandfather of our subject, was a well-known farmer of the town of Red- ding. He married Miss Ruth Lyon, and had eight children: Aaron, Levi, Jabez, Daniel, Jesse, William, Lois and Miriam. William Beardsley, our subject's father, was born in Redding April 29, 1777, and in early manhood engaged in farming there, but finally settled upon a farm in Newtown, where he died February 11, 1858. His wife, Molly (Sanford), who was born August 20, 1774, died September 17, 1825, and he afterward married Mrs. Esther M. (Jackson) Taylor. By the first marriage he had ten children, their names and dates of birth being as follows: Lois, April 4, 1799; Lydia, November 21, 1800; Jesse, July 9, 1802; Polly Ann, May 19, 1804; Ruth, February 16, 1806; William Sanford, February 12, 1808; Aaron T., 72 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. August 8, 1809; Caroline, August 24, 181 1; Anna, June 19, 181 3; and Sarah M., July 7, 1 8 19. By the second union there were two children: Eliza and Emily. All of the above are deceased except Sally M. and Eliza. The late Aaron T. Beardsley, brother of Will- iam S., was educated in Redding and Newtown, and became a partner in our subject's late busi- ness in I^ridgeport. He was a man of fine me- chanical abilities, and was much esteemed as a citizen. In the business he gave his attention particularly to the interior decoration of the building on which they were employed. The organ case so much admired in Christ Church was designed and built by him. He was often engaged as inspector on the erection of buildings, apd was known for his insistance in having the work and material right, and according to speci- fications. For many years he was vestryman in Christ Church and Trinity Church at Bridge- port. He died in that city June 8, 1895. On June I, 1832, he married Miss Mary Curtis, who was born June 7, 181 1, and died October 14, 1 86 1. She was the daughter ot Matthew and Polly (Lacey) Curtis, the former of whom was proprietor of the first paint store in Bridgeport. Five children were born to Aaron T. and Mary Beardsley: Marietta, who died April 16, 1897; Harriet, who married William H. Edwards, of Saginaw, Mich. ; Miss Rebecca, who resides in Bridgeport; Georgiana, wife of John Beardsley, of Hartland, N. Y. ; and Florence E., who mar- ried (first) Ora B. Warner, who died, and (second Stimpson Stacey, of Chicago, Illinois. William N. Beardsley, the only son of the late William S. Beardsley, was born De- cember 19, 1845, in Bridgeport, Conn., and there received his education in the public schools and in Emory F. Strong's Military Academy, where, at the age of nineteen, he became as- sistant teacher, as well as instructor in book- keeping and penmanship, for at an early age his knowledge of bookkeeping had found him ready employment, so his services were often in de- mand outside of school hours. Desiring, how- ever, a thorough knowledge of business law, he finally decided to take up this study in the office of Judge Gould, and later finished with recita- tions with Lawyer Warner. His decided ability, however, as an inventor, and his inclination for mechanical and general business life, made the legal profession comparatively uninviting, and, an opportunity offering, he entered the employ of George Lovell, in the ornamenting department- ment of the Howe Sewing Machine Company, taking charge of the pay-roll, which, not keeping him fully employed, he also worked, learning the ornamenting business. Later on he spent some five years in the steam, gas-fitting and plumbing business until 1874, when he was offered a posi- tion as paymaster of the Union Metallic Cartridge Company. This was at the outbreak of the Rus- sian and Turkish war, which soon necessitated the employment of more than one thousand hands, and gave him an opportunity to show his executive ability. Experiments in rifles and ammunition had long been his favorite recreation, so a position with this company seemed particu- larly attractive to him, and when four years later the president of the Union Metallic Cartridge Company organized a new business under the name of the Bridgeport Gun Implement Com- pany, he was chosen as secretary, but still continued in the employ of both companies until 1883, when the growth of this new business and changes made it necessary to deyote his entire time to the new company as Bridgeport manager and treasurer. His early workshop training and varied factory experience now stood him in good hand, and his experiments in early years led to his assisting by the invention of many valuable articles protected by patents, which they have been extensively engaged in manufacturing, thus requiring his erecting a new and larger building onto the old factory property and giving employment to a largely increased force of hands. The death of his father in 1899, W. S. Beardsley, the subject of our sketch, makes it necessary to give his attention to the management of his father's affairs, and it is not without regret he now severs connection with the firm he has been identified with for nearly a quarter of a century. On November 18, 1868, Mr. Beardsley mar- ried Miss Amanda E. Smith, daughter of Silas Smith, a descendant of one of the pioneer set- tlers of New Milford. They have one son, Leon William Smith Beardsley, now a student in Yale Law School. Mr. Beardsley and his wife are identified with St. Paul's Episcopal Church, East Bridgeport, Henry M. Sherman, pastor, under whose teaching Mr. Beardsley was a scholar in St. John's Episcopal Church Sabbath-school of which the present St. Paul's Church is a branch. DAVID WELLS PLUMB (deceased), for- ,' merly vice-president and a director of the Birmingham National Bank, was a son of Noah Plumb, of Trinnbull, who was born May 3, 1782, and who, on November 22,1804, married Thank- ful Beach, who was born November 16, 1783. After her death Mr. Plumb married, April 8, 1807, COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 73 XJvania Wells, who was born November 15, 1784. .^j^ Noah Plumb was a son of David Plumb, of Strat- ford, who married Mary Beach, December 29, 1776. David Plumb was born June 25, 175 1, and Mary Beach was born March 11, 1758. He was a son of Noah Plumb, of Stratford, who was born in 1709, and who married (first) Abiah Piatt, in 1738, and (second) Abigail Curtiss, November 23, 1761. Noah Plumb was a son of Joseph Plumb, of Milford, who was born in 1671, and who married Susannah Newton, who was born in 1673. Joseph Plumb was a son of John Plumb, of New London, who was born in 1634, and who married Elizabeth Green about 1662. John Plumb was a son of George Plumb, of Ta- worth. County of Essex, England.