Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/229

Rh to the general conventions, and in 1801, 1804, and 1810 was president of the house of lay and clerical delegates. Of Rutgers college, established in 1770 at New Brunswick, he was an early trustee. In 1786 he was elected a regent of the university of the state of New York, and in 1787 a trustee of Columbia college, from which institution he received the honorary degree of D. D. in 1789. He was likewise actively associated with many of the benevolent institutions of New York. Subsequent to his resignation from Trinity parish he retired to his farm on Raritan river, near New Brunswick, where he resided until his death. His only publications were sermons.

BEACH, Henry Harris Aubrey, physician, b. in Middlctown, Conn., 18 Dec, 1848. He was educated at Cambridge, and was graduated at Harvard medical school in July, 18G8, settling in Boston soon afterward. He is a member of many medical associations, and in 1873 was president of the Boylston medical society. He became assistant demonstrator of anatomy in Harvard medical school in 1868, and surgeon in the Massachusetts general hospital in 1872. He has contributed many papers to medical periodicals, and was at one time assistant editor of the "Boston Medical and Surgical Journal."

BEACH, Moses Yale, inventor, b. in Wallingford, Conn., 7 Jan., 1800: d. there, 19 July, 1868. In early life he displayed mechanical ability, and at the age of fourteen was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker in Hartford, and by his industry he succeeded in purchasing his freedom before the expiration of his time. He then established himself in the cabinet business in Northampton, but was unsuccessful, and removed to Springfield. There he endeavored to manufacture a gunpowder engine for propelling balloons; but this enterprise was also a failure. He next attempted to open steam navigation on Connecticut river between Hartford and Springfield, and would have succeeded if financial difficulties had not obliged him to cease operations before his steamer was completed. Mr. Beach then invented a rag-cutting machine, which has since been generally used in paper-mills, but from which he received no pecuniary benefit on account of his delay in procuring a patent. He then settled in Ulster co., N. Y., where he became interested in an extensive paper-mill, and was at first successful, but after seven years was compelled to abandon it. About 1835 he removed to New York, where he acquired an interest in the &ldquo;Sun,&rdquo; the pioneer of the penny press, of which he soon made himself sole proprietor. During the Mexican war, President Polk sent him to Mexico to arrange a treaty of peace; but the negotiations were broken off by a false report announcing the defeat of Gen. Taylor by Santa Anna. In 1857 he withdrew from active business. His son, Alfred Ely, b. in 1826, d. in New York city, 1 Jan., 1896, was for fifty years active in the editorial management of the &ldquo;Scientific American.&rdquo; He founded the Beach Institute for Freedman in Georgia.

BEACH, William Augustus, lawyer, b. in Saratoga Springs, N. Y., 13 Dec, 1809; d. in Tarrytown, 28 June, 1884. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, began practice in his native town, and in 1840 was elected district attorney of Saratoga co. In 1855 he removed to Troy, and continued active in his profession until 1870, when he settled in New York. Here he established the law firm of Beach & Brown, and attained a high reputation, becoming one of the most prominent advocates of his time. He was engaged in many notable cases, was counsel for Col. North in his trial by court-martial during the civil war, and later was counsel for Theodore Tilton in his celebrated suit against Henry Ward Beecher. He defended Judge" Barnard during his trial for impeachment, and was associated in the trial of E. S. Stokes for the murder of James Fisk, Jr., and in the Vanderbilt will case.

BEADLE, William Henry Harrison, educator, b. in Liberty, Ind., 1 Jan., 1838. He was graduated at the "University of Michigan in 1861, entered the army as first lieutenant in the 31st Indiana infantry, served continuously during the civil war, and in 1864 was brevetted brigadier-general. He was graduated at the law department of the University of Michigan in 1867, practised for two years in Wisconsin, and in 1869 was appointed surveyor-general of Dakota. Since then he has devoted his attention to the development of the resources of that territory. From 1879 to 1885 he was superintendent of public instruction of Dakota, and under his direction the entire school system was organized.

BEAKMAN, Daniel Frederick, b. in New Jersey about 1760; d. in Sandusky, N. Y., 5 April, 1869. He was the last surviving soldier of the revolution on the pension list. His early life was spent in the Mohawk valley, whither his parents had removed shortly after his birth. In 1778 he was enrolled in the militia, and then served in the war. About 1845 he removed to Cattaraugus co., where the remainder of his life was spent. His married life extended over eighty-five years, and his wife reached the age of one hundred and five. In 1867 congress passed a special act giving him a pension of $500 during the remainder of his life. He was an active member of the Lutheran church.

BEAL, Abraham, philanthropist, b. in Chatham, England, about ISO;!; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 25 Feb., 1873. Early in life he became interested in the condition of the unfortunate, and while in London noticed the great injury caused by intemperance among workingmen. For a time he devoted himself to the cause of total abstinence, but encountered much opposition and persecution. He frequently appeared in court as the advocate of those who, by intemperance, had become criminals, and in this manner became known as "the prisoner's friend." In 1848 he emigrated to the United States, and for some years engaged in business; but his interest continued with the unfortunate prisoners. He became very familiar with the criminal laws of New York and other states, and in 1863 assumed the general agency of the New York Prison Association. He was for many years an efficient officer of the New York Port Society.

BEAL, Foster Ellenborough Lascelles, naturalist, b. in South Groton (now Ayer), Mass., 9 Jan., 1840. He was graduated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1871. During 1874-'5 he was assistant professor of mathematics in the U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., and from 1876 till 1882 professor of civil engineering in Iowa Agricultural College, where from 1879 till 1882 he was also acting professor of zoölogy and comparative anatomy, and in 1883 professor of geology. His writings, principally on topics of natural history, include the articles &ldquo;Birds of Iowa&rdquo; (1881-'2); &ldquo;Value of the Seed-eating Birds&rdquo; (1882).

BEAL, George Lafayette, soldier, b. in Norway, Me., 21 May, 1825; d. there, 11 Dec., 1896. He left Portland, on 6 Oct., 1861, as colonel of the 10th Maine regiment. He was appointed by the president brigadier-general of volunteers, 30 Nov., 1864, and was mustered out of the service on 15 Jan., 1866. He was adjutant-general of Maine in 1880-'5, and state treasurer in 1888-'94.