Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/233

Rh pointinent, which continued, however, for several years. During this time a new church edifice was erected, and after its completion he retired from the rectorship of the parish and confined himself exclusively to the academy until 1844, when he resigned and resumed the rectorship of the church. He was made rector of St. Thomas's church, New Haven, in 1848. During his ministry there the congregation grew from a small number gathered in a rented room to one occupying one of the finest stone churches in the state. In 1854 the degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by Trinity college, and in 1874 Columbia gave him that of LL. D. Dr. Beardsley devoted much time to historical research, especially in Episcopal church matters in Connecticut. He published "The History of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut from the Settlement of the Colony to the Death of Bishop Brownell in 1865" (2 vols.. New York, 1865); "Memoir of Rev. John Eaton Smith" (1871); "Life and Correspondence of Samuel Johnson, D. D., Missionary of the Church of England in Connecticut, and" First President of King's College, New York " (1874); "Life and Times of William Samuel Johnson. LL. D., First Senator in Congress from Connecticut, and President of Columbia College, New York" (Boston, 1876); and "Life and Correspondence of the Rt. Rev. Samuel Seabury, D. D., First Bishop of Connecticut, and of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America" (1881).

BEARDSLEY, John, clergyman, b. in 1730; d. in Kingston, New Brunswick, in 1810. During the revolutionary war he was chaplain of Col. Beverley Robinson's regiment of New York loyalists. He emigrated with the loyalists to New Brunswick, received a lot in Parr Town, now St. John's, became rector of Maugerville in 1784, and resided in Kingston after 1802, receiving a pension from the British government.—His grand-nephew, Levi, lawyer, b. in Hoosie, Rensselaer co., N. Y., 13 Nov., 1785; d. in New York, 19 March, 1857. He received a common-school education, studied law, and in 1812 was admitted to practice. In 1825 he was elected to the state assembly that passed the first railroad charter in the United States. He was elected to the state senate in 1829, reelected in 1834, and was president of the senate in 1838, and for many years judge of the court of errors of New York. He removed to Oswego, N. Y., in 1839, to Columbus, Ohio, in 1842, and returned to New York in 1846. Mr. Beardsley's influence was always on the side of liberal legislation. Besides his legal opinions, he published an autobiographical volume entitled "Reminiscences" (New York, 1852).—Samuel, jurist, brother of Levi, b. in Hoosie, Rensselaer co.. N. Y., 9 Feb., 1790 ; d. in Utica, 6 May, 1860. He received a common-school education, and began to study medicine, but soon relinquished it and studied law. In 1813 he joined the militia that went to the defence of Sackett's Harbor. Pie was admitted to the bar in 1815, made judge-advocate of the militia, and began the practice of law in Watertown, but at the end of a year returned to Rome. In February, 1821, he v/as appointed district attorney of Oneida co. At the first election held under the constitution of 1822 he was chosen senator from the fifth district, but in the arrangement of classes by lot his term of service was limited to the single year of 1823. During this year he transferred his residence to Utica. President Jackson appointed him U. S. attorney for the northern district of New York, which office he held till 1830, when he was elected as a democrat to congress, and reelected in 1832 and 1834, and again elected in 1842. In April, 1834, during the United States Bank excitement, he delivered a speech on the currency question which by its vehemence attracted attention throughout the country. About the same time he opposed successfully a measure to restrain the freedom of the reporters of congress. A vacancy occurring in the judgeship of the fifth New York circuit, Mr. Beardsley was nominated by Gov. Mar?y, and signified his intention of resigning his seat in congress and accepting the place; but, as President Jackson sent for him, and in the presence of his cabinet and various eminent members of both houses urged him to decline, he decided to remain in congress. In 1836, on the expiration of his congressional term, he accepted the office of attorney-general of the state of New York, his term closing with the year 1838, when he resumed his legal practice. He was again elected to congress in 1842, but withdrew in February, 1844, to become an associate judge of the supreme court of New Y^ork, and in June, 1847, was appointed chief justice on the retirement of Judge Bronson. The degree of LL. D. was conferred on him in 1849 by Hamilton college. Returning to private life he devoted himself to his profession, but still remained a political power and carried the delegation that, in the Cincinnati convention of 1856, controlled the choice of that body and made James Buchanan the candidate.—Samuel Raymond, lawyer, eldest son of Levi, b. in Cherry Valley, Otsego CO., N. Y., 31 Dec, 1814 ; d. in" Stevensburg, Va., 28 Dec, 1863. He was graduated at Union in 1836, studied law, and practised in Albany and in Oswego, N. Y. He afterward engaged in milling, owning the Premium Mills in Oswego. He was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 48th N. Y. militia in 1851, and colonel in 1854. He was elected mayor of Oswego in 1852 ; appointed postmaster in 1853, and was defeated as a candidate for the assembly in 1858. He was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the 24th New York volunteers in 1861, was wounded at Chancellorsville, and was promoted to the colonelcy in 1863. When the regiment was mustered out in 1863, he was appointed adjutant-general on Gen. Meade's staff. He died of disease contracted in the service.

BEASLEY, Frederick, clergyman, b. near Edenton, N. C, in 1777 ; d. in Elizabetlitown. N. J., 2 Nov., 1845. His father was a planter, and sent the son to Nassau Hall, afterward Princeton, where he was graduated in 1797. For three years he was tutor in the college, and at the same time studied theology. He was ordained in the Episcopal church in 1801, and became pastor of St. John's church, Elizabethtown, in 1803, rector of St. Peter's, Albany, in 1804, and co-rector in St. Paul's, Baltimore, in 1809. From 1813 till 1828 he was provost of the University of Pennsylvania, and also professor of mental and moral philosophy, and became favorably known by his metaphysical work in defence of the philosophy of Locke. In 1815 the degree of D. D. was conferred on him by both Columbia college and the university of Pennsylvania. He retired from the college in 1829, and took charge of a church in Trenton, where he remained until 1836. His health failing, he removed to Elizabethtown and passed the remainder of his days in retirement, pursuing literary and theological studies. His principal published writings are: "American Dialogues of the Dead" (1815); "An Examination of the Oxford Divinity," published during the Tractarian controversy; "A Search of Truth in the Science of the Human Mind" (vol. i., 1822; vol. ii. left complete in MS.) ; "Vin-