William Beardsley

William Beardsley (* 1605 in Ilkeston , Derbyshire , England , † 1664 in the USA ) was one of the first settlers of Stratford and a pioneer of the American settler movement.

A few years before his emigration, he married Marie Harvie in 1631 in the parish of St. Mary, where their first son John was baptized in 1633. Read in the "Beardsley Genealogy - The Family of William Beardsley - One of the first settlers of Stratford, Connecticut", which appeared in the USA in 1951 (Nellie Beardsley Holt).

In 1635 William, Marie and their then 3 children embarked on the "Planter", which brought 116 other passengers to the New England state of Massachusetts. In late 1636, William Beardsley took the oath before the Boston office that gave him Free Citizen status.

1639 he moved with his now back bigger family from Massachusetts to the southwest and was one of the first settlers in the plantation of Pequonnock - the core of the later Stratford. William was also politically active for the settlers and served as a deputy at Hartford Court from 1645 to 1659 . He was also one of the founding members of the first Stratford Congregational Church .

After arriving in America, William and Marie Beardsley had 6 more children, who were born between 1636 and around 1646. William, who was very revered in Stratford, died in 1661 at the age of 56.

Web links

• Beardsley Family, Derbyshire and Connecticut