Lester Charles Beardsley (1831 - 1911)

Born 15 Apr 1831 in Canandaigua, New York

Husband of Celestia Ann (Converse) Beardsley — married 3 Dec 1863 in Cleveland, Ohio

Descendants

Died 29 Jan 1911 at age 79 in Ohio

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Lester Beardsley is a descendant of the immigrants William Beardsley and Mary Harvie.

Biography

Lester was born in 1831. He passed away in 1911.^[1]

From A History of Cleveland, Ohio: Biographical

Lester C. Beardsley, now living retired was for many years actively associated with business interests as an inventor, merchant,t and manufacturer. He was born in Canandaigua, in the Mohawk valley of New York, in 1831, and in 1838, came to Cleveland with his stepfather, Jasper B. Carpenter, who first located north of Euclid where he followed farming for a time. The family removed to Columbia, Lorain county, Ohio, when Mr. Beardsley was about fourteen years of age, and in his youthful days, he sailed the lakes for a time on the brig Belmont, commanded by Captain Burrows. He then took up the tinsmith's trade, which had great possibilities in those day,s and which constituted the foundation upon which he built his later success. With a youthful friend, he planned to go to California in 1848, following the discovery of gold on the Pacific slope. It was their purpose to proceed by raft down the Ohio, and then to New Orleans and they went from Pittsburg as far as Cincinnati, where they spent the winter. In the spring of 1849, Mr. Beardsley started alone for New Orleans, and on arriving there, secured a position at his trade and remained for several years. While in the Crescent City, there was an epidemic of yellow fever, and Mr. Beardsley was attacked by the disease, together with eight others in his boarding place, and only two out of the nine survived. In the 50’s, he made his way north by river stopping at St. Louis for a year, after which he worked at his trade. In the meantime his people had removed to Vernon, Wisconsin, to which place he made his way in order to visit with relatives. He afterward spent some time in Waukesha and in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, having in the latter city, a half brother Martin Carpenter, and a sister Adeline, while his step-sister Caroline lived about one hundred miles west of Milwaukee. His mother and his step=father continued to spend their remaining days in Vernon, and both were laid to rest in the cemetery at that place.

On returning to Cleveland, Mr. Beardsley worked at his trade on the different buildings of what is now the Big Four Railroad, between this city and Cincinnati. He was always studying and planning out some new machinery or device, and invented a ventilator for passenger coaches, but at that time it was too expensive for railroads to use it universally. In 1867, he engaged in the tinware stove and furnace business at the corner of Michigan and Seneca streets. There he was in business for several years and subsequently he engaged in the manufacture of powder kegs and tin can packages, the business being conducted as the Beardsley Can & Powder Keg Works. Mr. Beardsley erected a building with thirty feet frontage on Michigan street and a depth of eighty feet. It was three stories in height and back of that facing on Canal street was a building one hundred and three feet deep and four stories high which the company also occupied. They employed about two hundred men, and the enterprise was a profitable one. Mr. Beardsley retired from business in 1893 on account of failing health. He had previously invented a machine known as the Beardsley double seamer for working up tinware without the use of solder. As the years passed his enterprise brought him success, and he developed an important productive industry, but at length with a handsome competence he retired and is now spending his time in the enjoyment of pleasures and interests for which leisure and wealth equip him.

In 1863, Mr. Beardsley wedded Celesta Converse and unto them were born two daughters, Adeline and Lill.y The former is the wife of Andrew Mason and the latter of Richard Harri,s and both are still living in Cleveland.

At the time of the Civil war, Mr. Beardsley offered his services to the government, and became a private of Company K, One Hundred and Ninety-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, under Captain Edward Vaillant and Colonel Henry B Banning. He received his discharge from the service in 1865, returning home with a most creditable military record. He cast his first presidential vote for John C. Fremont and has always been an ardent supporter of the republican party, which stood loyally in defense of the Union during the dark days of the Civil war and has always been the party of reform and progress. For a number of years he was a member of the Gentlemen's Driving Club of Glennville, so continuing until its disbandment. He has a fine collection of ribbons taken by various horses which he has owned, for he is a lover of fine stock and always keeps on hand some splendid specimens of the noble steed. Fraternally, he is connected with Banner Lodge IOOF.

Mrs. Beardsley died in 1897 and was buried in the family lot in Lakeview cemetery. Mr. Beardsley has now passed the seventy-eighth milestone on life's journey and during much of the time has lived in Cleveland, where he became recognized as a progressive and resourceful business man and an enterprising citizen. He improved the opportunities of early life and of later manhood, learned the lessons that each experience contained and as the years went by directed his labors by a judgment so sound that his activities placed him with Cleveland's men of affluence.

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Sources

• A History of Cleveland, Ohio: Biographical, by Samuel Peter Orth, published by S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1910, Pg. 143
• Some of the Ancestors and Descendants of Samuel Converse, Jr., by Charles Allen Converse, published by E. Putnam, 1905, Pg. 280
• Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Marriage Records and Indexes, 1810-1973: Lester C. Beardsley & Celesta Draper^[2]
• 1880 US Census: Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH, 1 Jun 1880, Enumeration District 19, Pg. 1^[3]
• 1900 US Census: Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH, 11 Jun 1900, Enumeration District 65, Sheet 13B^[4]
• 1910 US Census: Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH, 21 Apr 1910, Enumeration District 401, Sheet 12B^[5]
• Find A Grave: Memorial #78093398; Burial at Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland OH

Footnotes

1. ↑ Information from Beardsley family researcher Nick Dann, 6 May 2016.
2. ↑ Cuyahoga County Archive; Cleveland, Ohio; Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Marriage Records, 1810-1973; Volume: Vol 10-12; Page: 230; Year Range: 1859 Jun - 1866 Jun
3. ↑ Year: 1880; Census Place: Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio; Roll: 1006; Family History Film: 1255006; Page: 60A; Enumeration District: 019; Image: 0125
4. ↑ Year: 1900; Census Place: Cleveland Ward 17, Cuyahoga, Ohio; Roll: 1254; Page: 13B; Enumeration District: 0065; FHL microfilm: 1241254
5. ↑ Year: 1910; Census Place: Cleveland Ward 26, Cuyahoga, Ohio; Roll: T624_1176; Page: 12B; Enumeration District: 0401; FHL microfilm: 1375189