Gaylord Beardsley (1773 - 1842)

Born 31 Jul 1773 in New Fairfield, Fairfield, Connecticut

Ancestors

Husband of Charlotte Beardsley — married 2 Feb 1794 in New Fairfield, Fairfield, Connecticut

Descendants

Died 31 Jan 1842 at age 68 in Harpersfield, Delaware County, New York

Problems/Questions Profile manager: John Beardsley [send private message]

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

Gaylord Beardsley & Spouse were both descendants of the immigrants William Beardsley and Mary Harvie.

Biography

Gaylord was born in 1773. He is the son of Captain Gideon Beardsley and Mary (Bearse) Beardsley. He passed away in 1842.^[1]

In the spring of 1806, he moved west to what was then a wilderness, but eventually became Harpersfield, New York. There he spent the remainder of his life, and his widow, went to live with their daughter Sally, wife of Matthew L. Hamilton at Hamilton Corners, Ohio.

The following article, The Settlement of Hamilton Corners, in the Summer of 1818, by Irving Hamilton Kennedy, 1921, tells of Matthew Lindley Hamilton, who married Achsah Beardsley daughter of Gaylord and Charlotte Beardsley; after her death, Matthew married her sister Sally.

Eden Hamilton and his wife lived in Delaware County New York. In the summer of 1816, their two sons, Arza and Matthew, twenty-one and twenty-three years of age, someway and somehow, learned of cheap lands in northern Ohio, known as the Western Reserve, and that land could be bought for $1.25 an acre, on long time.

They thought it over and decided to make the venture, to go west and hew their homes out of the wilderness.

Their grandmother spun and wove enough cloth from black sheep wool to make each of the boys a Sunday suit; she also made them a traveling suit out of buckskin.

Their father gave them one flintlock musket, each of them a new axe, and ten dollars in money. They started our with a sack of corn meal and two home made woollen blankets.

Everything went well until they reached the heart of the “big woods" of New York state, and there in crossing a stream, they lost heir line of blazed trees that led to Buffalo.

They crossed and recrossed the stream several times, and for days, around in the woods till they were out of provisions and powder. They even lived on the browse of trees and were about to starve to death. They had given up in despair, when all at once, they heard the crack of a musket, and the barking of a dog. Following the sound, they found a group of engineers who were surveying the lot lines in that section of New York State. Just the kind of information they were after.

The engineers took them in and fed them for several days, replenished their horns with powder, their sacks with corn meal and one of the engineers went with them for one day’s journey, to start them on the right road for Buffalo. At Buffalo they met an old trapper from one of the eastern rivers of Ohio. The town Muskingum, was simply a trading post at the time, and the old trapper was exchanging pelte for corn meal and powder.

He told them of the Western Reserve, which was in Northeastern Ohio. It had been purchased from a Connecticut Land Company in 1770. He also told them of a township owned by Mr. Boardman living in Media Township, Media County, and that they would find his agent in Cleveland, Ohio.

They walked along the shore of Lake Erie to Cleveland, which then consisted of eight log cabins. He told them to follow the certain lines of blazed trees, which is now called the Cleveland Wooster Pike, and told them of certain landmarks which would indicate to them, when they were in Media Township; also, when they came to a certain creek, that a ten minute walk beyond (south), was a stream called Rocky River. It was a very dry time when they had their last drink before reaching Hamilton Corners; it was a small stream that crossed their road in Parma Township, Cuyahoga County. It was so dry that the leaves were falling from the trees (September).

When they came within sight of the creek at the foot of the hill at Hamilton’s Corners, they both ran down to it and falling down on their hands and knees, drank like cattle. Leaving thier luggage at a log they continued according to directions and there found Rocky River. They were then in the ‘Promised Land’, and went back a short distance to make their camp at what is now Hamilton’s Corners.

By the side of the creek, they started a fire from a flint, and cooked their supper of corn meal pones and venison; rolled themselves up in their blankets and laid down for a good night’s rest, but the wolves were so numerous, they had very little sleep.

They were up at the break of day, prepared a hasty breakfast and on looking around, found a beech tree, with markings which indicated an east, west, north, and south lot line. Right there they decided would be a four-corners, which has ever since been called, Hamilton’s Corners.

They drew cuts to see which of them should have the choice of lots. My grandfather, Arza Hamilton, drew the long stick and chose the southwest corner. Uncle Lindley told me that my grandfather had chosen the side of the road, which he had desired.

They went to work, even before they had contracted for the land, to build a log cabin on the southeast corner. While chopping the logs for the cabin, an old hunter by the name of Elisha Mason, was hunting in the valley and hearing the boys chopping, looked them up.. They were glad to meet each other. He told them that he had been in the woods for three years, and had his own grist mill; it was the top of a stump and a round stone, there he ground corn meal. He also said that his latch string was out, and that he would be glad to have them live with him until they were settled; also, that as soon as they had the logs ready, he would invite the near neighbors, from Media and Brunswick Townships, to help raise their cabin, and also get acquainted.

Before doing any more work, they went back to Cleveland to get a contract for the land. This accomplished, they chopped cleared and burnt off two acres, which they planted to corn the first spring, but the deer were so plentiful, they had to build a brush fence around the planting, and were glad to have raised sufficient to make themselves comfortable for that year.

The following fall 1819, Matthew Lindley Hamilton began to think of the girl he had left behind. He told his brother that he was going to New York State after her. his brother, Arza, asked him How will you get there? He said the walking is good. If I can walk over that road three times she ought to walk it once, for as good a home as this.

He started out on foot with his axe, flintlock and a sack of corn meal, expecting to return within two months. As soon as he arrived home, he married, the girl, Achsah Beardsley, and they planned to return to Ohio on foot, but his father, Eden Hamilton, told him of he would stay there for the winter and help him break a pair of steers, he would give him the old farm team. They would make an ox-cart, and he could return to Ohio in good shape. They gladly accepted the offer.

Arza, not hearing from his brother, had given up all hope of ever seeing him again, but the following spring, 1820, the latter part of May, Matthew, and his wife Achsah, drove up to the cabin, their future home.

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Sources

1. ↑ Beardsley Genealogy: The Family of William Beardsley, One of the First Settlers of Connecticut. Compiled and edited by Nellie Beardsley Holt and Charles Eleazer Holt. Published at West Hartford, Connecticut, 1951. Gaylord Beardsley is Holt Record #317, Pg. 149.

See also:

• Connecticut, Church Record Abstracts, 1630-1920: Volume 076 New Fairfield, Pg. 6. Gaylor (sic) Beardsley m. Charlotte Beardsley, Feb. 2, 1794, Pg. 42. - Original data: Connecticut. Church Records Index. Connecticut State Library, Hartford, Connecticut
• 1800 US Census: New Fairfiels, Fairfield County, CT, Pg. 98. Gaylor (sic) Beardsley. Males - 26 thru 44: 1; Females - Under 10: 4; Females - 26 thru 44: 1; Household Members Under 16: 4; Household Members Over 25; 2; Number of Household Members: 6. - Original data: Second Census of the United States, 1800. NARA microfilm publication M32 (52 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.; Series: M32; Roll: 1; Page: 98; Image: 59; FHL microfilm: 205618. Also: FamilySearch [1]
• 1810 US Census: Harpersfield, Delaware County, NY. Gaylord Beardsley. Males - Under 10: 2; Males - 16 thru 25: 1; Males - 26 thru 44: 1; Females - Under 10: 2; Females - 10 thru 15: 3; Females - 26 thru 44: 1; Household Members Under 16: 7; Household Members Over 25: 2; Number of Household Members: 10. - Original Data: Third Census of the United States, 1810. (NARA microfilm publication M252, 71 rolls). Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.; Roll: 26; Page: 497; Image: 00263; FHL microfilm: 0181380.
• 1830 US Census: Harpersfield, Delaware County, NY. Gaylor (sic) Beardsley. Males - 5 thru 9: 1; Males - 15 thru 19: 1; Males - 20 thru 29: 1; Males - 50 thru 59: 1; Females - 10 thru 14: 1; Females - 20 thru 29: 1; Females - 50 thru 59: 1; Persons - Under 20: 3; Persons - 20 thru 49: 2; Total - All Persons: 7. - Original data: Fifth Census of the United States, 1830. (NARA microfilm publication M19, 201 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.; Series: M19; Roll: 89; Page: 85; FHL microfilm: 0017149
• 1840 US Census: Harpersfield, Delaware County, NY. Gaylord Beardsley. Males - 10 thru 14: 1; Males - 20 thru 29: 1; Males - 60 thru 69: 1; Females - 10 thru 14: 1; Females - 15 thru 19: 1; Females - 60 thru 69: 1; Persons Employed in Agriculture: 2; Persons - Under 20: 3; Persons - 20 thru 49: 1; Total All Persons: 6. - Original data: Sixth Census of the United States, 1840. (NARA microfilm publication M704, 580 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.; Roll: 274; Page: 308; FHL microfilm: 0017183
• Find A Grave: Memorial #69911063; Harpersfield Center Cemetery, Harpersfield NY (no g.s. photo)

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