Beardsley, John

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: C. Alexander Pincombe, “BEARDSLEY (Beardslee), JOHN,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 5, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/beardsley_john_5E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Church of England clergyman; b. 23 April 1732 in Ripton (Shelton), Conn., son of John Beardsley, a farmer and land surveyor, and Keziah Wheeler; d. 23 Aug. 1809 in Kingston, N.B.
    • Beardsley opposed the revolutionary movement and as a result suffered “repeated insults” and many misadventures before finally taking refuge in New York City late in 1777.
    • The following year Colonel Beverley Robinson, one of his former parishioners and a prominent freemason, asked him to act as chaplain of the Loyal American Regiment, and his name appears on the muster-rolls of this unit, which saw service in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the south. 
    • In the summer of 1783 Beardsley followed many of his former parishioners to Parrtown (Saint John, N.B.). At his own suggestion he became an itinerant minister, visiting settlers on both sides of the Saint John River as far as St Anne’s Point (Fredericton).
  • Proven Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory –https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=456
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/119033647/john-beardsley