William Beardsley

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

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

In 1635, William, Marie and her then three children embarked on the " Planter ", the other 116 other passengers brought next to them after the New England state of Massachusetts. The end of 1636 put William Beardsley before the Boston office of the oath, which gave him the status of a free citizen.

1639, he moved with his family from Massachusetts again become larger toward 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 from 1645 to 1659 as Deputy at the Court of Hartford. In addition, he was one of the founding members of the first Congregational Church of Stratford.

William and Mary Beardsley got after their arrival in America for a further 6 children who were born from 1636 to about 1646. The Stratford dear William died but already in 1661 at the age of 56 years.