Beezley, William (1818-1910)

BEEZLEY

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 9/15/2019 at 16:51:37

William B. Beezley
Jan 11, 1818 - Oct 4, 1910

(From the 1891 Biographical History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, p.666)
WILLIAM BEEZLEY, of section 22, Macedonia Township, was born in Clarke County, Ohio, two miles east of Springfield, in January, 1818, the son of John BEEZLEY, who was born in Brown County, Ohio, and was one of the earliest settlers of that State, and whose father, William BEEZLEY, came there with Daniel BOONE, and built the first grist-mill on the Little Miami River. The BEEZLEYS were a patriotic family, and John BEEZLEY, William's father, though a boy, was with his father a short time in the war of 1812. His grandfather was made Captain under General William HARRISON, and the subject and his father both lived to vote for General and Ben HARRISON. The father lived to an advanced age, being born in October, 1797, and died in Clarke County, Ohio, March 7, 1889, at about ninety years of age. Our subject's mother was Elizabeth (ELLSWORTH) BEEZLEY, who was born in Martinsburg, Virginia, of an old Virginia family; Colonel ELLSWORTH of the late war was her second cousin.

William BEEZLEY, our subject, was reared in Ohio, engaged in farming and stock-raising until 1857, when he removed to Logan County, Illinois. When the war broke out he enlisted in the first Illinois regiment that went out, and he again enlisted in 1862, in the One Hundred and Sixth Illinois Infantry, Company F, and served until the close of the war. He was at Island 62, siege of Vicksburg, the taking of Little Rock, Arkansas, and went up the Red River with General STEELE as far as Jenkins' Ferry and was in many other engagements. He then went out as Captain, and after the death of the Major he was elected to fill his place, and was made Lieutenant, Colonel, and had charge of the regiment during the last year. He had three sons and two boys he had raised in the war: John T., in the Thirty-eighth Illinois Infantry, serving nearly five years, and came out with a Captain's commission; he lives in Crawford County, Kansas, near Gerard; Cassius C., who served in the One Hundred and Sixth Regiment Illinois with his father, was killed at Island 62, and was buried near there; William James, in the One Hundred and Forty-fifth Illinois Regiment, and now lives in southern Nebraska, near Orleans. The two boys Mr. BEEZLEY took to raise were James FERGUSON, in the Seventh Regiment, and now resides in southwestern Kansas, near Wichita; and Charles RUSSUM, in the Thirty-eighth Regiment, and died at Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Our subject resided in Logan County until 1876, when he came to this county, and bought 320 acres of land on the Nishnabotna River. He now owns 510 acres of good land on sections 21, 22 and 15, which is partly improved. He was first married in Miami County, Ohio, when twenty-five years of age, to Polly Ann CASTLE, who was born in Maryland. They had six children, of whom five are now living: John, at Gerard, Kansas; Emeline, the wife of Newton BOYLES, of Graham County, Kansas; Cassius C., who was killed on island 62; William James, residing in southwestern Nebraska; and Jenny, the wife of Cornelius STOCKTON, of Hanson County, Dakota. Mrs. BEEZLEY died in 1880, and Mr. BEEZLEY was again married December 20, 1884, to Miss Anna FAWCETT, who was born in England. By this union there were three children: Benjamin Roscoe, George Fawcett and Elmer Smith. Politically he is a Republican, and is a member of the G. A. R., Updegraff Post, Macedonia charter. He was made a Mason in Ohio nearly half a century ago. He was raised in the old-school Baptist Church, but joined the Methodist Episcopal Church over fifty years ago.