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{{short description|American politician and judge (1790–1860)}}{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2022}}

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| term_start = March 4, 1843| term_end = February 29, 1844Samuel Gordon (New York)>Samuel Gordon| succeeded = Levi D. Carpenter| term_start1 = March 4, 1831| term_end1 = March 29, 1836| preceded1 = Henry R. Storrs| succeeded1 = Rutger B. MillerNY14th district}} (1831–33){{ushr17|17th district}} (1833–36)United States House Committee on the Judiciary>House Judiciary Committee| term_start2 = 1835| term_end2 = 1836| predecessor2 = Thomas Flournoy Foster| successor2 = Francis Thomas| office3 = 14th New York Attorney General| term_start3 = January 12, 1836| term_end3 = February 4, 1839| governor3 = William L. MarcyWilliam H. Seward| predecessor3 = Greene C. Bronson| successor3 = Willis Hall| state_senate6 = New York| district6 = 5th| term_start6 = January 1, 1823| term_end6 = December 31, 1823| preceded6 =New district| succeeded6 =Perley Keyes17906}}| birth_place = Hoosick, New York, U.S.186062|6}}| death_place = Utica, New York, U.S.Forest Hill Cemetery (Utica, New York)>Forest Hill CemeteryUtica, New York, U.S.| citizenship = {{US}}lawyer|politician}}Jacksonian democracy>Jacksonian, Democrat25px) New York (State){{flagicon>United States of America}} United States of AmericaNew York Army National Guard>New York MilitiaUnited States ArmyCaptain (United States O-3)>Captain | battles = {{tree list}}

• War of 1812
  • Defense of Sacket's Harbor

{{tree list/end}}}}Samuel Beardsley (February 6, 1790 – May 6, 1860) was an American attorney, judge and legislator from New York. During his career he served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, New York Attorney General, United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York, a member of the New York State Senate, and a justice of the New York Supreme Court.

Early life

Born in Hoosick, New York on February 6, 1790, the son of Obadiah Beardsley and Eunice (Moore) Beardsley.{{sfn|Memorial History of Utica, N.Y.: From Its Settlement to the Present Time}}{{sfn|A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City Bridgeport}} His siblings included Levi Beardsley, who served in both the New York State Assembly and the New York State Senate.{{sfn|A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City Bridgeport}}Beardsley's family soon moved to Monticello, an unincorporated village of Richfield, and he was educated in the local schools of his new hometown.{{sfn|Memorial History of Utica, N.Y.: From Its Settlement to the Present Time}} He taught school and began the study of medicine with Dr. Joseph White of Cherry Valley, but later decided to pursue a legal career, and moved to Rome, New York to study law with Judge Joshua Hathaway.{{sfn|Memorial History of Utica, N.Y.: From Its Settlement to the Present Time}}Beardsley served in the 157th Regiment of the New York State Militia during the War of 1812, he rose through the ranks to become the regimental adjutant with the rank of captain.{{sfn|Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Oneida County, New York}} He was later commissioned as a quartermaster in the United States Army, and took part in the Defense of Sacket's Harbor in 1813.{{sfn|History of Oneida County, New York}} Beardsley was admitted to the bar in 1815 and commenced practice in Watertown, New York.{{sfn|Memorial History of Utica, N.Y.: From Its Settlement to the Present Time}} After his admission to the bar, he continued to serve in the militia as judge advocate of the 13th Brigade.{{sfn|Military Minutes of the Council of Appointment of the State of New York}}

Early career

In 1816 Beardsley returned to Rome, New York, and continued the practice of law.{{sfn|Memorial History of Utica, N.Y.: From Its Settlement to the Present Time}} From 1821 to 1825, he served as district attorney of Oneida County.{{sfn|Memorial History of Utica, N.Y.: From Its Settlement to the Present Time}} In 1822 he was elected to a one-year term in the New York State Senate (1823), and in 1823 he moved to Utica.{{sfn|Memorial History of Utica, N.Y.: From Its Settlement to the Present Time}} He was United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York from 1823 to 1830.{{sfn|Memorial History of Utica, N.Y.: From Its Settlement to the Present Time}}Elected as a Jacksonian to the 22nd Congress, Beardsley was U. S. Representative for the fourteenth district of New York from March 4, 1831, to March 3, 1833.{{sfn|Memorial History of Utica, N.Y.: From Its Settlement to the Present Time}} During the 23rd and 24th United States Congresses Beardsley served as U.S. Representative for the seventeenth district from March 4, 1833, to March 29, 1836, when he resigned.{{sfn|Memorial History of Utica, N.Y.: From Its Settlement to the Present Time}} During the Twenty-fourth Congress he was chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary.{{sfn|A History of the Committee on the Judiciary, 1813-2006}} He was one of the "principal citizens" participating in the anti-abolitionist mob that broke up the 1835 meeting in Utica, called by Beriah Green, to set up a New York State Antislavery Society.BOOK, The New York Abolitionists. A Case Study of Political Radicalism,weblink registration, Gerald, Sorin, Gerald Sorin, Westport, Connecticut, 197032}}In 1836, Beardsley was elected by the New York State Legislature to the office of New York State Attorney General after his predecessor Greene C. Bronson became a justice of the New York Supreme Court, and he served until 1838.{{sfn|Memorial History of Utica, N.Y.: From Its Settlement to the Present Time}}

Later career

Elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-eighth United States Congress, Beardsley served as U. S. Representative for the twentieth district from March 4, 1843, to February 29, 1844, when he resigned to accept the appointment as associate justice of the New York Supreme Court.{{sfn|Memorial History of Utica, N.Y.: From Its Settlement to the Present Time}} He sat on the bench from 1844 to 1847, and was chief justice from June 29 to July 5, 1847.{{sfn|Memorial History of Utica, N.Y.: From Its Settlement to the Present Time}} Afterwards he resumed the practice of law in Utica and New York City.{{sfn|Memorial History of Utica, N.Y.: From Its Settlement to the Present Time}}

Death and burial

Beardsley died in Utica, Oneida County, New York on May 6, 1860.{{sfn|Memorial History of Utica, N.Y.: From Its Settlement to the Present Time}} He was interred at the Forest Hill Cemetery, Utica, New York.{{sfn|"Haunted Utica: Mohawk Valley Ghosts and Other Historic Haunts"}}

Family

In 1816, Beardsley was married to Sarah Hathaway (1793-1869), the daughter of Joshua Hathaway, under whom Beardsley had studied law.{{sfn|DAR Lineage Book}} They were the parents of one child who lived to adulthood, Arthur.{{sfn|A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City Bridgeport}} Arthur Moore Beardsley became an attorney, and had a successful career in Utica and New York City.{{sfn|A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City Bridgeport}}

References

{{reflist}}

Sources

Books

• BOOK, Bagg, Moses Mears, 1892, Memorial History of Utica, N.Y.: From Its Settlement to the Present Time,weblink Syracuse, NY, D. Mason & Co., 513–517, {{sfnRef, Memorial History of Utica, N.Y.: From Its Settlement to the Present Time, }}
• BOOK, Everts & Fariss, 1878, History of Oneida County, New York,weblink Philadelphia, PA, J. B. Lippincott & Co., 369, {{sfnRef, History of Oneida County, New York, }}
• BOOK, Hastings, Hugh, 1901, Military Minutes of the Council of Appointment of the State of New York, III,weblink Albany, NY, James B. Lyon, 1971, {{sfnRef, Military Minutes of the Council of Appointment of the State of New York, }}
• BOOK, Johnston, Elizabeth Bryant, 1894, Lineage Book, VI,weblink Washington, DC, National Society of the Daughters of the American, 151, {{sfnRef, DAR Lineage Book, }}
• BOOK, Orcutt, Samuel, 1886, A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City Bridgeport, 2,weblink Fairfield, CT, Fairfield County Historical Society, 1138, {{sfnRef, A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City Bridgeport, }}
• BOOK, United States House of Representatives, 2006, A History of the Committee on the Judiciary, 1813-2006,weblink Washington, DC, US Government Printing Office, 445, {{sfnRef, A History of the Committee on the Judiciary, 1813-2006, |isbn=9780160845789 }}
• BOOK, Wager, Daniel Elbridge, 1896, Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Oneida County, New York,weblink Boston, MA, Boston History Company, 169, {{sfnRef, Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Oneida County, New York, }}
• BOOK, Webster, Dennis, Peck, Bernadette, 2014, Haunted Utica: Mohawk Valley Ghosts and Other Historic Haunts,weblink Charleston, SC, History Press, 3, 978-1-62584-593-1, {{sfnRef, "Haunted Utica: Mohawk Valley Ghosts and Other Historic Haunts", }}

External links

{{CongBio|B000281}}

• {{Find a Grave|6855647}}

{{US House succession box | state = New York | district = 14 | before = Henry R. Storrs | after = Ransom H. Gillet | years = 1831–1833}}{{US House succession box | state = New York | district = 17 | before = John W. Taylor | after = Rutger B. Miller | years = 1833–1836}}{{US House succession box | state = New York | district = 20 | before = Samuel Gordon | after = Levi D. Carpenter | years = 1843–1844}}{{NYSAttorneyGeneral}}{{US House Judiciary chairs}}{{Authority control}}