Biography of Harold Martyn Beardall, Orlando, Orange County, FL

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Transcribed from:  The History of Florida:  Past & Present, The Lewis Publishing Co., Vol. 
III, page 1622, 1923.

BEARDALL M. D., HAROLD MARTYN has the character, the fine technical training and the practical 
experience that fortify him admirably for successful work in his chosen profession, and as 
one of the representative physicians and surgeons of Orange County he is engaged in practice 
at Orlando, the county seat, with offices at 65 Court Street.

Doctor BEARDALL was born near Sanford, Seminole County, formerly Orange County, Florida, on 
the 5th of February, 1885, and is a son of WILLIAM and FLORENCE (BINSOR) BEARDALL, who were 
born in England and whose marriage was solemnized in New York City.  WILLIAM BEARDALL was reared
and educated in England, and as a skilled civil engineer he served in 1880-81 in the English 
Geographical Survey of the Rufiji River in Africa.  While on this important commission in Africa 
he there had the pleasure of forming the acquaintance of the great explorer, the late Henry M. 
Stanley.  In the interest of an English land company Mr. BEARDALL came to Florida about the 
year 1883, and was first stationed at Sanford, Seminole County.  He did much constructive 
service in this state, and from 1900 until his death he maintained his residence at Orlando, 
where for several years he was engaged in the abstract business and where his widow still 
resides.  Of their three children Doctor BEARDALL, of this review, is the eldest; JOHN R. 
is a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy; and WILLIAM is engaged in the abstract 
business at Orlando.

After having profited by the advantages of the high school in his native town of Sanford, 
Seminole County, Doctor BEARDALL attended the Porter Military Academy at Charleston, South 
Carolina, and in preparation for his chosen profession he later entered the medical department 
of the University of Louisville, in which Kentucky institution he was graduated as a member 
of the class of 1908 and with the degree of Doctor of Medicine.  Thereafter he gained valuable 
clinical experience in leading hospital in New York City, and also through one year of service 
as government physician and surgeon at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.  On October, 1912, he engaged 
in the general practice of his profession at Orlando, and here he has built up a large and 
representative practice.  He has kept insistently in touch with advances made in medical and 
surgical science, both through the medium of the best standard and periodical literature of 
his profession and also by effective post-graduate courses in Chicago and Boston.  He is a 
loyal and valued member of the Orange County Medical Society, is a member of the surgical 
staff of the Orange General Hospital at Orlando, and is affiliated with the Florida State 
Medical Society and the American Medical Association.  He has served during 1920-22 as city 
physician of Orlando.

To the enduring honor of Doctor BEARDALL must ever stand his record of patriotic service 
in connection with the great World war.  In June, 1917, shortly after the nation became involved 
in the war, he enlisted for service in the Medical Corps of the United States Army, and was 
given the rank and commission of first lieutenant August 25th of that year.  He was stationed 
at Camp Oglethorpe, Georgia, on the 20th of the following October, was ordered to Camp Dix, 
New Jersey, where he was assigned to the Three Hundred and Twelfth Field Hospital, Seventy-eighth 
Division, on the 24th of April, 1918, he was advanced to the rank of captain.  In the following 
month he sailed for the stage of active conflict, as a member of the Seventy-eighth Division,
and in France he was assigned to command of Field Hospital No. 312.  In September, 1918, the 
Doctor was promoted to the rank of major.  He served in the British sector, later at St. Mihiel 
and next in the Argonne sector.  In May, 1919, Doctor BEARDALL was detached from the Seventy-
eighth Division, which sailed for the States and assigned as chief of medical service in base 
hospital sixty-five, Brest, France, and on the 4th of the following July he arrived in the port 
of Boston.  He was ordered to Fort McPherson, Georgia, for duty, and was honorably discharged 
at this post on the 25th of October, 1919.  Returning to Orlando, he resumed the active practice 
of his profession, his service in the war having done much to fortify him further, especially 
in the field of surgery.  The Doctor-Major is an enthusiastic member of the American Legion 
and is serving on the executive board of its post at Orlando.  He is a staunch democrat, is 
a member of the local Kiwanis Club, is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order 
of Elks, and he and his wife are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal Church.

In 1913 was solemnized the marriage of Doctor BEARDALL and Miss LAURA J. FAGON, and they are 
popular figures in the representative social activities of their home city.  They have no 
children.